Ministry leaders reflect on legacy of Operation Mobilization founder George Verwer: 'He walked as Jesus walked'
Following the death of George Verwer, who founded Operation Mobilization, ministry leaders are reflecting on his "radical" devotion to spreading the Gospel and his lasting impact on global Evangelical missions.
Verwer, who directed OM for 45 years, passed away peacefully with his family by his side at his home near London, England, on April 14, OM announced in a statement. He was 84 years old.
“George was a man of compassion and love who had a passion for the suffering and lost world,” KP Yohannan, who founded Gospel for Asia, a mission organization that focuses on reaching the unreached people groups in Asia, told The Christian Post. “He was full of grace. He had compassion for everyone, good or bad. He literally walked on the narrow himself, but never condemned anyone else.”
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Born in 1938 in New Jersey, Verwer dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel message around the world. His message was simple yet radical: He invited people to come forward and die to themselves, and to live for Christ.
At the age of 14, he received a copy of the Gospel of John from a woman named Dorothea Clapp, which sparked his curiosity for the Gospel. Three years later, he made a personal commitment to Christ at a Billy Graham rally in New York City, which transformed his life.
Verwer began sharing his faith with fellow students and 200 of them chose to follow Christ within a year. In 1957, he and two friends sold some of their possessions to fund a road trip to Mexico with 20,000 Spanish-language tracts and 10,000 Gospel booklets.
At Moody Bible Institute, George met Drena Knecht and they were married in 1960. They sold some of their wedding gifts to fund a six-month outreach to Mexico City before moving to Spain, where they established OM's work there. OM expanded in the '60s, '70s and '80s, first across Europe and into the Middle East, and then with volunteers crewing ocean-going ships.
After living and establishing ministry in India, the Verwers settled in London, where George Verwer continued to emphasize radical discipleship within OM and focused on ministry sustainability.
It was in India that Yohannan first encountered Verwer. A self-described “barefoot 17-year-old who barely spoke English,” Yohannan was moved by Verwer’s passion and commitment to caring for the marginalized.
“He was like Jesus Himself; he appeared before us and talked about his pain and agony for suffering people, people that never heard God’s name and could not find any hope,” Yohannan said.
“George wept and cried. He said, ‘I invite you to come forward and die to live.’ And I had no clue what he was talking about. Then he went on to explain about discipleship: Jesus called people, young people, to follow Him, forsaking all. Then the next few days, there was an explanation about reaching unreached people groups in Nepal and other countries in North India and how Christians are killed and beaten up. That night, after I heard him talk, I hardly slept, trembling with fear. ‘Is this what God wants me to do with my life?’”
Yohannan kept in touch with Verwer throughout his life, traveling to various countries alongside the evangelist to share the Gospel. Yohannan considers Verwer to be one of the most influential people in his life and ministry; in fact, Verwer even gifted Yohannan one of his famous world map jackets.
“I'm so grateful, truly grateful, that there is someone I knew in the flesh that walked as Jesus walked,” Yohannan said.
A prolific author, Verwer led OM until 2003, then concentrated on special projects, traveling and speaking on global missions at thousands of gatherings worldwide.
Today, OM is one of the largest mission organizations worldwide, facilitating thousands of short- and long-term trips each year. Presently, OM has 3,300 adult workers from 134 countries serving in 147 countries. Additionally, around 300 other mission agencies have either emerged from OM or have been established by former members.
Director of Global Connections for Mission Frontiers, Greg Parsons, who had known Verwer since 1983, remembered the late mission leader as someone who had a gift for mobilizing others and exemplified the power of a praying life. OM’s culture became a model for other ministries of raising up young people with passion and vision for long-term ministry, he said.
“I've always said, and I told him this, that every time he a message, I'm ready to go forward and give my life to missions, even though I already had,” Parsons recalled.
“Prayer was the thing that he modeled for a lot of us and a passion for the Lord and for His purposes,” he said. “He had this huge, 3-foot diameter blow-up globe, and he would just hold that up and start pointing to different countries to pray. It wasn’t just talk for him in terms of prayer.”
Verwer’s approach to evangelism, which he dubbed “messiology,” was accessible to all, centering on the idea that God can work through even the most broken people. And reflective of the message he taught, Verwer was open about his own shortcomings.
“He just emphasized grace and took away maybe some of the, ‘you’ve got to do these certain things’ mentalities, which was sort of the era in which he grew up in, spiritually,” Parsons said.
“He was super transparent. We were once in Thailand for an event, and we decided to reach out to the sex workers and all go down one of the main streets and just pray. But George was so transparent about his own potential for temptation and his own desire not to have that kind of input. He said, ‘You know, I just can't walk down there. I'm going stand here at the end of the street and just pray.’ And I remember seeing him when we came back, and there he was, just praying. And I thought, ‘Wow, that was another standard of guarding himself and his marriage and his family.’”
Verwer was also known for his humble lifestyle and opposition to affluence, adopting the “wartime lifestyle” and challenging Christians to go beyond comfortable Christianity and truly live out their faith. OM donors “loved that,” Parsons said, adding: “They knew their money was going to go toward the ministry.”
“His mentality was, ‘If I use less, there's more for other people to help,’” Parsons said. “I think that's something that has been sort of lost in missions.”
Verwer's impact on the world of missions cannot be overstated, Yohannan said, likening him to the Apostle Paul. He encouraged Christians to read Verwer’s books, including Messiology and Revolution of Love, and listen to his sermons to understand his heart for reaching the far corners of the Earth with the Gospel.
“I think people, if they did it, they would have a Christ-like model to follow,” he said. “I met him at the age of 17. Now, I'm 73. I followed him every step of the way. I never saw a contradiction in what he said and how we lived; that I can vouch for.
He added, “George was a gift from the Lord to the Church. Now, he is earning His reward.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
