“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). This biblical text is one of two in Acts 8 that speaks about people being scattered (Acts 8:1, 4). There is one other in Acts 11:19. Both Acts 8:4 and Acts 11:19 share a number of things in common. First, they were both written by the same author, I say this based on the fact that they both appear in the same biblical book (and it is commonly held that Luke wrote Acts). Second, both texts describe the same scattering, the one that took place in Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen which resulted in the persecution of the church. However, the people who left Jerusalem went to various locations. Third, both verses describe the spreading of the Christian faith, scholars have said that the book of Acts is a book about missions. That is certainly true. We see it in a number of passages in Acts, including Acts 8:4 and Acts 11:19. Missions involved evangelism in the first-century church, and it still does today.

It is clear that those who were scattered were a group of people. We know this because the word “those” was used in Acts 8:4 and in Acts 11:19. In context this word means that a group of people were involved. How large was this group? We cannot say with certainty, but I believe it was quite sizeable. I say this based on figures that we find earlier in Acts. We know that on the Day of Pentecost around 3,000 people became Christians (Acts 2:41). Acts 4:4 tells us that even more believed, “the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.” Moving further into the history preserved for us in Acts we read that when the persecution broke out in Jerusalem all of the believers except the apostles left the city for different locations in Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). So based on these numbers thousands exited the city. Though these people are largely unknown to us (except for Philip, see Acts 8:5) the example of these early Christians should inspire us for evangelism today. Their actions provide us with one important example of how evangelism was done in the early church.

The phrase “Those who had been scattered” (Acts 8:4) does not tell us much about this group of people. Who were they? Is the information in this verse all we can know about them? No, I believe that there is more that we can glean about them from the biblical text. First, we know that they came from the city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital. That being the case, most of them were probably Jews. Some writers have noted that at the beginning the Christian faith was made up largely of Jewish people. Second, as was mentioned earlier we know that these people were believers in Jesus because they were fleeing from a persecution that was directed at believers in Jesus. Third, I believe that they were a people moved by two influences, one which was seen, and one which was unseen. The seen influence was their persecutors, the unseen one was the Holy Spirit. I am sure they were conscious of the influence that their persecutors had on them, but they may not have been aware of the influence of the Holy Spirit upon them. Fourth, while there is no explicit biblical evidence I think it is reasonable to assume that both men and women were included in the group. This would almost certainly be true if families were leaving the city. Fifth, we also know that the people who were fleeing from Jerusalem had not been Christians for a long time. If you do a little research into the New Testament timeline you will find that various sources assign different dates to significant events. The Blue Letter Bible website dates the events of Acts 8 about 5 years after the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. If this is correct then the Christians in our text had been believers for 5 years or less! Sixth, those fleeing were likely not church leaders. We know for certain that they were not apostles (Acts 8:1). Were any church elders in the group? We cannot be sure. But this group was largely made up of what we would call lay people.

Acts 8:4 tells us that these people preached. What did they preach? The text says that they “preached the word.” If I were to ask a group of 21^st century believers to tell me what these people preached I would expect answers like the Word of God, or the Gospel. I don’t think that these answers are wrong. But the larger context in Acts 8 gives us a bit more information about what the preaching in the first century consisted of. Beginning in Acts 8:5 we are told about Philip’s ministry. This verse tells us that Philip “proclaimed the Messiah.” A few verses later in Acts 8:12 we are told Philip “proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” In Acts 11, the other passage that speaks about those who were scattered, we are told that they shared “the good news about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20b). Evangelism was, and is a Jesus-centered message (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 5:12; 8:35; 1 Tim. 2:5-6). And the first-century Christians preached without a completed New Testament, we should be able to preach about Jesus with one. Whether one is a Jewish or Gentile believer in Jesus, whether a leader in the church or not, each one of us should give prominence to the name and message of Jesus. After all, His name is above every other name, and God is the One who gave it to Him (Phil. 2:9).

We have looked at who the scattered people were and considered the message that they preached, but where did they preach it? Acts 8:4 says “wherever they went.” Stated a little differently they preached everywhere they went. Though the text does not supply us with a list of every city or town that they went to, Acts 8:1 says that they were “scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” Acts 9:31 mentions the church in “Judea, Galilee and Samaria.” The account in Acts 11 says that some who were scattered went to “Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch” (Acts 11:19). The believers who fled from Jerusalem seem to have been pretty free in their sharing of the message of Jesus (except for those mentioned in Acts 11:19 who spoke only to Jews). As these people traveled they shared the good news of Jesus in many locations, remember they “preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). And much of their ministry was probably to people that they had not known previously. Some of those who heard the gospel may have been religious in some sense and others may not have been religious at all. In our day many Christians have a difficult time witnessing to people that they do not know, but there is a biblical precedent for it. In fact, it is necessary if the world is going to be reached for Jesus.

Interestingly enough, Acts 8:4 does not say anything about the results of the preaching of this group of people. However, the account of Philip’s ministry, which begins at Acts 8:5, was successful, note the mention of crowds in Acts 8:6 and of supernatural works in Acts 8:6-7. The ministry of those who were scattered, who are mentioned in Acts 11, also seems to have been fruitful. Acts 11:21 says “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” However, the results of the preaching of those mentioned in Acts 8:4 is not the important thing. What is important was their obedience. Jesus’ command was that the Gospel be preached “to all creation” (Mark 16:15). The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) is still in effect. The need for evangelism still exists, so the obedience of believers is still required. Wherever the believers mentioned in Acts 8:4 went the gospel went with them. That should be true for us today as well. Whether we go to work, school, family gatherings, or the store the gospel should go with us and we should look for opportunities to share it. The ministry of all Christians, especially lay Christians, is essential, if the Great Commission is going to be fulfilled. The ministry of lay people was an important feature of evangelism in the first-century church. The above mentioned texts in Acts 8 and Acts 11 support this. But there are other texts as well. When you have time read 1 Thessalonians 1:8, Romans 1:8, and Colossians 1:6. The most likely explanation for the widespread knowledge of the faith in these cities was the vocal sharing of the gospel message by the people of the churches. These testimonies need to be the norm in contemporary churches. May the example of the early Christians inspire us and ignite a renewed involvement in the ministry of evangelism. We need missional believers. There is a needy world waiting. We can all serve either at home or abroad, wherever the Lord wants each of us to be. The important thing is to obediently serve in the cause of evangelism and missions.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

John P. Lathrop is a graduate of Zion Bible Institute and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister with the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies. He has written articles and book reviews for a number of publications including the Pneuma Review, the Africanus Journal of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Christian Trends Magazine, in India, and Berita Mujizat and Jurnal Jaffray, both in Indonesia. He is also the author of five books and also has created and taught a Survey of the New Testament course for PentecostalPastor.com, along with contributing regular columns for the site.