Workers Needed in Africa
By Chuck Rapp , Africa Regional Director , OMS Global
I met Kolo in Yamoussoukro , Côte d ’ Ivoire , where he served as a gifted translator at the 2019 Village Church Planting ( VCP ) supervisors ’ seminar . He seemed to always have a smile on his face while maintaining his composure during high-spirited conversations .
Kolo is a humble , joyful , and confident man . As we worked together , I discovered more of his story . Kolo works as a translator , and he desires to leverage this skill in ways that expand Christ ’ s kingdom . He hopes to work in northern Côte d ’ Ivoire , where Christianity is the minority religion . He seeks training on how to plant and lead a home-based church or small group .
One Mission Society ( OMS ) believes there are several men and women like Kolo , many of whom are civil servants , with a vision to take the Gospel to hardto-reach places .
Concurrently , VCP is healthy and expanding its impact across Africa . The largest need and opportunity for growth is in northern regions where Islam remains the dominant religion .
By building upon VCP strategies and successes , OMS is poised to motivate , mobilize , and equip partner denominations and workers for church planting and for near- and cross-cultural missionary work in the Sahel and farther north in Africa .
A new OMS residential field in West Africa By Chuck ( most Rapp , likely Ghana or Côte d ’ Ivoire ) Africa Regional Director , will facilitate this initiative . The primary OMS Global work of this field will be building relationships and partnerships with like-minded African denominations and organizations and equipping African missionaries .
OMS envisions two initial missionary families , couples , or individuals in a new West African field . The team working with our VCP in-country leadership would cultivate relationships with national denominational or interdenominational groups that have a vision to send missionaries to North Africa . Much of the early work would be vision-casting , mobilizing , training , and formulating strategy with African leaders and workers . Initially , we anticipate that many of these indigenous missionaries will be bivocational . We foresee an OMS team that will primarily inspire , equip , and pray for indigenous missionaries like Kolo .
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