On September 1, Lawrence Tong took over as the new international director of Operation Mobilisation (OM). He succeeded Peter Maiden who retired from the role after serving for ten years and George Verwer who founded OM in 1957.
Everyone expects big changes when a new leader takes the reins. So what can we expect from Lawrence? For the first time the position of international director will be filled with a non-Westerner, Lawrence is from Singapore and with that he brings his own certain Global South flavour. Another noticeable change, as Lawrence puts it, is that there will be ‘an intentional emphasis on the globalisation of OM — to make OM more user-friendly for non-Westerners’.
The world has changed from the days when North America and Europe were the centre of mission. The non-Western Global South church (Latin America, Africa and Asia) has now become central. Lawrence recognises that churches from the Global South deserve and expect a greater participation alongside Westerners who will no longer have the dominant voice. Lawrence’s plea is that everyone serving OM, whether from the North or South, can come together as equal partners to make joint decisions.
Zambian example
In terms of the Global South, the sub-Saharan central country of Zambia is a good example of increased mission awareness and activity. Zambia is strategic in terms of the African continent in the training of missionaries to reach the least reached and marginalised people groups of the world. Unlike the West, which has hundreds of years of experience of sending missionaries, the work carried out in this region is relatively recent. New, creative and innovative ways of fund raising, teaching and sharing the gospel are being trialled. The word ‘innovate’ is important to Lawrence and OM Zambia, the gospel is always relevant and fresh but the way we structure our organisation and the means by which we reach out needs to adapt to the world around us. It is exciting to be involved in missions in this region of the world as a new period of church history unfolds, one where the Global South will have a big impact on the world. The question for us from the Global North is: ‘What can we do to support our brothers and sisters in the South’? The North is rich in resources and the Global South is not. This is one of the main issues facing missions at the moment. The problem needs to be overcome with ingenuity from the Global South as well as generosity from the North.
