‘And it came about that, as Peter went throughout all parts, he came down also to the saints who dwelt at Lydda.'
‘As Peter went through all.' This is a continuation phrase linking with the previous verse, stressing his oversight of ‘the church -- throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria'. Events may have been happening elsewhere but the work of God in Palestine goes on apace. And during this process he arrives at Lydda, where the church may well have been founded by Philip, or some other Hellenistic believers scattered by the persecution, or it may have been by believers returning after Pentecost.
Lydda was twenty five mile north west of Jerusalem at the intersection of the road from Jerusalem to Joppa, and the road from Syria to Egypt. It was thus a buzzing commercial centre. Josephus tell us that it was not as large as a city, but it would later for a while become a rabbinical centre, and played a prominent part in Christian activity.