Please read the passage before reading the comments.
“There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem and all were scattered throughout the countryside.”
Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people, was a large city, filled with both insiders who grew up in Jerusalem, and outsiders who had come from beyond Jerusalem.
The insiders spoke Hebrew, and the outsiders spoke Greek as their mother tongue. The insiders tended to be comfortable in their position and the outsiders tended to stress their orthodoxy in order to be accepted by the native element.
It was the death of Stephen that ignited the severe persecution. Stephen had proclaimed the gospel to the outsiders and won the negative attention of the insiders. He was brought before a rigged court and convicted of blasphemy. He was taken outside the city and stoned to death.
Those who believed in Jesus left the city then for fear of their lives. They went beyond Jerusalem and brought the message of Jesus with them. They proclaimed the word of God and healed many.
It was this persecution the pushed the Church beyond Jerusalem, beyond even the borders of Jewish people. The word came eventually to the American continent. The word has come to us.
People must hear us and see signs of God’s presence in us and so come to believe in Jesus Christ. Philip went down and proclaimed. We follow Philip in living our faith, in proclaiming our faith and in healing others. If we do our part, the Lord will continue to add to the numbers of those who believe.