We begin with Acts 8:1-25 as we see that the persecution erupted in Jerusalem following the martyrdom of Stephen. The suffering was real and intense, but had an unexpected consequence that the Word of God and the gospel spread beyond the geographic and ethnic lines that we see represented in Acts 1-7. The first chapters of Acts are dominated by the ministry of Peter and the Apostles. In chapter 8 we see the scattered church proclaiming the gospel as Philip brought God's Word to Samaria.