Some Background
In the early and mid 1990’s, the board of OMS South Africa (OMS SA) increasingly felt called to intensify the development of One Mission Society (OMS) ministries on the African continent. This resulted in Alan Sylvester, then executive director of OMS SA, spearheading the survey of OMS Mozambique and opening it as a missionary field in 1995.
The OMS SA board also felt that the African diaspora in South Africa provided a unique opportunity to intensify OMS ministries throughout Africa. They held a strategic think tank in 1998, at which time they discerned a clear call from God to pioneer and accelerate new OMS ministries actively on the African continent. Since Alan Sylvester had now approached retirement age, the OMS SA board thought it advisable to seek a replacement executive director who was called and equipped to pursue the vision God had entrusted to them.
OMS considered it prudent to preserve the vision given to her for Africa by evolving a new administrative structure. "No one sews a patch of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:16, 17)
New vision, like new wine, needs to be preserved in new structures or both the vision and structures will be ruined. OMS accepted this challenge by redesigning OMS administrative and ministerial structures with an “appropriate wineskin,” the Into Africa Planning Committee (IAPC), which seeks to honor and preserve OMS historic and new vision with both historic and new organizational structures.
Timeline
The formation of the Into Africa Planning Committee into its present form can be traced to the following major events:
January 1999 – Bruce Bennett is appointed as an OMS missionary to succeed Alan Sylvester as Executive Director of OMS SA.
March 1999 – Alan Sylvester retires from the Board of OMS SA, and Bruce Bennett succeeds him.
June 1999 – The Into Africa Project (IAP) conceptualization document is presented to OMS to facilitate new OMS ministries in Africa. At the One Mission Society Board meeting of June, OMS SA was authorized by the Board of Trustees to implement the IAP.
December 1999 – Appointment of first IAP ministry teams in Pretoria and Hillbrow, South Africa, to work among immigrant and refugee communities.
June 2001 – The IAP is adopted as part of the OMS Centennial project and the IAPC was launched as a joint authority of the OMS Ministries Department (IMD) and OMS SA Board to manage Into Africa ministries.
July 2001 – The IAPC is originally composed of three OMS SA board members and three OMS representatives: Dawie Crous, Chairman OMS SA, Clive Teubes, Vice Chairman OMS SA, Bruce Bennett, Executive Director OMS SA, Jim Culver, One Mission Society Trustee, Harold Brown, International Regional Director – Eurasia, and David Graffenberger, International Director – Every Community for Christ.
March 2005 – Bruce Bennett resigns as Executive Director of OMS SA and is appointed the OMS Africa regional director designate from 1 April 2005.
September 2005 – The composition of the IAPC is shifted to accommodate Bruce Bennett being appointed as OMS Africa Regional Director. Harold Brown and Jim Culver resign from the IAPC and are replaced by David Dick and Mike Melnick.
Role of the IAPC
The Into Africa Planning Committee (IAPC) is the joint authority of OMS SA and OMS IMD, and was inaugurated to give oversight to the ministries of the Into Africa Project. The IAPC is charged with the development of the OMS strategic plan for Africa, approval of budgets, financial statements, funding plans, policies and procedures, ministerial strategies, and appointment and assignment of missionaries. The IAPC meets twice a year to perform these duties.
IAPC Voting Members (Left to Right): David Graffenberger, Clive Teubes, Dawie Crous,
Mike Melnick, Bruce Bennett, and David Dick
Current Members
The following individuals currently make up the IAPC (click on links to view their profiles):
- Adv. Dawie Crous – Co-Chairman IAPC (and Chairman of OMS SA)
- Dr. David Dick – Co-Chairman IAPC (and OMS Vice President at Large)
- Rev. Bruce Bennett – OMS Africa Regional Director
- Dr. David Graffenberger – Member ((and OMS Special Assistant to the International Director of Every Community for Christ)
- Mr. Mike Melnick – Secretary IAPC (and Secretary of OMS SA)
- Mr. Clive Teubes – Member (and Vice-Chairman of OMS SA)
- Rev. Randy Spacht – Non-voting Member (and OMS Executive Director of International Ministries)
