Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I partner with OC rather than engage directly with someone in the region?
There are thousands of leadership training centers around the globe. OC has identified the most strategic of these institutions through careful examination of leadership, curriculum, governance and institutional management. Our partners represent leading institutions focusing on strengthening the leadership of the Church in a region. Our partner institutions are committed to cooperation and avoidance of duplication.

In addition, OC offers a strategic and efficient method of touching the world through Christian ministry.

• OC provides financial and consultative assistance to a network of 100+ seminaries, Bible institutes and strategic ministries – some of the most strategic training centers – in 60+ countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
• OC has provided millions of dollars in scholarship assistance and completed more than 90 capital investment projects in overseas campus development, thanks to our partner donors. During the past three decades, this strategic investment has enhanced the education of hundreds of thousands of Christian leaders. Today it touches the training of 35,000 students.
• OC employs experienced Regional Directors (RDs) who live and work in the same regions as our partner institutions. The RDs provide OC with invaluable local knowledge. They regularly visit campuses to offer assistance and counsel, as well as attend regular gatherings of seminary leaders from across a region to help peers share experiences and expertise.

Why should I give through OC and not to one of your partner institutions directly?
OC has worked with our partner institutions to identify the most strategic projects to help them continue to grow and develop as leadership training centers. We do not bring an agenda to our partners but rather listen to their dreams for their school. The projects identified by OC allow you to invest in the realization of these dreams. We have more than 30 years of experience in identifying such projects and providing strategic funding in an expedient way.

What do I get for my partnership?
In addition to the Kingdom value of your contribution to the training of Christian leaders, you will have the opportunity to learn more about what God is doing around the world through regional and global updates and interaction with Christian leaders at OC events. You will also stay informed about OC’s ministry and the work of students and graduates through our quarterly eNewsletters, quarterly mailed newsletters and Annual Report.

Why do you only support seminaries overseas and not in North America?
OC invests its energies where the Church is growing fastest or laboring among critical challenges. We acknowledge the importance of strengthening leadership training for the Church in North America and maintain ongoing dialogue with many leading seminaries in this country. However, we want to direct our time and resources toward helping brothers and sisters around the world have access to some of the Christian training resources that are readily available in this country.

Why should I invest in leadership training? Isn’t it better to invest in church planting and evangelism?
Church planting and evangelism are a calling shared by the Church around the world. We support these movements wholeheartedly. Yet we recognize that church planting is best accomplished by trained leaders, and successful churches rest on solid foundations. OC partner institutions are providing such foundational training for church planters and missionaries. They are also centers where leaders are reflecting upon the contextual needs of a region and producing the materials that will provide sound thought leadership for the Church.

Aren’t seminaries producing leaders who are out of touch with the needs of the Church?
It is unfortunate that some training institutions around the world have become distant from the Church. OC believes that effective Christian leadership training can happen only when the seminary is in active partnership with the Church. OC has carefully chosen institutions that are academically sound, institutionally strong and demonstrate a commitment to training leaders for the Church at all levels. We partner with programs that have a demonstrable influence on the grassroots of the Church.

What is your scholarship policy?
OC provides scholarship support only to institutions, not to individuals. Only OC partner institutions are eligible for scholarship support. Please be advised that all queries from individuals regarding scholarships will not be considered.

Why doesn’t OC have individual scholarship students anymore?
Effective November 15, 2006, OC no longer links donors and scholarship support with specific students. Rather, we connect donors with partner seminaries or regions of the world. Scholarship money is awarded to students at the discretion of administrators who oversee the operation of our partner seminaries. Those administrators will determine which students receive scholarship assistance from the support that is provided from OC to the partner seminary.

Recent trends both within the IRS and the wider non-profit environment have obliged organizations like ours to adapt to new circumstances. OC has adjusted its policies and procedures accordingly. The IRS has specifically disallowed charitable deductions for payments to 501(c)(3) organizations that were determined to be tuition earmarked for an individual. In order for a charitable contribution to a 501(c)(3) to be deductible by a donor, the donee organization must have control of the funds, which is exemplified by the organization deciding how the funds will be expended. A donor may designate contributions for a particular purpose, such as scholarships. But if the donor earmarks contributions for a particular individual, and the donee organization exercises no control or discretion over the use of the funds, such contributions are treated as gifts to the designated individual and are not deductible as charitable contributions by the donor.

What are Vision Tours, and does OC conduct them?
Vision Tours take OC partners and those interested in the ministry to see the regions in which we work. These spiritual and educational trips include partner school visits, sightseeing, worshipping with Christians around the world and experiencing diverse cultures.

The Vision Tour concept occupies an honored space in our ministry's advancement efforts. Many longtime OC partners came to OC through a powerful experience on a Vision Tour. However, in recent years, OC has not been successful in recruiting sufficient numbers of people for planned Vision Tours. Vision Tours will still have a place in OC advancement efforts to the degree that we can tailor-make them for already existing affinity groups that desire to have OC serve as their conduit to a Vision Tour experience. We will make every effort to accommodate such groups and to develop tours requested by their constituents. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, we will not schedule pre-planned Vision Tours. We will develop them by request rather than pre-planned by our advancement personnel.

Since OC is non-denominational, what Christian theology material is taught to students who attend the partner seminaries?
OC partners with institutions that affirm the Lausanne Covenant and the World Evangelical Alliance Statement of Faith. Within that framework, there is much diversity in our partner institutions, including institutions with roots in Wesleyan, Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal and Independent traditions. We do not seek to control what is taught in the classroom. While we seek to assist our partners in developing the most relevant curriculum to address the needs of Church and society, the material taught is ultimately left to our partner institutions’ discretion and expertise as they seek to prepare leaders based on the contextual realities of their region.

How will OC safeguard my personal information that is provided to them with a gift or for other purely administrative purposes?
OC does not disclose the identity of any donor, unless specific authority for such is provided in writing by the donor. OC’s computer systems are protected by several layers of hardware and software security that prevent unauthorized access to databases and applications.

How can I get information about OC's revenues and how they are disbursed in a given year?
OC prepares an Annual Report with this information contained within it. To request a copy of the Annual Report, please contact OC at +1(317) 788-7250, (877) 788-7250 or .