Outreach : Reverend , how has ECI transitioned from receiving missionaries to sending missionaries ?
RD : ECI started a missionary division in 1974 to send missionaries to different parts of India . We have both crosscultural and national missionaries working with the Indian Missionary Movement ( IMM ) … 1,250 missionaries serving across the country . Through the work of IMM , ECI has 20 churches and 22 missionaries working in the Jawadhu Hills region of India as well as 35 students enrolled in Bible school .
Outreach : How do you think OMS can help more national believers to serve outside their home countries ?
RD : Things have changed these days because India can ’ t have full-time missionaries from other countries . So , the national believers need to be prepared to move within their country to reach the unreached for Christ .
Outreach : Mônica , how did God connect you to OMS ?
MC : I came to know about OMS through my home church , the Central Missionary Church of Maringá , in Paraná , Brazil , which was founded by OMS missionaries in 1953 .
Outreach : Why did you want to serve in Mozambique rather than remaining in Brazil to minister ?
MC : I truly believe that God pointed me to Mozambique . He confirmed this direction to me in many ways . My adaptation to Mozambique has been challenging in several ways . Even though the local language is Portuguese , there are many things related to oral communication that are difficult to understand , such as the dialects … On the other hand , people are very hospitable and kind .
Outreach : Chris , how have you seen God working through the OMS fields as we transition from receiving missionaries to sending missionaries ?
CW : We see God working in and through the national churches to ignite a passion for the nations and for unreached and under-reached people . The global church is obeying the Spirit ’ s leading , even when it begins to break from the traditional mission models of years past .
Outreach : What are your dreams for OMS in sending more national missionaries in the future ?
CW : I dream of a day where sending missionaries in OMS is less like a one-way street ( from signatory to field ) but rather becomes a multidirectional highway system . I would love to see fields that are receiving and sending missionaries so that we will be part of the “ from anywhere to everywhere ” solution that the Great Commission demands .
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