This is our STAGING platform for testing and building our website. Visit perspectives.org for our live site.
This is our STAGING platform for testing and building our website. Visit perspectives.org for our live site.
The birth of the Perspectives movement has roots in the Urbana ’73 Student Missions Conference. During that remarkable event, 28% of attendees indicated, in writing, their earnest desire to commit their lives to missions. Conference leaders were thrilled and humbled at the work of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by the increase from the 8% who signed a decision card at the previous Urbana ’70. By 1976, commitments had increased to 50%.
After Urbana ‘73, Dr. Ralph Winter was convinced that strategic and purposeful decisions to join God in His Global Purpose are made when students are well informed. A professor at the School of World Mission at Fuller Seminary at the time, Dr. Winter developed a biblically robust course complemented by historical, cultural, and sociological research data.
The first class, called The Summer Institute of International Studies (SIIS), was launched in Wheaton, Illinois, the summer following Urbana ’73. The course provided an overview of God’s Global Purpose from Biblical, Historical, Cultural, and Strategic perspectives. Over nine weeks, a series of guest professors spent a week with the students, sharing meals and discussing their passion for the advance of God’s Kingdom
The Summer Institute course proved remarkably effective. In 1976, the U.S. Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures) was founded in Pasadena, California, helping support the expanding course and championing a focus on unreached peoples—cultural and linguistic communities without access to the gospel. This people-group vision reshaped global mission strategy and priorities. After four summer offerings, the course was refined and expanded into both a semester-long format and a month-long summer intensive.
With a vision to reach even more students, classes began to be offered beyond the USCWM campus in Pasadena. The first extension course was held at Penn State University and proved remarkably successful. Many alumni went on to mobilize others, serve with mission agencies, and even found new mission organizations.
The first textbook, titled Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, was published alongside a multi-lesson study guide, together forming the core curriculum of the course. The Perspectives Reader has since become the most widely-used textbook for missions courses in colleges and seminaries. With this publication, the name “Perspectives Study Program” began to be used rather than “Summer Institute of International Studies.”
As Perspectives grew, the need for additional Course Coordinators became clear. In response, a training workshop—now known as the Coordinating Team Workshop—was developed to equip Coordinators to launch and facilitate ongoing extension courses.
The vision of Perspectives began to expand beyond college students. As the course was hosted in local churches, its breadth and accessibility increased. Its influence extended to pastors and ministry leaders across many denominations and organizations.
Early forays into New Zealand and the Spanish-speaking world signaled a growing international hunger for the course. As demand increased, translation and contextualization efforts became priorities, and national programs began emerging across the globe. Today, Perspectives is active in more than 40 countries in both emerging and established programs. Within this global movement, Perspectives USA participates as one national program among many, serving as an equal partner.
The second edition of the curriculum was released in 1992. With the publication of the third edition in 1999, a deeper clarity emerged. During the development of the accompanying Study Guide, editor Steve Hawthorne and the curriculum team recognized that the course reflected more than a cutting-edge missions anthology—it embodied a coherent and timeless paradigm. This paradigm centered on a God actively accomplishing His global purpose, reframing participation in mission from mere task completion to passionate co-laboring for Christ’s glory among all peoples.
The number of simultaneous Perspectives Courses in one year exceeds 100 for the first time!
The number of Perspectives alumni reaches 50,000.
Under the leadership of Steve Shadrach, Director of Mobilization of the USCWM (and founder of the Center for Mission Mobilization), Perspectives located its offices in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Dave Flynn, serving as the Perspectives National Director, led the ministry to make many organizational improvements, including enlarging the national staff team and Regional Director community; developing a Perspectives Coordinator Workshop manual; building a web-based identity including class information and registration; creating the first Online Perspectives classes.
The new Perspectives.org website is launched with improved tools and resources for students, instructors, task force members, coordinators, and alumni.
The 4th Edition of the Perspectives Reader was published and enthusiastically received with over 60 new articles.
James Mason was appointed National Director of Perspectives, and the Perspectives National Office then resides at the U.S. Center for World Mission (soon to become Frontier Ventures) in Pasadena, California. A strategic plan was implemented to prepare Perspectives for another 40+ years of effective mobilization. was published and well received.
Frontier Ventures is adopted as the new name for the US Center for World Mission to communicate more broadly our vision and mission.
Perspectives USA incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit to streamline and strengthen its organizational capabilities and enhance its effectiveness in mobilization.
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