After working with the needy on a Transform 2012 outreach to Greece, Anthony (UK) returned to Athens to continue in that ministry.

A persecuted Muslim-background believer finds practical help and strengthened faith at an OM Greece drop-in centre.

After attending Transform 2014 and going on the Greece outreach, a young South African man returns to Greece eight months later to stay.

As Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees pour onto the beaches of Lesbos, OM Greece and partner organisations offer water, essential items and, more importantly, hope.

OM Greece and partner organisations help Syrians and other refugees as they reach the island of Lesbos from Turkey and disembark from dinghies.

OM partners with a Greek aid organisation to run the only Christian camp on Lesbos, offering help in Jesus' name.

A long-term worker overseeing refugee relief work on Lesbos describes the people he’s met on the island, the chances he’s had to share his faith and how God has shown up during the crisis.

In the midst of the refugee crisis in Greece, OM country leader says OM acts as ‘the glue,’ doing behind-the-scenes work to bond churches and other Christian organisations.

Greece – a land with a glorious past is today faced with many challenges. OM is working with churches, ministering to the Greek and refugees.

Day after day, OM volunteers staffed transit camps meeting and loving refugees on Lesvos. After roughly nine months, the ministry is closing down.

An OM Greece worker explains, while she is babysitting, how she helps ladies involved in human trafficking and the sex industry.

OM seeks to love refugees like family members through starting sports ministry and cooking meals in camps.

If God can speak to a national faith believer, and move him to cross continents to share his love for Jesus with other refugees, despite dangers and difficulties, what more might He achieve with more workers prepared to take the same risks for the gospel?

God brings a young boy back to life and his parents recognise Jesus as Lord.

God is working to transform lives in Mozambique through the efforts of the local OM team.

Limardes Domingo, an OM worker in Mecula, Mozambique, has seen church growth over two years through God's faithful answers to prayer.

Maputo, Mozambique :: Logos Hope crewmembers visit local homeless boys in a slum area and were encouraged by their willingness to give.

The OM Mozambique team builds a library in Mocuba to support and provide resources for the local community.

Antonio Nipueda (Mozambique) recollects his journey to ministry with OM in Mozambique and the ways their prayers have impacted one village there.

“God is working in this community,” James said. He and other Christians in his village are challenging the culture by living their lives for Christ.

People in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe are still recovering from Cyclone Idai. OM is responding to the needs in different communities in these countries.

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

"At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger."

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child," the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

In this account of events along the Serbian border, one OM leader paints a picture of a dire situation, with glimmers of hope in Jesus.

A team at the Serbian/Croatian border provides relief to migrating refugees. OM Germany leader Gian Walser talks about the work and its impact on him.

In his third update from Serbian/Croatian border, Volker Sachse says that in spite of increasingly difficulties, he can see God’s peace touch local people.

Christina shares about the love between a refugee man and his disabled son, whom she met while volunteering in Šid, Serbia.

Christina reflects on lessons learned about valuing people the way Christ did, while cleaning trash and volunteering in a refugee camp in Šid, Serbia.

Though his home city of Palmyra is in ruins, Abdul hopes to give his children a second chance in Europe.

Mahmood, a refugee from Sudan, travelled the 'West Balkan' migrant route. Months later, settled in The Netherlands, he recalls worship in OM's tent in Serbia.

God uses football and English lessons to build friendships between OM Serbia and refugees.

“This publication is a tool to help those who will join Goran in sharing the gospel among Gurbet-speaking Roma, and lays the foundation for future Christian materials.”

Goran’s decision to follow Jesus challenged the cultural values and traditions he grew up with, causing him to live differently in his community.

During their visits in Serbia, Moldova and Montenegro the two MDT Love Europe teams had many experiences, as well as opportunities to share God’s love.

Jude, project coordinator of OM's Refugee Relief Serbia describes her busy role, and how OM’s service can be a powerful practical witness of the love of Jesus to hundreds of refugees.

In January 2013, OM Norway and Norwegian Naval Training Agency agreed on internship programme for deckhands and motormen on board MV Logos Hope.

Work of OM Romania, partnering with the church

Work of OM Romania among the Roma population

As Rafael, the leader of OM Romania, lies awake in the middle of the night, he shares about the OM outreach to the Roma people he and his family are taking part in. They’ve set up a mobile clinic in Padureni, and through games, sports and Bible stories, the community is learning about God’s love.

Catherine, from the UK, joined an OM team in July to host a dental clinic and outreach for the residents of Pădureni.

A Roma man’s cry to God for mercy to spare his son’s life transforms his future and the future of his small town.

Europe short-term mission coordinators gather in Sibiu, Romania, to increase vision, gain training and share resources for greater impact in Europe.

Michael (Kenya) participates in a short-term mission trip to Romania and gives an account of God's transforming power at work amongst the Roma people.

Earlier this year, a severe storm blanketed Romania in snow that left hundreds stranded. A team brought food, wood and hope to victims.

Since 2007, the Bus4Life has visited 150 locations, welcomed 10,000 visitors and touched many lives, including one Romanian teen who comes back to God.

Used by God beyond her skills as a dentist, an outreach participant shares the gospel with a disabled woman, whose life is forever changed.

“What a feeling it is to know you can be someone’s miracle…” shares a short-term worker after outreach with the OM Transit team in Romania.

Rafael Nastase is the field leader of OM Romania. He tells his story and describes the current work of OM Romania.

Surprises await Bus4Life coordinator Esko when visiting a Romanian village: Meeting orphaned girls saved on a visit 26 years ago, and the former Chief of Police from the Communist era.

OM uses an educational programme called KidsGames to share Bible stories in a public school.

A recap of Bus4Life's ministry in Romania during the summer of 2018.