OUR STORY
1997–1998
THE SEEDS
OneWay Founder, Michael Thompson, and his wife Rachel serve as missionaries in Ghana, West Africa with PIONEERS. During this time, a vision for OneWay Ministries is born.
2000
IN THE BEGINNING
OneWay Ministries is formally established. OneWay's first short-term team is sent out as African and American teammates joined hands for a month of outreach throughout Ghana.
2000–2006
THE EARLY YEARS
OneWay’s vision slowly grows as projects and partnerships are established. Evangelism and training teams are sent to Ghana and Botswana 1-2 times per year.
2007–2010
STEADY GROWTH
God raises up new workers and expands the ministry. Ray and Cynthia Mensah become OneWay’s first full-time international missionaries, overseeing the Livingstone School of Missions and a growing team of national missionaries in Botswana.
OneWay launches BiblePlus, a new ministry aimed at recording and distributing evangelistic audio material among oral people groups.
With the launch of Prayercast.com and the growth of other ministries, OneWay is fast outgrowing its basement facility. OneWay finally moves out of its 600 sq. ft. home and into a 7,000 sq. ft. office building that God graciously provides.
2011–2015
NEW FRONTIERS
OneWay Africa begins a new work in Ghana, West Africa. The BiblePlus audio player is produced in the Komba language to assist a growing network of trained church planters working among the unreached. Over 4,500 come to faith in Christ and 63+ churches are planted.
Prayercast resources are translated into Mandarin Chinese and aired on Christian TV in Taiwan and the Philippines. Worldwide usage of our resources by individuals, churches and missions conferences expands to roughly 3 million views/month.
A growing number of interns contribute thousands of hours of service while being discipled and mentored by OneWay's staff.
2016–2017
AN EXPANDING REACH
OneWay acquires Mission Network News, a daily news service providing Great Commission news and related “pray, give and go” opportunities to its over one million radio and internet listeners.
Our Prayercast ministry undertakes Chicago 77, a landmark project to cover every square inch of America’s third largest city in prayer, partnering with Pray Chicago, Moody Radio, and TLN TV.
OneWay Africa reaches over 40,000 people in northern Ghana through the Jesus Film Campaign and Operation Unreached celebrates 112 churches planted since 2012.
INTO NORTH AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST
2018
Work expands into more nations as Streams of Living Water, a long-standing and fruitful ministry, joins the OneWay family.
Focused on prayer and raising up workers, Streams embodies a passionate and relentless love for the lost. OneWay is delighted to serve and propel this nationally-led movement even further.
MOBILIZING PRAYER, WORKERS AND MEDIA
2019–2021
The Prayercast team releases Love Muslims, the world’s most comprehensive, media-based prayer guide for the Muslim world, and translated the videos into Arabic, Spanish and Portugese, adding Mandarine captions. This library of 130 new videos leads hundreds of thousands around the world in prayer.
The One80 Podcast is launched in the fall of 2021, geared toward gen-z to share stories of God transforming lives and invite listeners to share their own stories.
More than 110 workers across 10 nations share Christ and plant churches among refugees, orphans and unreached people groups.
MINISTRY CENTERS INCREASE CAPACITY WORLDWIDE
2022–Present
God miraculously provides a 62,000-square-foot ministry center in Feb. 2022 in Aurora, IL to accommodate a growing staff as well as like-minded organizations who are invited to share the space. A record-breaking summer internship sees 25 young adults create 100 new Prayercast videos in 10 weeks.
In Ghana, OneWay Africa acquires Philip Center East and North, increasing capacity to train and send missionaries to the unreached. The Jesus Film Riders continue to reach tens of thousands each year.
Gospel Advance expands its Heart Bible for the Nations training to workers across Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.