In Depth:  Operation Mobilisation

Married with two young children, Yaro was an Islamic teacher who was very well versed in the Qur’an.

Over time he found himself drawn to Jesus over Mohammed and wondered why Muslims were not teaching about Jesus in the mosque if the Qur’an mentions Him so much? When he went to his Islamic leaders, they told him not to ask such questions.

From the beginning, the OM team in Ambovombe, Madagascar wanted to see villages reaching villages spreading the gospel across the region, with Jesus followers becoming as common as the cacti that cover the landscape of the Androy region.

The first step was to identify the village, then cover it in prayer before going and preaching the good news. Sometimes they walked, and other times they took an ox cart or a car to travel down the sandy roads to the villages. The team built friendships and identified the people’s needs as well as the issues that held them back from accepting God’s love, such as cultural traditions and beliefs.

Christians in South Asia have brought solar powered audio Bibles to isolated villages as they spread the good news about Jesus, it was reported in January.

The isolated nature of the villages means many people there lack education and are illiterate. The audio Bibles are not just great for reaching those who cannot read, but also a great tool to help villagers share the gospel with others. They can even do it as they work.

The first house church gathering filled an older lady’s eyes with tears of joy as she expressed her pure gratitude and amazement that from being the only believer in her village, a house was filled with 30 people to worship God.

For three years the 77-year-old lady had been the first, and only, believer in Cobîlea. But now, after years of prayers, tears and continual hope in the Lord, she finally experienced the first house church gathering in her village.

A cursory look into the open Zimbabwean landscape often reveals long-bearded men with clean-shaved heads sitting opposite headscarfed woman wearing long white garments. Known as Vapostori (Apostles), the gatherings are of pseudo-Christian groups who mix traditional African beliefs with select Bible teachings – mostly drawn from the Old Testament.

When Pastor Tafara* attended an OM outreach to a Vapostori stronghold in Zimbabwe, little did he know he would be reaching out to more and more of the groups. On a family visit in another area, Tafara took an opportunity to preach at a gospel rally and 42 people indicated they wanted to follow Christ. ‘I expected resistance, but the people came to Christ in their numbers,’ said Pastor Tafara jovially.

‘I saw the purpose from the first month why God put me here,’ said Emir*, an OM evangelist in North Africa.

Other OM workers in his host country served as a team in one city, befriending Muslim Arabs and discipling a handful of local believers. The university that accepted Emir’s application, however, was a few hours away – allowing him to pioneer ministry amongst students and seekers in another unreached area.

Manaar*, a 21-year-old Somali woman living in Sweden, first heard about Jesus from a classmate.

Wanting to know more, she read the Bible, comparing it with the Qur’an. ‘In the Qur’an there is no love. In the Bible there is the love of Christ,’ she concluded.

Maria*, a dancer from Costa Rica, and four others went to Israel to show God’s love using their talents and what they had learned at an Operation Mobilisation (OM) academy earlier in the year.

One morning, Maria and the other dancers were collecting trash along a river. She said: ‘In Israel, the best way to show that you love God is through your actions.

7,000 people have been reported homeless after a fire in Lorega cemetery, Cebu City, destroyed 500 houses on March 18.

Many of the children who attend OM Philippines-Cebu’s Tuesday Evening Feeding Programme live in the cemetery; the little their families had has now been lost.