"It has been great to have an OM Lifehope team for this mission. It has enabled us as a church to do outreach we would not have normally had the people and resources to do; for instance local village square outreach and door-to-door visits. A particular highlight has been a good number of new Muslim ladies attending our women's event and a record number of parents and children from the local area coming to our Family Fun Day. This has been a direct result of team members raising the profile of the church in the area during the week." - Steve  (church ministry leader)

"During the “A Wonderful Life” programme for the seniors, Catherine and I were sitting with one of the daughters of someone from church and an older man who could hear very, very little. Even though we didn't say much, he did learn through writing and yelling, that we were from Australia and Germany. On knowing this, he was amazed at the fact that a German could be so nice to him. He had been in the war between England and Germany, and the memories were still affecting him today. He had been having a bad period in life, and it was really nice to see him leave with a smile. Though we hadn't been able to communicate much at all, he left saying how it had been so blessed to have seated at a table with 2 very friendly and nice girls. We were amazed, not even sure how we had touched him since we could barely talk, but God had touched his heart that day."  - Magdalena

"One day we went to an Elderly Home to do crafts with the residents.  This was the first time the church had done something like this, so we did not know what to expect.  I went over to a lady, and started to talk.  During the conversation I found out that she was recovering from a stroke.  I love sharing Jesus with the elderly because they often have needs that God can meet.  When we were leaving the staff and residents told us how thrilled they are for us coming.   It looks like the church now has the opportunity for ongoing ministry in this home." - Doug

"Going door to door is always very interesting. It's something that's out of the ordinary in most Christian's life. However, it is something that God does use strongly. We have come to realise that there are so many lonely people eager to talk to someone.   There was one man in particular that Rosemary and I were able to start a conversation with. It started just by saying that we were from the church and wanted to see if there was anything we could do for him. He had just being saying to God that he should start looking for a church, literally just 15 minutes before we knocked on the door!  God's timing is perfect!" - Boo

"Tony and I met one man from Africa who wasn't allowed to work in England. As we arrived at the doorstep, we could hear him singing inside. When he opened the door, he had a Bible under one his arm. After inviting us in for a coffee, it was obvious he didn't have much. The conversation veered to God, and we learnt that he believed Jesus was God's son, but was not God!  We pray that this man will soon discover the “whole truth” about Jesus." - Catherine

"Towards the end of the day Daniela, James and I stood together deciding where we would go when 2 men came walking past.  Daniela gave an invitation to one of them. He mentioned he wasn't into this religious stuff and wanted to move on. James asked why and on the man answered that there was no reason to believe in God again. A good conversation started between us.. The other guy started to talk with James and soon it came to the surface that he had an alcohol problem for which he wanted help. Immediately James offered to call to a rehab centre in Birmingham to see if there was a space for him and there was. What a great divine appointment towards the end of the day!! Praise God for this perfect timing and we pray that this man will stick in through to the end and finds help from our Lord!" - Stefan

"While Boo and I were on knocking on doors a young woman invited us into her house because she was busy feeding her small child. We asked her what the church could do for her and she spoke about children's activities. It turned out that she was a mother to 4 children and was an alcoholic who needed to make new friends while her partner was in prison. He had tried to stab her. As we talked, she indicated that she may be able to make new safe friends at the church. As the young woman walked us to the door, she was radiant and beautiful with pleasure at our visit and promised to come to the upcoming events at the church. Unfortunately she never came. I'll continue to pray for this young woman, it's all I can do." - Rosemary

"On Saturday we had a family fun day.   This event was the busiest ever for the church.  More than 100 people showed up.  We expected that most people would only drop in for a little while so the idea was to have a puppet show for a few minutes and repeat that every hour or so. As it turned out, most of the people stayed the whole afternoon. This meant repeating the puppet show wouldn't make sense. As a result a few team members quickly created a short new programme which was presented at the end of the day. The Gospel was clearly proclaimed and a few of the kids there did show up at the youth event later that evening and also on Monday evening at the Young Explorers meeting." - Stefan (OM Lifehope Mission leader)

"You never know what conversation you can get into when on mission.  Daniela and I met a Muslim who believed that he could have more then one wife. His theory was that since there are three times more women then men on the earth and all women want a man, if he didn't have more then one, then the others would miss out. The conversation lasted for about half an hour." - Michael

"During the women’s event “Death by Chocolate”, I went out with Magdalena to invite more people. The first two girls that we met were from the Czech Republic and they accepted and went inside. We continued inviting people and I saw a Muslim girl and I felt in my heart that I should invite her. In the beginning she said, “No, thank you, I don’t like chocolate” but after we convinced her that she will have a wonderful time she accepted. After the program she confesses to Magdalena “This is the first time in my life that I felt loved and enjoyed such a nice environment”. Those words warmed my heart and I knew that God brought her and we were at the perfect place and time to invite her." -   Daniela

"For me, the event I will remember was the ladies night.  Wherever I looked there was chocolate, as far the eye could see.  To me it was vision of heaven.  We had chocolate decorations and a chocolate fountain with Belgian chocolate.  Everything was first class!" - Susan

"Friday evening we were all ready for about 50 men to arrive for the Asian Pan night. There was a lot of food as well as two sumo wrestling suites for a wrestling competition!   However, only 15 guys came so the programme went different then planned. At the end of the evening there was a lot of food left over. One of the team members suggested we would give the food out to the homeless. One of the church members thought there would be a lot of people at the Salvation Army shelter because of the bad weather, so a call was made and a lot of people in the shelter enjoyed the food!!!" - Stefan

Credit: OM Lifehope
© 2010 OM Lifehope