The OC International mission was established in the early 1950s. It was born and developed as a result of a deep conviction that millions of people are lost and that in God’s plan, all followers of Jesus must be involved in delivering the message of eternal life to all mankind.
International Communism had completed its greatest achievement by dominating the Chinese people. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of General Chiang Kai-shek, President of Free China, asked someone to come to Taiwan to preach to the defeated armed forces. In response, the Youth for Christ sent a team of three men: Dick Hillis, Uri Chandler, and Ellsworth Culver. Thousands of men responded positively to the Gospel and were immediately enrolled in a correspondence Bible course.
In November 1950, just before the three missionaries left Taiwan, the team spoke with Dr. James Dickson, a veteran Presbyterian missionary on that island. Dr. Dickson asked them to return to Taiwan to help train those thousands of converts so they could reach the millions of unsaved around them.
It was this request that led to the birth of a mission of dedicated men and women who devoted themselves to the Body of Christ as “servants because of Jesus” (2 Cor 4:5). Serving has become the philosophy of ministry of the new mission. In 1951, our founder, Dick Hillis, with Norm Cook, Ellsworth Culver and their families formed the first OC team, resident in Taiwan.
At this time OC meant Overseas Crusades. Then the acronym OC came to mean One Challenge. Following the same philosophy, Sepal, when it was organized in Brazil, meant Service of Evangelization for Latin America and passed to Serving Pastors and Leaders. Today Sepal is part of the Global OC Alliance, which brings together all the centers of missionary mobilization around the world, all with the same vision, mission and values.