Who is OC?

Most companies and agencies put a lot of thought into what they name themselves, making sure that their corporate name reflects who they are, what they do, and how they do it. That is a lot to try to put into a word or two, as you can imagine. Some explanation is nearly always needed.

We decided to take a break from our usual blog content of impacting your community and the world for the kingdom to talk about who we really are. What is it that we do and how did we do at picking a name?

The letters “OC” come from an early name, Overseas Crusades. This name made sense. We worked overseas and we did, among other things, crusade-type work (think Billy Graham “crusade,” not Middle Ages “crusade”). As work among Islamic people became more widespread for agencies, the word “crusade” carried the wrong historical context. It was time for a change.

Since then we have had a plethora of name changes including: OC Ministries, OCI and OC International. Obviously we wanted to hold on to the letters “OC” because it is how most of us in the agency know and refer to ourselves, but none of those names says anything about what we do, which is facilitating the work of the local church, its people, and its leaders, to bring about transformation in their communities, cities, and nations.

A call went out for new, descriptive words that would continue to start with “O” and “C” but would be inclusive of our vision.

Many names were suggested which showed serious thought. Some, from our department, were less helpful but somewhat more descriptive: Overly Caffeinated, Outta Control and Organized Chaos topped our list of suggestions. Strangely, none of our suggestions were considered.

We landed on One Challenge, with the tagline “Transforming Nations Together.” We like it. There is a challenge for the church, the body of Christ, given by Jesus. We refer to it as the Great Commission, and it involves all of us. If we could all work together on this one Christ-given challenge, we would indeed see nations, and our world, transformed.

How that one challenge plays out in each of our lives is different, and our responsibility is to be obedient to the part God has given us to play. If we could do that, we would see our individual parts fitting together to form a unified effort, coordinated by the Spirit.

Are you willing to take on God’s One Challenge?

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Cor. 12:27