“Perspectives on the World Christian Movement,” a 15-week course for both clergy and laity that focuses on “building global momentum to help complete the Great Commission,” will return to the Upstate in January.
The course, which is available regularly in Columbia and Charlotte but has made only isolated appearances in Greenville, will be offered at Taylors First Baptist Church. A broader coalition plans to begin offering the course each spring and fall in the Greenville-Spartanburg area.
In Taylors, classes will be offered on Mondays from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Jan. 21 and concluding May 6. Instructors will include faculty members from Columbia International University along with world-missions scholars and experts. Jim Goodroe, director of missions for Spartanburg County Baptist Network, who coordinated a national ethnic ministries summit in April, will teach the final class, “World Christian Partnership.”
Goodroe said Perspectives was developed by the U.S. Center for World Mission in 1974, when the “Jesus movement” spawned many missions volunteers who needed a “crash-course” before going overseas. Later, it evolved to help American church members “find their roles in the movement of God’s grand purpose.”
“While Perspectives includes missions, the M-word in its title is ‘Movement,’ ” said Goodroe. “Churches and Christians are in the river of God’s spiritual life, but many are [in] eddies off to the side, out of the flow of his forward-kingdom movement.”
While on a recent sabbatical, Goodroe took Perspectives as a one-week intensive experience. He said half of his classmates were laity. “The course is simple enough for church members, but substantive enough that I was learning new things after a dozen years as a missions mobilizer,” he said.
Goodroe will teach the final lesson of the Taylors Perspectives course on ways to activate what was learned in the first 14 lessons. Buster Brown, pastor of East Cooper Baptist Church, will teach on “Pioneers of the World Christian Movement.”
Paul Jimenez, pastor of Taylors First Baptist, said Perspectives had a “profound impact” on people at his previous church, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., where he served as teaching pastor and local and national ministries pastor.
“The times of worship, the spirit of kingdom-mindedness and the opportunity to study with followers of Jesus from different denominations and backgrounds were rich blessings,” he said. “The deep and wide understanding of missions, of God’s work in reaching the lost, was a perspective- and heart-changer for me and others. I pray this course ignites a passion for missions in believers and in our churches.”
Bill Dieckmann, director of missions for Columbia-Metro Association, taught the Perspectives church-planting lesson for three years, once in Columbia and twice in Myrtle Beach. He said the course “fits who we are as Southern Baptists with our missions focus. It brings people together from around the Christian community and puts a whole seminary experience in one course. I highly recommend it to all who want to grow in their discipleship.”
The Taylors course offers academic credit through Columbia International University. Participants may take the course for a certificate, doing a portion of the readings and an open-book online quiz for each lesson, or may opt for key readings and no quizzes.
Either option is $215, which includes the reader and study guide. Available discounts include $50 for a second family member and $40 for registrations received by Nov. 30. Anyone may attend the first lesson for free on Jan. 21. For more information, or to register online, visit Perspectives.org and input Greenville, S.C., as class site.
Perspectives alumni can take the Taylors class for $40 (or $10 if they have the fourth edition of the books).
Goodroe said he hopes churches will invest $195 to register a pastor, staff member or key lay leader.