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THE INTERVIEW: GEORGE VERWER, FOUNDER OF OM

George Verwer

George Verwer, the 72-year-old founder of global mission organisation OM (Operation Mobilisation), was recently in Australia where he gave a series of talks in major cities. Here, the grandfather of five talks to DAVID ADAMS about OM’s beginnings, his vision for the ministry and his heart for mission…

George Verwer, the 72-year-old founder of global mission organisation OM (Operation Mobilisation), was recently in Australia where he gave a series of talks in major cities. Here, the grandfather of five talks about OM’s beginnings, his vision for the ministry and his heart for mission…

What’s the purpose of your latest visit  to Australia?
“I’m here sharing the message of global missions and discipleship and sharing my testimony, with God’s grace, of 55 years in the race.”

George Verwer

WELL TRAVELLED: George Verwer has visited 90 countries since starting out as a missionary 50 years ago.

 

“It really is the grace and mercy of God…I feel the Holy Spirit has led a whole team of us to keep pressing on, especially toward the more unreached places of the world.”

– George Verwer, founder of OM

What message have you brought for the Australian church?
“I don’t think it’s that new. I think men of God in Australia are preaching the same message from the same book but since I’ve been in 90 nations in the world – I’ve been in missions for about 50 years – sometimes there’s stories (to share), sometimes there’s aspects of the challenge (to talk about), especially the challenge with regard to Muslims which is the priority group we work among. And then with that, of course, we have a lot of prayer partners and friends and parents coming whose children are on the ships or in the Muslim world and so we have celebration dinners where we’ve shared with them answers to prayer. 
      “One of the unique things is that I am raising funds for a big evangelistic thrust in India through evangelistic DVDs. DVDs have never been used widely in India for evangelism…I’ve just been in India again – that’s where I lived years ago when we started the work there – (and) I’m trying to raise money ($US250,000) for 100,000 of these DVDs in 12 Indian languages of this really proven, effective Indian Jesus Film. (It) is done by Indians and through the film shows over the last 20 years a couple of hundred thousand people have confessed faith so it’s a proven ministry tool. (N)ow we’re in this shift to make it more widely available through this evangelistic DVD. It’s been very exciting to see the financial response to that.”

You founded Operation Mobilisation more than 50 years ago. Did you ever imagine it would grow into the international organisation – with more than 5,400 people working in 110 countries – that it is today?
“No I don’t think I did. I was only 19 when I went to Mexico and started this thing and it’s 50 years that my wife and I, after six months in Mexico, moved to Madrid. My vision was very narrow and I wasn’t sure how it was all going to work out – it was for Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq and Turkey, it was for closed countries like (those) in the Soviet bloc and Communist countries, but, through get arrested by the KGB the next summer, in ’61, I realised maybe I was running too fast. 
     “So I had a day of prayer and that’s when God gave me the name – the original name was Send The Light (STL) – and…the vision for Western Europe: that He wanted a significant mission mobilisation to take place through the churches in Western Europe and I was to be just a servant of the churches. So that was a huge shift. I moved to from Madrid, Spain, to London, England, and I started taking meetings in places like Cambridge and Oxford and that became the real birthplace of OM as it is today…Europe seemed to be ripe for this vision and Europeans took the leadership and then, of course, it spread to international leadership. It really is the grace and mercy of God – I don’t feel I’ve really led it very well; I feel the Holy Spirit has led a whole team of us to keep pressing on, especially toward the more unreached places of the world.”

Are there any countries – and India may well be one – which are really pressing on your heart at the moment?
“Yes, India is one of priority countries but our original priority once that vision of Operation Mobilisation was given, of course, were the Muslim countries. We actually went to India partly because there were huge numbers of Muslims – 150 million now – so we have mixed emotions in that our work in India has exploded – 2800 new churches, 100 schools among the Dalits, a lot of social and humanitarian work among the extreme poor, among those with HIV/AIDS – but we’ve not made a lot of progress among the Muslims in India. So that stands as one of the biggest challenges. (And) when we add to that Bangladesh, Pakistan and everything going all the way west to places like Morocco, we are facing an awesome challenge. So those nations are especially on our heart. And we’re very much linked with other agencies – you may have heard the hot news that Pioneers are merging with Arab World Ministries, formally the famous North African Mission, and the director of that is a former ‘OMer’ as is true of many agencies today. So we very much feel linked to that others, especially those that are giving priority to Muslims.”

“In our philosophy – and we don’t judge people with a different philosophy – it includes social concern, social action concerning the AIDS crisis, the impure water crisis, the extreme poverty crisis in the world today, the whole crisis in connection with the abuse of women from sex trafficking to infanticide.”

How do you define the word mission? 
“Well, I think when we talk about global missions, we are including the great combination of proclamation ministry with all of its aspects from film to street work to door-to-door work to mass evangelism, literature, everything connected with proclamation and connected with discipleship and church planting. In our philosophy – and we don’t judge people with a different philosophy – it includes social concern, social action concerning the AIDS crisis, the impure water crisis, the extreme poverty crisis in the world today, the whole crisis in connection with the abuse of women from sex trafficking to infanticide. So for us mission is very much tied together with building the Kingdom. I think we’re still learning, we’re still reading….listening to what people are saying around the world. But at least I think think that gives a little idea as to what mission means to us as a movement.”

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the interplay between reaching out to people to point them to Jesus and the provision of humanitarian and whether one should ever be dependent on the other. I gather from what you’re saying you believe both are important?
“Yeah, absolutely. People never thought we would change, they certainly never thought George Verwer would change but we have changed. We sought the Scriptures; we were mentored by Godly people like John Stott. I was at the Lausanne event in ’74 when the leaders of that event signed a document that (said) that these two things come together – proclamation and social concern/social action. It’s not an easy road and, of course, with that the Holy Spirit leads different people in very different ways. The Holy Spirit is not leading every church, every individual, every mission to get involved in every thing. That would be ridiculous. So we can take the big total challenge into our spiritual DNA (and) then we have to get God’s guidance in regard to where we put our own time and energy and finance. And the Lord will lead different people in different ways. The whole goal of my book, Out Of The Comfort Zone…was a more grace-awakened approach to mission and especially to the controversies connected with mission: that we realise the Holy Spirit works in different people in different ways and we bathe ourselves in I Corinthians 13 – the reality and revolution of love that we see in the life of Jesus – and become more big-hearted and more giving toward brothers and sisters who do it differently or who may not agree with us.”

The OM ship, the MV Doulos, recently retired from active service as it prepares to undergo restoration so it can be transformed into an exhibition ship in Singapore. Were you sad to see it go?

“I have to be honest, not really, because, as the one who purchased the ship in the first place, I thought if we got 10 years it would be a miracle. We knew what we were buying – an old ship – and God gave us 31 years,. My heart went out to those who were on the ship, it was more difficult for them. But it wasn’t difficult for me sitting in London…Of course it was an encouragement to know that it wasn’t going into the scrapyard and we’re just thanking God for 40 years of very highly blessed, successful ministry with our ships. You may remember that our first ship – I lived on that ship with my family, and after 17 years we lost that ship in the Beagle Channel – that was a bigger blow than what happened with the gentle retirement of the Doulos.” 

You stepped down from the organisation’s international leadership in 2003 yet I understand you and your wife Drena are still constantly travelling the world? What is your role these days?
“I have two or three different roles. One is directing the special projects ministry…It’s sort of a founder’s fund. And I have a lot of relationships with churches and people who like to give to me or to special projects and then let me decide how that money can be best used. I’m almost like, I sometimes say, a’ Holy Ghost broker’. And then my other ministry is a preaching/teaching ministry – 330 public meetings last year and some television and radio work in about 20 countries…And then, of course, just being an ambassador overall of OM…I just get so many invitations, so many open doors, and I just try to represent the whole work, not just one aspect of it. So I’ve got three jobs now instead of five – it’s much more relaxing and a lot less pressure. I’m moving more into a wholistic ministry, speaking more about pro life issues and AIDS issues and I actually have more on my plate, more emails, than ever in my life…But at the bottom line, of course, personal relationships with people, praying for people…is one of the most important aspects of my life.”

What are you most grateful for in your life?
“I’m most grateful for a wonderful wife (Drena). Fifty years she’s stood with me, always affirming me…And I think the second thing, is the other co-workers…I’m just so privileged to work with people who really are serious disciples of the Lord, who want to grow, who want to stay humble and broken before Jesus.”

www.om.org.au

 

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