Ministry to the Military Marks 50 Years of Continuous Ministry
By Robert Moore
It is significant, as we look toward a rebirth in many areas of our ministry in 2008, that we also take time to celebrate a very significant milestone—50 years of uninterrupted ministry to military personnel and their families. In the spring of 1958 a group of young airmen began the Sembach, Germany Full Gospel Fellowship. This no-frills, but heartfelt ministry was the direct forebear to what ultimately would become known as the Kaiserslautern Pentecostal Evangelism Center, and a few years later as the first of many Ministry to the Military (MTTM) linked Christian Servicemen’s Centers worldwide.
Many of you may know that the MTTM really had its origins almost 70 years ago during the heaviest days of WWII. This came in the form of a letter-writing campaign from the Church of God in the USA to lonely soldiers deployed to combat zones in Europe and the Pacific Rim. In Korea, a few years later, the ministry took a more ‘hands-on’ approach when young GI’s began to conduct prayer meetings and Pentecostal worship services to augment the ministry offered by their protestant or catholic chaplains. Across Europe in the 1950s a number of lay-led Evangelical and Pentecostal fellowships sprang up as young soldiers attempted to fill the spiritual void that existed between home and their place of assignment. All of this was done without the benefit of outside supervision, training or even funding. This was ministry by the servicemen for the benefit of servicemen.
In 1962 a young Church of God soldier, Don Amison, got out of the military and came to Germany at his own expense in order to organize the growing number of lay-led Pentecostal fellowships that had sprung up around Europe. His efforts proved that the ministry was viable and fruitful. His efforts were to lead to the formation and recognition of a ‘servicemen’s department’ as part of the Church of God International Offices. This in turn was to become what we now call the Ministry to the Military. Only God knows what may have become the direction of the MTTM had Don Amison not taken his courageous step of faith in 1962. He would be the first to tell you, however, that he did not invent the MTTM; he was just an instrument of the Lord to pull it together and push it onto its path of destiny in the Kingdom of God.
Robert A Moore, International Director. Ministry to the Military
