By Pieter Vermeulen, ICC Board Member, as part of a series, “Persecuted but not Forsaken.” The Book of Acts tells the story of the early church as it began to proclaim the gospel in a world that was often hostile to its message. What we discover in these pages exposes how far many modern expressions of Christianity have drifted from the cross-shaped pattern of the early church. For the first followers of Jesus, faith was never separated from risk. Proclaiming Christ meant confronting the religious and political powers of their day.