About Us
Who Is One Mission Society?
One Mission Society (OMS) is an evangelical, interdenominational faith mission (with roots in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition) that partners with more than 300 organizations and church denominations around the world to help fulfill the Great Commission. Founded in Japan 123 years ago, today we are making a global impact for Christ in 81 nations throughout the Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe/Middle East, and Latin America/Caribbean regions. At the core of our DNA is the principle that the most effective way to spread the Gospel is by training a nation’s sons and daughters to multiply believers and churches in their own homelands.
Our Identity...
What we believe...
One Mission Society exists to see the world transformed through authentic, Christ-centered communities. Currently, this vision is being accomplished through the Billion.Global Network, the 125 by 125 Initiative, and our OMS Global Ministries team working with partners in 81 countries.
HOLINESS | By God’s grace, we commit to submit to the authority of Christ and His Word, living lives of holiness, growing in Christ likeness by word, deed and all aspects of our lives (John 17:17).
FAITH | By God’s grace, we commit to live by faith, depending on God for all things, through prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit (John 15:5).
DISCIPLESHIP | By God’s grace, we commit to proclaim the love of Jesus through mentoring and discipleship in ministry, living out our Christianity as part of a community or team, partnering with other community members in a biblical manner (Ephesians 4:11–16).
ACCOUNTABILITY | By God’s grace, we commit to be accountable to God, to our leaders and to our constituents through faithful, persevering labor and good stewardship (Luke 12:48b).
MINISTRY | By God’s grace, we commit to be involved in the fulfillment of the Great Commission by multiplying disciples, churches, and leaders, as well as multiplying missionary movements to reach the nations for Christ (Matthew 28:18–20).
SCRIPTURE | The Bible is the fully and uniquely inspired, written Word of God. Without error in the original documents, it is our sufficient and final authority for faith and practice.
GOD | God, the Father, is the first person of the triune godhead. The one true and living God is the Creator, sovereign ruler and preserver of all things, whether visible or invisible.
JESUS CHRIST | Jesus Christ is the second person of the triune godhead. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus was fully God and fully man. His sinless life and death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins. He arose bodily from the grave and is now enthroned at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We believe that Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly, and reign in power and glory, to complete his salvation and his judgment.
HOLY SPIRIT | The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune godhead, equal in substance with the Father and the Son, whose ministry is to glorify Jesus Christ, convict the world of sin, regenerate those who repent and believe, sanctify and empower true believers for godly living and service.
MAN, FREE-WILL, AND SIN | God created man in His own image with the ability to choose between right and wrong. By his free choice, Adam rebelled against God, fell from his original state and received a sinful nature that each succeeding generation has inherited. Through Jesus Christ, God freely offers grace to all mankind, enabling all who turn to Him to receive pardon and cleansing from sin.
ATONEMENT | Jesus Christ made a full payment for the sins of the whole world by shedding His own blood upon the cross as a perfect and sufficient sacrifice.
NEW BIRTH | When a person responds to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and trusts in Christ for salvation, that person experiences spiritual rebirth.
FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT | The fullness of the Spirit is a biblical term used to describe that work of grace in the heart of the believer subsequent to the new birth. This infilling of the Spirit is a definite experience of cleansing and empowering, which is referred to as sanctification. The progressive aspect of sanctification is that process of growth in Christian maturity, Christlikeness and practical godliness which result from walking obediently.
DIVINE HEALING | It is the privilege of the believer to ask God to heal those who are sick, for the Lord is interested in our physical body. It may not always be God’s will to heal.
RESURRECTION, HEAVEN, AND HELL | There will be a resurrection of the body for both the saved and unsaved dead. For those who are saved, they will be in the immediate presence of God. For those who are not saved, they will be cast into the lake of fire or hell.
THE CHURCH AND IT'S UNITY | The Church is the universal body of Christ composed of all true believers in Christ, with Christ as its head. All true Christians are members of one another and should love one another, build each other up in the faith and obey Christ’s Great Commission by reaching the whole world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You can view the complete Articles of Faith, with references, here. Para español, haga aquí.
One Mission Society’s (OMS) story began in 1901 when two telegraph operators, Charles (and Lettie) Cowman and Ernest (and Julia) Kilbourne, moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Tokyo, Japan, to work alongside Japanese evangelist Juji Nakada. Their vision was to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with every person in Japan. They formed the Oriental Missionary Society, now called One Mission Society.
OMS was founded and ministers from the principle that the most effective way to spread the Gospel is by training a nation’s sons and daughters to multiply disciples, churches, and leaders to reach their own people for Christ then partner with them to reach everyone in the world.
Our Strategies...
How we do what we do...
From our beginnings, OMS has been committed to ministry that bears much fruit among the nations where we labor and partner. In John 15, Jesus reveals that he desires his disciples would “bear fruit” (v. 2), “bear much fruit” (v.8), and “bear fruit ... that will last” (v.15).
We take this principle of bearing fruit so seriously that it is the root of our ministry strategy of multiplying disciples, churches, leaders, and missionaries to build God’s kingdom worldwide.
We MULTIPLY DISCIPLES through intentional evangelism, outreach, and relationships, making disciples who become disciple-makers.
We MULTIPLY CHURCHES through worldwide church planting. These bodies of believers may be large or small, with or without a building.
We MULTIPLY LEADERS through several fruitful training methods, including Train & Multiply, Seed Sowers, New Village Church Planting, and others.
We MULTIPLY MISSIONARIES through major mobilization campaigns like the 125 by 125 initiative, intentionally creating pathways from the majority world for OMS missionaries to go from anywhere to everywhere, and increasing cross-cultural exposure through sending global teams.
Each of these roots helps OMS engage the one to reach the many with the Gospel as God works through our missionaries, partners, and ministries.
Please pray for OMS as we focus on the 125 by 125 initiative (to recruit at least 125 new missionaries by our 125th anniversary in the summer of 2026). We have four primary goals:
· Enlarge the circle of OMS missionaries
· Innovate for the future
· Strengthen care for current missionaries
· Enhance worldwide OMS unity
Global Ministries oversees and supports the missionaries, ministries, and national partners on OMS’ 81 fields around the world. GM also cultivates opportunities for OMS teams to dream and plan for current and future ministry through both everyday conversations and regular regional retreats and leadership meetings.
Launched in July of 2016, the Billion.Global Network was the vision of Bob Fetherlin, former President of One Mission Society. OMS was a founding member of the network, which has grown to include 200+ partners. Learn more about the Billion.Global Network here.
Yes, the OMS statement of faith can be found in our 'Articles of Faith' document. We have two versions available, the first is a short version that can be digested quickly to understand what OMS believes. The second is a full version with Scripture references for those of you who would like to dive deeper into the support for each statement. We also have the short version in Spanish.
OMS is an evangelical, interdenominational faith mission (with roots in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition) that partners with more than 300 organizations and church denominations around the world to help fulfill the Great Commission.
Unfortunately, to serve with OMS USA, you must have US citizenship, but OMS partners with many nationalities around the globe in ministry.
We have missionaries working in sensitive areas around the world who have asked to not be featured on our website. We also have a lot of active projects that we are working to make searchable on our website, but that aren't at the time. If you know the account number or missionary/project name, you can give through the Express Give option here. We'll make sure your gift makes it to the right place.
OMS currently serves in 81 nations. We go wherever the Lord opens the doors to the resources needed.
There are three primary ways that you can make a donation to OMS. You can give with a check, you can give online through our website, or you can setup a e-check (formerly EFT/ACH) donation.
To give by check... Make checks payable to One Mission Society. In the memo please indicate the Missionary/Project name or account number.
Mail your checks to:
One Mission Society
PO Box A
Greenwood, IN 46142
To give online... You can search for missionaries here, or projects here. Once you have selected a missionary or project, click on the detail page to begin a safe and secure online donation.
If you would like to give a combination of one-time and recurring gifts it is recommended that you do so in separate transactions.
In the checkout you will have the option to use your Debit/Credit Card or ECheck. ECheck has replaced the ACH/EFT process, there is no longer a need to send us a voided check.
If you are a church or organization giving to a missionary/project there is a checkbox right before the final "Process Gift" button that will allow you to enter your organization's information.
To give by e-check/ACH... You can set up a recurring donation through your bank via e-check (formerly EFT/ACH). If you have any questions about this process, or need help modifying an existing recurring donation, please contact Donor Support here.
You can find more information on Planned Giving here or donation of Assets, through our ministry partner Donate Beyond, here.
OMS takes a 10% assessment of many donations to help support the infrastructure of the organization.
Yes, you will receive a year-end tax statement each year in February, however, you can also track your giving through your donor dashboard on the OMS website. The first time you give online you will be prompted to create a login that will give you access to the donor dashboard. If you are a current offline giver please contact Donor Support here for information on how to set up a donor dashboard account.
