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.
