Soon after the two warring factions in Mozambique (Renamo and Frelimo) signed a peace agreement at the Vatican in 1992, Alan Sylvester, then director of OMS South Africa, along with the OMS South Africa Board of Trustees, believed that God wanted OMS to begin training work in Mozambique. David Dick and Alan and Jeanne Sylvester of OMS and Orai Lehman of Worldwide Wesleyan Missions made a survey trip, concentrating on the area around Beira. Warren Hardig, executive director of Men For Missions International (MFMI) was a part of a survey trip in 1994. During that time, OMS officials were working to register OMS in the country, but nothing official had taken place.

In the last week of March 1996, the group of missionaries who would be initiating the work in the capital city of Maputo made a final survey trip. This group was composed of Bruce and Mabel Callender (field leaders), Claude and Marilynn Meyers, Steve Doxey and Vaughn Telfer. Max Edwards of MFMI accompanied the group on this trip. The purpose of the trip was two-fold: 1) Find out how OMS could enter the country; and 2) survey the possibility of opening a school for missionary children.

During that trip, the missionaries made contact with workers from seven mission organizations: missionaries with African Evangelical Fellowship (now SIM), Steve and Liz Groves from Australia, Dick Morgan (now deceased) and his wife Lois, Nazarene missionaries Dave and Rhoda Restrick, Jim Brock of Southern Baptist Mission, Jon and Bonna Ray of Good News for Africa and Orai and Linda Lehman of Worldwide Wesleyan Missions. These missionaries challenged the survey team, saying there was never a better time for missionaries to come to Mozambique because the country was so open following many years of war.

The team also met with Rolland and Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries. The Bakers had a large orphanage, and OMS was looking to place their first missionary, Julie Diprose, in Mozambique. She had been in training in South Africa for three months and needed to either return to New Zealand or go into Mozambique. OMS made an agreement with the Bakers that Julie would be loaned to them for work in the orphanage. Julie moved to Mozambique in April 1996 as the first OMS missionary to live in the country.

Christian Academy in Mozambique

Setting up a school for missionary children was crucial to beginning OMS work in Mozambique. During the 1996 survey trip, Dr. Claude Meyers was able to arrange a meeting of many parents whose children did not have adequate schooling or a Christian social life of any form due to curfews and a high crime rate. School children came to Dr. Meyers and begged him to return to Mozambique and open a Christian school. This confirmed the need, and OMS made a commitment to open a school in September of that year. Claude and Marilynn Meyers arrived with 16 boxes of books for the school in August 1996, and on September 12, Christian Academy in Mozambique started in a rented house with 12 students. The Callenders arrived at the end of August and Larry and Susan Weil came from India at the end of September to work in the new school. This was the first OMS ministry in Mozambique.

Registering OMS

After their arrival, the first work the Callenders did was make contact with missions and government authorities and learn Portuguese. They quickly began the process of registering OMS with the Department of Religious Affairs. Thirteen months later, on November 7, 1997, OMS International was officially registered with the Department of Religious Affairs under the Ministry of Justice. The Director of the Department of Religious Affairs, Dr. Job Chambal, conducted this ceremony and the official signing of the book.

Churches in Mozambique

The first church was established in 1997 in T3, an area about eight miles from Maputo. Steve Doxey and his family had just arrived from language school in Portugal, and he developed a friendship with a guard, Antonio, who lived on his street. Antonio lived in T3 and had several friends meeting in his home to study the Bible. Antonio asked Steve to come and help them understand the scriptures. He started meeting with the group under a tree at Antonio’s home, and the group soon grew to the point where a simple reed structure with a vinyl roof was built to accommodate more people. In 1999, another church was started outside Maputo in Xipaminine.

In March 2000, Mozambique suffered severe flooding, and portions of T3 were devastated. The government relocated 53 families from T3 to an area called Khongolote. The T3 church people felt these 53 families should have a church to worship in, even though none of the church families had lost their homes. Because of their efforts, Vaughn Telfer started a second church in Khongolote under another tree in the middle of the temporary tent dwellings. Because of the food distribution and rebuilding efforts of OMS, the local government provided land where the Khongolote Ministry Center now stands.

The church in T3 became the recognized national church location. The national church was officially registered in December 2005.

The Maputo Biblical and Theological Seminary

Since OMS work began in Mozambique in 1996, there was a vision to develop a training institution capable of training Mozambican men and women to reach their own people for the Lord. Seeing the increasing need for a seminary where church workers could be trained, OMS International acquired a suitable piece of property in Maputo in December 1999. The Maputo Biblical and Theological Seminary began classes in February 2001 in two small classrooms in the heart of Maputo, Mozambique.

Every Community for Christ Teams

The Mozambique mission field embraced the Every Community for Christ (ECC) teams in 2001. The results have been exciting. Evangelistic church planting began in southern Mozambique, in and around Maputu. Now, ECC teams are working in the central provinces of Mozambique as well.