Perspectives on the World Christian Movement
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is a semester-long, one-night-per-week
world missions course that can be taken for personal growth or for college credit.
It is taught in-person at locations across the U.S.A. as well as online. For schedules of
classes and enrollment information, go to Perspectives study program.
Lesson 8:
Lesson 12: Christian Community Development
End-of-course integrative project
An end-of-the-course project in which students describe a design for reaching a people group currently heretofore unreached by the Gospel
This project asks you to apply principles learned in the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course to a specific people group.
The evaluation of your project will into account that the availability of information on various people groups will vary widely and that students themselves will have different interests
and strengths. Still, the stated goal is for the project writers to demonstrate the ability to recall and apply the concepts they have been taught through the Perspectives course.
Each part of the paper is worth about 15 points, with the timeline being given a bit more weight.
- Part 1 - Why this people now?
- Begin with the rationale (historical, biblical, and strategic) for focusing on your chosen
people group. Which cultural boundaries define this particular people group? Re-state the case
for pioneer work among groups without an indigenous church.
- Concepts from Lessons 1 - 9: Biblical and Historical perspectives
- Part 2 - Understanding your people
- Describe the culture of the chosen people group. How will this culture be engaged by the evangelism and church-planting approaches you are recommending?
- Concepts primarily from Lesson 10: How shall they hear?
- Part 3 - Mobilizing needed missionaries
- From what sources will you draw a missionary force? Identify viable roles that need to be filled for good relational engagement of this people group.
- Concepts primarily from Lesson 11: Building bridges of love
- Part 4- Development and resource mobilization
- Describe the needs of this people group that could serve as avenues for engagement. Answer the question: What resources could be used to respoknd to needs of this people?
Creativity, insight, and breadth of proposals are important.
- Concepts from Strategic section: especially lesson 12 on Christian Community Development
- Part 5 - Envisioning a multiplying church planting movement
- Envision culturally appropriate responses to the presentation of the gospel. What would it look like if this people group were to follow Christ in ways meaningful to them? How might this movement be different from one in the culture from which you will be sending missionaries?
- Concepts primarily from Lesson 13: Spontaneous multiplication of churches
- Part 6 - Put it all together on a timeline
- Lay out a scenario for reaching this people group with a culturally relevant church planting movement. Don't be overly optimistic in your time frames. Take into consideration the
challenges of starting church planting movements, the obstacles within and outside of the people group, the roles outsiders will need to play, and the long-term need for partnership.
- Concepts from Lesson 14: Pioneer church planting
Distractions that can cost you points
- Mechanical errors in the paper (proofreading failures involving spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and improper footnoting).
- Weakness in composition, persuasive phraseology, sentence and paragraph structure
- Inadequacy in documenting sources. Information sources should be acknowledged even if complete bibliographic information is unavailable.
Credit students need additional research to complement the profiles provided. Nine or more items comprise an adequate bibliography. A strong bibliography will have 15 or more items. Rule of
thumb: Papers should have at least one documented citation per page.
What about length?
- Certificate students should write a few paragraphs on the first five parts for a total of 5
pages (add 1-2 pages for each additional student on the project team).
- Undergraduates should submit about two pages per part for a total of 10-12 pages (add 2-3
pages for each additional student on the project team).
- Graduate students more thoroughly examine each part for a total of 16-18 pages (add 4-5
pages for each additional student on the project team).
-- Howard Culbertson,
Afterword: What is the "Perspectives" missions course about?
"Perspectives on the World Christian Movement" is a course that examines
the global mission of Christianity. Developed by the U.S. Center for World
Mission, the course covers the biblical basis for missions, the spread of Christianity throughout
history, cross-cultural communication, contextualization, and the challenges and opportunities in
contemporary global missions. Taught by experts in the field, the course calls participants
to critically engage with different perspectives and worldviews. Through lectures, readings,
discussions, and practical application, participants will gain insight into the challenges of
global missions. They will be to actively participate in some way in the worldwide fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission.
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