Faith and faithfulness, year after year
When George Verwer and two of his friends traveled to Mexico in 1957 to serve the people there, they experienced tremendous need, but also incredible openness.
While still students, they opened a bookstore in Mexico and started a radio station. Expanding their reach into Europe, they stressed that God uses ordinary people so that the message of His love can reach all nations. Thousands of Christians responded to this call. Thus was born the OM organization.
The story of OM is the story of ordinary people motivated by extraordinary love.
| 1955 | Operation Mobilisation began in the 1950s when an American teacher began to pray for the students at her local high school. Dorothea Clapp asked God to touch the world through the lives of young people. God answered her prayers! Mrs. Clapp's son gave the Gospel of John to one of the students, who later gave his life to God at a Billy Graham meeting. That young man was George Verwer, the founder and first director of OM. |
| 1957 | In college, George and two friends met regularly for prayer. In 1957 they traveled to Mexico: they sold some of their belongings to finance the trip and distributed Bibles and Christian literature there. In the following years they spent every summer break in Mexico. |
| 1960 | After graduating in 1960, George and his friends travelled to Europe and began missionary work in Spain. However, the task of reaching the whole of Europe seemed overwhelming. George and his small team realised that in order to reach all nations, the whole church needed to be mobilised. As they began to share their vision, hundreds of Christians responded. This is how Operation Mobilisation was born. |
| 1963 | After three years, there were already 2,000 people operating within OM in Europe. At the same time, the teams moved to the Indian subcontinent and began operating in the Middle East. Their goal was to reach those who had never heard the Gospel. |
| 1964 | OM reaches Poland. Socialist Poland becomes a base for preparing shipments of literature smuggled into the Soviet Union. At the same time, a vision of action develops among young Poles, thirsty for contact with the outside world and looking for hope in their efforts to achieve freedom. |
| 1970 - 1977 | In response to logistical challenges, OM developed the concept of ministry through ships. In 1970, Logos was purchased, and in 1977, Doulos, enabling Christian literature to reach the entire world. |
| 1966 - 1980 | OM's work is starting in more countries, branches are being established on every continent and more people are being reached every year. |
| 1981 - 1991 | The organisation officially changes its name from 'Send the Light' to 'Operation Mobilisation'. Over 7,000 young people attend the LOVE EUROPE mission conference in 1989, and hundreds join OM permanently. OM begins humanitarian work in response to the Gulf War. |
| 2004 | The OM ship, Logos Hope, begins its service. |
| 2007 | OM celebrates its 50th anniversary! |
| Today | OM conducts activities in 147+ countries, bringing help and hope to people every day. |
OM has had a presence in Poland for more than half a century, starting in the 1960s, when George Verwer and his associates were active here. The OM Greater Europe team was primarily involved in publishing and distributing literature. After the fall of socialism, OM teams began living in Poland in the early 1990s, working with local churches and focusing primarily on youth work and English language teaching.
Since 2000, the Polish branch was headed by Donna and Arek Delik, continuing preventive and educational work among young people in Kutno, as well as expanding its activities to include support groups and outreach projects aimed at addicts and those at risk of marginalisation. From 2007 to 2020, OM functioned as a field branch of the Biblical Missionary Association (KRS 0000113035).
At the end of 2019, the role of branch director was assumed by Weronika Czajko, and in January 2020 OM in Poland was registered as an association based in Warsaw. This stage of activity coincided with a period of acute crises in various areas of social life, to which we can respond in accordance with our mission. It is also a time of dynamic development of the Association's team and infrastructure.
Over the years, both the needs and the scope of our activities have changed, but our passion to follow Jesus by bringing help and hope to all people has remained constant.
