M-Moments: The Scattered and the Sent

"Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." — Acts 8:4

London has always been a crossroads, but lately, it feels like a living mosaic. Every street, every shop, and every train ride tells a story of movement… of people who came looking for education, opportunity, or simply a better life. During a recent visit, I couldn’t help but notice how the city buzzes with the sounds of many nations.

On every corner, you can almost hear the world breathe, a hundred languages rising and blending into one community.

A quick look at the numbers shows how much London has changed.

In 1961, over 94% of London’s residents were White British. Today, that figure is under 40%. Each borough has its own story, but collectively they reveal an undeniable truth that this city has become a patchwork of the dispersed.

Of course, statistics can’t smile back. They don’t teach their children how to read a map of the Metro or give directions to a confused traveler. But one young Christian Nigerian mother did.

We happened to share a train that evening. She was showing her daughter how the metro worked. Her little girl clutched a worn pink backpack, eyes wide and curious, already learning to belong in two worlds at once. She was patient, calm, and kind enough to guide me to my stop as well. As we talked, I was reminded again that migration is never just about policy or population charts. It’s about people. Ordinary, remarkable people made in the image of God.

That short encounter carried more weight than most would realize. Because behind her story lies a much bigger one. It is a global movement of believers already positioned by God in places of immense opportunity.

A few weeks earlier, I was in Abuja, Nigeria, speaking at the first World Missions Congress of the Anglican Communion. The Primate and several denominational leaders had gathered bishops, archbishops, and mission directors from across the country. They came to wrestle with an important question: How can we, together, complete the unfinished task of global missions?

It was a powerful sight, one that brought to mind Acts 13. In Antioch, the church prayed, fasted, and sent out workers to spread the gospel. Nigerian churches are asking the same questions today: Who will go? How do we train them? How do we support them once they’ve gone? These are the right questions.

But then I asked them to consider something they might have overlooked: What if many of their missionaries have already gone?

I reminded them of Acts 2 and Acts 8… two earlier moments of divine sending. In Acts 2, thousands of visitors to Jerusalem encountered Christ and went home changed, spreading the gospel across more than fifteen regions. In Acts 8, persecution scattered believers from Jerusalem throughout the Roman world. Neither group planned a mission trip, yet both carried the gospel wherever they went.

And so do millions of Nigerian believers today.

Students, workers, and professionals are spread across different nations. They have already crossed borders, learned new languages, adapted to new cultures, and formed relationships. If they were still in Nigeria, they would be prime candidates for missionary training. But now, they are already in the harvest fields.

I reminded the leaders in Abuja, “These men and women don’t need to be sent. You have already done that. What they need is to be seen. They don’t need airfare or housing because they already have those. What they need is prayer, encouragement, and validation from their home churches. They need to understand that their scattering is part of God’s sending."

When that truth landed, it was like someone turned on the lights in a dark room.
Some sat back in silence; others nodded slowly, tears in their eyes, as if realizing that sons and daughters they thought were gone were already preaching the gospel across the world. The realization that their diaspora members had not simply gone, but were already on mission, changed everything.

And perhaps that realization is what God keeps teaching me every time I return to London. These streets, with their red phone boxes and constant motion, remind me that the message of the gospel is still calling out, if only we’ll listen.

That brings me back to the London Metro.

That young mother and her daughter may never stand in a pulpit, but who knows what God will do through their quiet witness? London is full of such stories… Nigerians, Ghanaians, Indians, Filipinos, Brazilians, Syrians… each carrying their faith into neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.

The question isn’t whether they’re here. The question is whether we see them.

Acts 8 reminds us that God scatters His people with purpose. Acts 13 reminds us that the church still sends intentionally. The miracle of our time is that both are happening at once. The scattered and the sent are meeting in the same cities, sometimes even on the same street or on the same train.

So who do you see on your bus, in your classroom, or at your workplace who might already be part of God’s plan? What if your role isn’t to send them somewhere else... but to walk beside them where they already are?

Our job is to recognize what God is already doing. Because sometimes, the next missionary we’re praying for is already on board. Maybe it’s time we stopped asking who will go and started asking who God has already placed beside us.

This week, look around. Someone near you has already been sent. See them, listen to them, and remind them they are not forgotten.