How the Church Began: New Acts Workbooks by Chad Sychtysz

Where did the church come from? Ask most people and they'll say it started with Jesus, and they're right. Ask what happened in the months after He went back to heaven, and a lot of good folks get quiet. They know the Gospels and they've read some of Paul's letters. The story that connects the two is the part many of us have never studied with an open notebook.

That gap shows up in the numbers too. The American Bible Society's 2026 State of the Bible report, done with NORC at the University of Chicago, found that 46 percent of weekly churchgoers aren't regularly reading Scripture on their own. When people were asked why, the reasons that came up most were not having enough time and not knowing where to start. I can't do much about anybody's calendar. But, if you don't know where to start, though, Acts is a good answer.

Where the church begins

Luke opens Acts with Jesus' last words before the ascension, and they work like a table of contents for the whole book: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The rest of the book follows that order. The church begins in Jerusalem in chapter 2, spreads through Judea and Samaria after Stephen is killed, and reaches the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. By the last chapter Paul is in Rome as a prisoner, still "proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance" (Acts 28:31).

For us in churches of Christ, Acts has always mattered in a special way. It's where we turn when someone asks how a person becomes a Christian. On Pentecost, when the crowd heard Peter preach the risen Christ, they "were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what should we do?'" (Acts 2:37). Peter's answer is as clear now as it was that morning: "Repent," Peter said to them, "and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Luke keeps telling conversion stories after that, from the Ethiopian treasurer to the jailer in Philippi, and every one of them lines up with what Peter preached on Pentecost.

What these workbooks do

We've just released Chad Sychtysz's Acts Personal Workbook in two volumes. Volume 1 covers Acts 1–12 in 15 lessons. Peter is the central figure in these chapters, and the lessons move from the ascension and Pentecost through the church's first discipline, Stephen's defense, Philip's preaching, Saul's conversion and the conversion of Cornelius. An introduction covers Luke as the author, the Roman world God prepared for the gospel, and the resurrection testimony behind every sermon in the book.

Volume 2 picks up in Acts 13 with 14 lessons. It follows Paul's three journeys, the meeting in Jerusalem in chapter 15, his arrest, his defenses before Felix, Festus and Agrippa, and the voyage to Rome. Chad keeps reminding readers that Paul isn't the main character of the book. The apostles preached Jesus, and every journey, sermon and trial in Acts serves that message. He also traces a quieter thread in Luke's account, as one Roman official after another finds nothing to charge Paul with.

Chad reads Luke as a careful historian and an inspired writer. He takes the history seriously, from the Jewish councils to Herod's court, without letting it crowd out the point. Each lesson closes with discussion questions and room to write, and the questions push a class past the bare facts of the text. Endnotes carry the scholarly detail so the lessons stay readable, and the Scripture quotations are from the NASB.

For teachers, the numbers work out well. Each volume fits a quarter of weekly classes, so a class can spend two quarters in Acts and come out knowing the book. Each one also stands on its own. Volume 2 opens with a short recap of chapters 1–12, so a class that wants to study the life of Paul can start there.

About the writer

Chad Sychtysz has preached the gospel since 1994, serving churches in Alaska and Washington state, and he lives in Billings, Montana. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and you can see that training in the way he handles Luke's history. He's written more than twenty-five books and workbooks on the Bible, including his Quick Study Commentary Series. These two workbooks join his Personal Study Series, which already runs from Romans to the letters of John and Jude. You can see the rest of his work in Chad's author collection.

Who it's for

These would serve an adult Bible class well, especially one that's never spent a full quarter in Acts. They'd also fit a new Christian who wants to see how the church began, or a longtime member who knows the stories but has never sat down with the text and a pencil. Preachers working through the sermons in Acts will find plenty to use.

Each volume is $12 as a 6 x 9 paperback workbook, 199 pages for Volume 1 and 202 for Volume 2. There's also an $8 PDF for individual use and a $100 class-use license that lets a church print copies for a whole class. If your class is choosing its winter study, I'd put Acts Personal Workbook, Volume 1 near the top of the list and follow it with Volume 2 in the spring.

Acts is our family history. It shows ordinary people hearing about a risen Savior and obeying Him, and the same gospel still works the same way. If you've wanted to get into the Word and haven't known where to begin, this is a good place to open your Bible. Who could you ask to study Acts with you this winter?