OMS Theological Education
As the church grows exponentially in the majority world, so, too, grows the need for Christ-like leaders! One Mission Society (OMS) Theological Education exists to empower the development of Christ-like leaders for the global church and is committed to providing world-class leadership training and theological education to students in the majority world.
We do this primarily through strategic partnership with Bible colleges, seminaries, and ministry training institutes around the world. Through the mobilization of highly experienced theological education consultants, we encourage, support, and assist our partners to reach optimal effectiveness in fulfilling their institutional missions, using best practices in theological education. We also mobilize academically credentialed teaching fellows to serve at partner schools as faculty.
Ministry Objectives
The primary ministry objective of OMS Theological Education is to enable the development of Christ-like leaders for the global church. We do this through:
- Mobilization of Teaching Fellows (adjunct professors) to partner with Bible colleges, seminaries, and other leadership training programs, to assist in the optimization of fulfilling the God-given mission of the institution.
- Mobilization of Theological Education Consultants to guide, support, and assist executive leadership at partner schools in best practices for theological education and broader leadership and discipleship development.
- Developing, designing, and implementing leadership and discipleship development training programs and assisting our partners to do so as well.
History
The Oriental Missionary Society, now One Mission Society (OMS), was started in Japan in 1901 by founders who had what at the time was a unique vision for missions. They understood the importance of training Japanese men and women for leadership of the church in Japan. This was the origin of the enduring motif within OMS that “it is not the missionaries but the sons and daughters who will win their nation for Christ.”
With this directive firmly established, the work of OMS began to expand, first to Korea, then to China, and onward until today OMS engages in ministry in over seventy countries. Much of the expansion into new fields followed the pattern of spying out the land, sending missionaries to establish the church, and as soon as practicable establishing a seminary to train leaders for the church, especially for the OMS-related denomination in the country.
Thus, OMS missionaries became the professors, the administrators, the primary funders, and the strongest supporters of our seminary partners. Today, OMS enjoys a relationship with thirty-six seminaries and Bible schools, most of which came into being through the above pattern. More recently, OMS has begun to partner with some schools founded independently of OMS. These relationships have and will continue to provide OMS with a venue for strategic input into the essential task of the day, developing Christ-like leaders for the global church.