Stephen the Witness for Kids

In Jerusalem, the church was growing. Greek-speaking believers complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily sharing of food. The twelve apostles gathered everyone. They said they must keep giving themselves to prayer and teaching God’s word, so the church should choose seven trusted men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, for this service. The believers chose seven, naming Stephen first. The apostles prayed and laid their hands on them.

Stephen, full of faith and power, served in more than one way. God’s grace and power worked through him, and he did great wonders and signs among the people. The crowd saw what God was doing. Some men began debating Stephen in a synagogue. Yet they could not stand against the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Angry opponents secretly persuaded men to accuse Stephen falsely. They stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the law. Then they seized Stephen and brought him before the council. False witnesses claimed that he spoke against the holy place and the law. All who sat in the council watched him closely. But Stephen did not look crushed or hateful. Everyone there saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

When the high priest asked whether the accusations were true, Stephen answered by retelling Israel’s story. The God of glory had called Abraham. God had stayed with Joseph through slavery and raised him up to save his family. God had called Moses, whom Israel first rejected, and used him to lead the people out of Egypt. Yet the people turned to an idol. God gave them the tabernacle, and later Solomon built the temple. Still, Stephen reminded them, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands.

Then Stephen spoke plainly. Like their ancestors, these leaders resisted the Holy Spirit. Their ancestors had persecuted God’s prophets, and now they had betrayed and killed Jesus, the Righteous One. Though they had received God’s law, they had not obeyed it. The council members burned with anger. They gnashed their teeth at him.

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked steadily into heaven. He saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. When Stephen told them what he saw, they covered their ears, shouted, and rushed at him together. They drove him out of the city to stone him.

Outside the city, the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul watched; he did not throw stones. As the stones fell, Stephen called to Jesus to receive his spirit. Then he knelt and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Even in terrible pain, Stephen prayed for the people hurting him, just as Jesus had prayed for his enemies. Then Stephen died.