The Greek verb diaspeirō (διασπείρω) means to scatter widely, to spread abroad like seed, or to disperse. It combines dia (through, throughout) with speirō (to sow seed). It appears three times in Acts (8:1, 4; 11:19) in connection with the scattering of the Jerusalem church following the persecution after Stephen's martyrdom — and in each case, the scattered believers preached the word wherever they went.
Acts 8:1–4 is one of the most remarkable passages in the New Testament: persecution was intended to destroy the church, but diaspeirō — scattering like seed — is exactly what multiplied it. Those who were scattered (diaspeirō) 'went about preaching the word.' The grain sower's wisdom: scattered seed multiplies. God transformed what the enemy meant as suppression into the mechanism of global mission. This is the theology of the Diaspora (diasporā, from the same root — James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1): God's people, scattered, become salt and light throughout the nations. The persecution that scatters is, in God's sovereign economy, the planting of the gospel.