Operation Mobilisation (OM)

It began with a van. In 1957 George Verwer and two college friends drove a battered vehicle full of Bibles into Mexico. OM traces the story further back still, to an American housewife named Dorothea Clapp who spent eighteen years praying for the pupils of her local high school — Verwer was one of them.

Today more than 4,500 OM workers of 125 nationalities serve in over 147 countries, plus two ocean-going ships. The ships are the part most people have heard of: Logos Hope, in service since 2009, and the smaller Doulos Hope, which joined in 2023 and can reach ports the big ship cannot. Crews are volunteers, usually for two years, and roughly a million visitors come aboard in an average year.

For Poland this is one of the oldest entries in this catalogue. OM has been present in the country since 1964, and today works as a registered association in Warsaw — humanitarian aid, self-help groups, medical missions, art and sport projects, education and small-business help, much of it with people who arrived as refugees.

• Founded
  1957, when George Verwer and two friends drove a van of Bibles to Mexico
• Founders
  George Verwer and Dale Rhoton. OM traces its roots to the prayers of Dorothea Clapp, who prayed for eighteen years for the pupils of her local school
• Led by
  Dr Iain Pickett of the United Kingdom, International Director since 1 September 2025, following Lawrence Tong, who led OM from 2013
• Behind it
  A movement of national offices rather than one company. International services run through OM International Services (Carlisle) Ltd in England; OM USA is a 501(c)(3)
• Based in
  There is no single world headquarters. The international services office is at Unit B, Clifford Court, Cooper Way, Carlisle CA3 0JG, United Kingdom
• Reach
  More than 147 countries, with over 4,500 workers of 125 nationalities, plus two ships
• The ships
  Logos Hope, bought in 2004 and sailing since February 2009, carries a community of over 400 people from more than 45 nations. Doulos Hope joined in 2023 and works mainly in East Asia and the Pacific. Crew are volunteers, usually for two years, and around a million visitors come aboard each year
• Cost
  Workers raise their own support. Ship crew serve as volunteers
• You get
  Long-term mission teams, short-term trips, the ship ministry, relief and development work, and training
• How to join
  Find a role at om.org, or apply to a ship through the ship ministry pages
• Polish
  Yes — OM has been in Poland since 1964. Today it is Stowarzyszenie Operation Mobilisation w Polsce, ul. Brzeska 18/U3, 03-737 Warsaw (KRS 0000825086), with a community centre called Dom Kultur at Brzeska 18/U1. Site: ompolska.org, e-mail info.pl@om.org
• What we checked
  We found the named international director, the Polish registration and the ship figures on OM pages. OM publishes a country count rather than one consolidated global budget
• Contact
  +44 1228 615 100 (international services) · om.org

Operation Mobilisation (OM) does not sponsor or endorse Embassy of the Kingdom, and we are not affiliated with them. We list them because we checked them and would put them in a friend’s hands. If you lead a ministry and would like to be considered, or believe something here should be corrected, write to us — we read every message ourselves.