This is the one book of the New Testament where you really need a map!

Acts follows the travels of the apostles as they spread the gospel throughout the Mediterranean, weaving together the geographical journeys with the internal journeys of faith experienced by those travelling The Way.

Acts is the story of a journey. The author Luke tells the story of the birth of the church and its journey outwards and across the world from where it all began, in an upstairs room in Jerusalem.

Woven into this story are the journeys of a whole host of individual travellers, apostles and others, moving back and forth across the Mediterranean world and spreading the gospel wherever they go.

It is also the story of the journey of faith, a journey to which every reader is invited: it is no accident that one of Luke's favourite metaphors for discipleship is The Way. As we read, we share with the first Christians the unfolding excitement of finding that God is 'out there', waiting to meet them and surprise them in this world that is God's world.

As we read, we share with the first Christians the unfolding excitement of the birth of the church, beginning in a tiny upper room and spreading into every corner of the world.