In Acts 8:4 we read that the Christians who were scattered as a result of persecution of the church in Jerusalem “went about preaching the word.” This is especially true of the Greek-speaking Jews-turned-Christians after their unspoken leader, Stephen, was martyred by angry Jews. Verse 5 says that one of them, Philip: “went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.”
Who else do we know that ministered in Samaria? Jesus in John Chapter 4; and we know from that account that Jews and Samaritans did not have normalized relations. To the Jews, the Samaritans were both ethnic and religious half-breeds. When the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., they displaced many of the Israelites with Assyrians. The intermarrying that took place produced the Samaritan people. They practiced a watered-down Judaism that accepted only the Pentateuch, although they were anticipating a personal Messiah. The Samaritans had their own temple at Mt. Gerazim, which the woman at the well referenced in John 4 in her conversation with the Lord Jesus. Thus it was no small matter for Philip, a Jew, to go and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah – although perhaps Jesus’ prior ministry there paved the way. Acts 8:6-14 indicates that the Samaritans received the word of the gospel as preached and attested by Philip, and in considerable numbers. I like verse 8: “There was much rejoicing in that city.” It was not because of a Super Bowl or election victory, but because of the spiritual and physical deliverance that accompanied the good news, the gospel.
Thus we could say that another result of the stoning of Stephen was that the gospel went to a group of people the Jewish believers would not have gone to “naturally”. Perhaps the next time we face hardship or even persecution because of our faith in Christ, it may be God taking us to “the Samaritans” near us; an individual, family, or group of people you might not normally think of ministering to because they are somehow “different.” But they are people with needs and aspirations just like you and me. Perhaps we can be like Philip, and begin proclaiming Christ to them.