Early Christian Leadership and its Engagement with Social Hierarchy The book, Acts of the Apostles, chronicles the history of a dynamic growing Church of native Jewish believers from Jerusalem who had faith in the risen Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. The community was led by apostles who were once disciples of Jesus, commissioned to spread the gospel. While Peter focused on the Jewish mission in Jerusalem and Judea, Paul took on the role of a missionary strategist connecting with and establishing leadership in Gentile cities. During this time the Roman empire provided the overarching civil and military framework, while the Sanhedrin served as the highest religious court and local governing body for the Jewish people in Jerusalem. Bible does not speak about how long the apostles and evangelists lived, nor how they died, except Stephen who was stoned to death and James who was slain by Herod. However, ancient writers and historians tell us that nearly all of them died martyr's death after living lives of hardship while spreading the good news. Since, there is a vast difference in the way the early Christian leaders were persecuted, my paper will ask few questions related to the social hierarchy's involvement in imposing judgement and consequent punishment imposed on them. 1. Were the decisions taken for each Christian leader's treatment an independent one or did the authorities follow a uniform pattern? 2. Did the people in social authority manipulate judgement? If so, how and why? 3. How did the Jewish religious leadership engage with the social hierarchy which effected the early Christian leaders? and 4. Do we find parallelisms in the present-day context?