User talk:Chistian Missions

In 1957, short-term missions was revolutionized!

For seventeen years Dorothea Clapp, a lady in the United States, prayed for the high school in her town, that the students there would both be saved and be messengers of the gospel to the ends of the earth. One day, she sent a copy of the Gospel of John to a student, George Verwer. Less than three years later, he gave his life to Jesus. At college he met up with several others who had his heart for reaching the world. Together, they decided God would have them give their school vacations for evangelism. Their first trip took Verwer, Dale Rhoton and Walter Borchard, and 10,000 Spanish Gospels of John to Mexico. People eagerly accepted the Gospels, and hundreds of contacts were made. These trips continued every Christmas and summer. Within two years, Christian bookshops, radio broadcasts and national workers resulted. These students returned to college with a desire to be more diligent in study and prayer, founding OM's roots of discipleship training with evangelism even before the name Operation Mobilization came into existence. Verwer, with his wife, Drena, and a small group of people in their early twenties, went to Spain in 1960. That autumn a group of young people, mainly Spanish, spent hours addressing envelopes using the telephone directory. A tract with the offer of a correspondence course or a Gospel was placed in each. The response was so great that within eight months four young Spaniards were working on the project fulltime. During the first two years more than 20,000 people requested Gospels and correspondence courses. God made a way for a Christian bookshop and for advertising for that bookshop all over Madrid.

Because Verwer and the others were burdened not just for Spain or Mexico, they pioneered the idea of short-term mission projects utilizing large numbers of short-term workers. They prayed for 100 young workers to join them to reach all of the larger towns of Western Europe with Christian literature during the first summer. Nearly 200 people came to the mountains of Madrid for the outreach, which began with prayer and Bible study in the mountains, followed by division into small travelling teams to different countries. This effort for evangelism and the following summer outreaches were called Operation Mobilization, the name that ultimately labeled the whole movement.

During that summer, 25 million tracts were distributed with offers for a correspondence course or a Gospel. By the end of the summer there were 8,000 replies from Italy, some 5,000 from France, 4,000 from Austria and Germany and several thousand from Belgium, England and the Netherlands. Over 50 different Christian groups took part in the follow-up work.

Larger goals were set for the next outreaches, and where 1,000 workers were prayed for, 2,000 came from 30 nations. The summer of 1963 brought forth a surge of evangelism as 80,000 villages were reached with teams bringing tons of literature and a heart to serve.

After this outreach, 200 people stayed on for year-long programs in areas like Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, India and Europe. The thrust of this effort was centered around those that would go to Muslim countries, which had long been a prayer target of OM leadership.

OM had its first missionaries to Turkey in 1961. In 1963, the first couple went to Iran. From there, literature distribution, full-time workers, new churches, Bible study groups, correspondence courses and conferences were established in the Middle East. A significant ministry to Afghan refugees began in Pakistan after the Russian invasion. Longer-term programs developed in Europe at the same time. As before, the thrust was for evangelism, informing churches of OM's work, encouraging believers to pray, and recruiting. An empty paper factory in Belgium became the central office to coordinate efforts and prepare the vehicles.

OM moved into India via an overland trek in trucks from Belgium, carrying literature. OM India is now one of the largest fields, with over 1,000 full-time missionaries. Until recently OM distributed literature off the back of large trucks very publicly. OM has Good Shepherd Ministries in slums all over India, providing education, food for children, and hope in Jesus Christ to thousands of children. Churches are often started in the same rooms as the schools.

OM began a ship ministry with the launching of the Logos in 1970, a ship to be used for world evangelism. The LOGOS visited hundreds of ports, selling and giving away literature to hundreds of people in Southeast Asia, China, Japan and many others. In 1977, a second, larger ship, the DOULOS, was launched, carrying on the same mission as the Logos, in other ports of the world. Both ships would offer book sales, conferences, tours, and the people on board would reach out to the nationals with literature distribution on shore. As with all workers in OM, the marine professionals worked as volunteers. In 1988, the LOGOS was shipwrecked off the south coast of South America, but not one life was lost. By the end of that same year, funds were raised for the purchase of a third ship, christened the LOGOS II. In 1997 LOGOS II visited the West Coast of North America, celebrating the 40th anniversary of OM and helping to launch the regional ministries in the United States. OM has since acquired another ship, much larger than the previous ones, called LOGOS HOPE, and soon it will travel around the world bringing hope to the nations.

OM now works in over 100 countries. At any given moment OM has approximately 4,000 workers, about 2,100 of whom work in the 10/40 window, the area from Northern Africa to Asia, 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator, where 95 percent of the world's unreached live. OM works in Latin America, Central Asia, the former Soviet states, the Middle East, secular Europe, any port into which the ships sail and many other places. Summer outreaches like those begun in 1957 in Mexico still continue around the world. It is estimated that well over 150,000 people have participated in an OM outreach in the last 50 years.

For more information, go to: www.om.org

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George Verwer is the Founder of Operation Mobilization (OM), a ministry of cross-cultural evangelism, church planting and discipleship training. After serving as the International Director from the beginning, George stepped down in 2003 and continues in his ministry with OM, speaking and raising the profile of world missions.

George committed his life to Christ at a Word of Life meeting in Madison Square Garden in New York where Billy Graham preached. Prior to this, George read the Gospel of John given to him by a Christian woman who consistently prayed that God would save students at the high school near her home, which George attended. In 1957, just before entering Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, George pioneered the work of OM in Mexico.

Since then, George has initiated the work of OM in Spain (1960), India (1965) and the ship Logos (1970). In more than 45 years, over 500 million pieces of literature have been distributed and many millions of people have heard about Jesus Christ through Operation Mobilization's ministry. In addition, OM has trained more than 125,000 people, and more than 100 ministries have been launched by people who got their start in missions with OM.

Originally from the USA, George and his wife, Drena, live in Bromley, Kent, a suburb of London. They have three grown children, Benjamin, Daniel, and Christa. George's ministry takes him to various countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Through these travels, he blends preaching and ministry to Christian leaders and churches. George has a deep desire for vital, revolutionary Christianity in himself and others.

Operation Mobilization has more than 4,000 workers from more than 90 nations. Long-term personnel work together with hundreds of young adults who come for shorter periods, and are involved in on-the-job training, cross-cultural evangelism, church planting and New Testament discipleship. OM works in more than 100 nations and on board 3 ships.

For more information, go to: www.om.org

George Verwer is the author of No Turning Back, Hunger for Reality, Revolution of Love, Literature Evangelism and Out of the Comfort Zone. He is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute.