The narrative of Acts 8 reveals a number of results of the martyrdom of Stephen in Jerusalem (end of Acts 7). Acts 8:1 includes: “And on that day” – i.e., the day of Stephen’s stoning – “a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Thus one major outcome of Stephen’s death was that the ensuing persecution enhanced the spread of the gospel beyond Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus said would happen in Acts 1:8 – “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” The Lord used the persecution of the church to make it happen. The verb translated “scattered” in Acts 8:1 is from the Greek verb diaspiero from which we get our English word disperse, and used then to describe the sowing of seed in the field. As in Jesus’ parable of the sower and the soils in Mark 4, the seed being sown here in Acts 8 is indeed the Word of God. Acts 8:4 says: “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word, or literally: “proclaiming the good news of the word.”
When (not if) we experience opposition, even persecution for our faith, whether it is individually or as a church, how are we going to respond? It may be an instance of our sovereign Lord opening up a whole new area of ministry. Can we learn from the experience of the early church and see that opposition = opportunity? It’s an “opp” (as in opportunity) – not a “stop.”