The first-ever edition of Operation World was a tiny A5 booklet of 32 pages, locally produced on a hand-cranked Gestetner machine in South Africa in 1964. A bigger print run was done in Germany in 1965. Attached below are a few photos of that 1965 edition.
It is remarkable to think that this humble but ambitious work grew into all that Operation World is today. Even more astounding is that this work was completed under an apartheid government that was doing all it could do to keep black African Christians and white believers (both foreign missionaries and South Africans) from worshipping, praying, and ministering together. Postal sanctions against South Africa meant that a young Patrick Johnstone was unable to correspond directly with contacts who could provide him with data and prayer points. He needed to rely on couriers – friends or co-labourers who were travelling to and from Africa – to carry correspondence by hand. His research office was a pair of boxes he toted around in the back of the van that his evangelism team used to go from gathering to gathering. A far cry from the world of instantaneous search results, AI, and digital media that we find ourselves in today!
Included below is the text from the foreword, written by Hans von Staden, then the director of the Dorothea Mission. Praise God for his vision to create this booklet and Patrick’s willingness and giftedness in doing so.
FOREWORD
By Hans von Staden, B. Sc., Director of the Dorothea Mission
PO Box 219, PretoriaWe have been mightily impressed by the powerful intercessions of the Weeks of Prayer for Africa, which God has entrusted to the Dorothea Mission. A peak, no doubt, was reached at the third of the three Weeks of Prayer which God gave us at the Victoria Falls in Rhodesia, in July, 1964. To see 100 African Christians on their knees 4 sessions a day for 8 days (within sound of the mighty roar of the Falls) is an unforgettable memory. They cried to God for all of this Continent.
We had to ask ourselves: “Does God want such prayers to be limited to Africa?”
This is a critical time in world history. All nations are in peril. Never was the Gospel more needed! Nevertheless, this is surely a time of great spiritual decline. The Church in the world seems to be to a large extent powerless to cope with mankind’s dire need.
Where are the mighty conversions? Where is a great spiritual advance? Where are significant new Calvary conquests?
The world seems to be reeling on the edge of calamity. Now when its message is most needed, the Church universal is not mighty for God.
How God’s earnest children everywhere must pray for this doomed world! Only prayer can prevent fast approaching chaos. In many parts of the world, as we know, there is already chaos. Is a Week of Prayer for the World not the ideal answer? We feel constrained to have such a week to be held at Moroka African Township of Johannesburg from 20th to 27th of September, 1964. May it be only the first one of many similar Weeks to follow!
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A booklet to guide us into intelligent prayer was a prime necessity. But who could write it? There was not much time to undertake it at the Dorothea Mission Headquarters. The one person who came into my mind was Mr. Patrick Johnstone, B. Sc. one of our ‘Vergesigte’ students.
Mr. Johnstone joined us some 2 years ago from England.
(He was a school teacher there, but when Christ’s call reached him, he counted everything loss to live henceforth for the highest of all.) Even though this booklet had to be done in between lectures, we felt that he has the ability, and would receive Divine help. This surely came through the prayers of his fellow ‘Vergesigte’ students. together with the prayers of others.
You may wonder what ‘Vergesigte’ stands for. It is the name of our Bible School for European students at Pretoria. Its name derives from Isaiah 33:17, where the Bible speaks about “the land that is far off”. It really means “distant views” (see Α.V.M.) “distant views” of the spiritual eyes, or vision. How this name so aptly fits the theme of this booklet! WORLD VISION!
“AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS AFTERWARD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS.” (Joel 2:28)
See below some pictures of the first OW and go here for the 2nd entry in this blog series.
