Stephen's life on this earth was over. The high ranking religious leaders had decided that he was too great a threat to their religious control. So they took matters into their own hands and personally stoned him to death. Despite the violent hostility of the Sanhedrin Council, Stephen was at peace before he died.

After Stephen's murder by the religious leaders, there was a large scale persecution of the new believers in Jesus. Many people left Jerusalem; some travelled north into Samaria. It was safer because the zealous Jews despised the Samaritans and would not go there, even to travel through the region, because of their mixed race and religious background (

The church started in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and grew there as the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to preach Christ. But Jesus also wanted them to take responsibility in global mission (Acts 1:8).

The apostles had learned a lot from Jesus in less than three years, but their training was not finished. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth, reminding them of what Jesus had already taught them (