December 01, 1990 by Ralph D. Winter

Dear friend,

Are you sitting in the auditorium at Urbana ö at the spectacular Student Mission Conference? Or, are you hastily glancing at junk mail PLUS Christmas mail?

No matter. In either case you can't avoid the scary reality that the world is being taken over by awfully young people! The Urbana thousands will be IN CONTROL in the whole mission world within a very few months.

(How can I predict that? It happened before...)

One thing: I myself am not getting older (no matter what people say). It is the world that is getting younger. Younger and younger people are taking things over. I canât believe it! Imagine, I have myself tumed over the job at the U.S. Center for World Mission to a guy who is 35. Right now, it seems that it is our university which needs my help. But very soon now, this small, specialized mission university is going to have to get going on the steel rails of a whole lot of younger people ö which we are trying our best to grow.

Now, back to the point. Whether you are at Urbana or not, look for the strange article about foolish lovers of a very unusual type ö the kind we all ought to be.

Then, donât miss the unmentionable, ghastly truth ö student loans are the biggest single destructive force in missions today.

Iâm not interested in doing a table of contents, but listen carefully to what one of the wisest mission leaders has to say about the essential ingredients of preparation. You may be surprised. Glasser always surprises you.

Have you thought about going to the field with some friends ö in a team? Then, see the neat article that tells how that is done. The Frontiers organization (along with some others) has majored on this tactic, and they have learned a lot the hard way ö pro and con ö and you get their hard- earned insight the easy way.

But the big, omnibus article is the rip-roaring discussion ö "Which Way To The Field?" Thereâs a LOT to think about there. What a bunch of guys to get together!

But, once again, this month, the most astounding thing is the diagram at the top of the page on the right. The little men are carrying a smaller and smaller burden as time goes on.

This diagram, in miniature, will be on our cover from now on. It is based very simply on the widely known and acknowledged statistical facts published by the Lausanne Statistical Task Force, which Dr. David Barrett heads up. He, along with Todd Johnson are the editors of the AD 2000 GLOBAL MONITOR, a full-blown sample of which you can see on pages 37-40. This exciting new,

authoritative bulletin is something you can receive free of charge. Just write to the address you see on page 40. This is a wonderfully important source of news that relates to the year 2000.

However, this is a working bulletin which is dead serious about calling the global family of believers to go all out for the year 2000. Donât suppose that God will let you be a mere spectator if you keep on rejoicing in the great and mighty things which He is doing!

How can we keep from being mere spectators? How can we rise above the apparent futility of our isolation all across the country in our separate homes?

One way to do this is to keep moving in your own education.

1. It is truly amazing the way the Perspectives Study Program keeps growing. For 1991 we already know of 49 locations in the United States which are planning to offer this hefty fifteen-week course. (See details on pages 24 and 25).

But the USA is outshone by New Zealand which, as a tiny country by comparison, is expecting 47 locations in 1991. Note their growth:

    1987 One location

    1988 Eight locations

    1989 Twenty locations

    1990 Thirty locations

    1991 Forty-seven locations.

On this point ö for anyone reading this who is among the 15,000 who have already taken this course in the United States, or even those who have not yet taken it ö you will be glad to know that the Study Guide which goes with the 900 page Reader, is now out in a new revision, a fully typeset 8.5xl 1 manual of 236 pages. Over 70,000 copies of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, A Reader are now in print.

If you are interested in a solid, broad grasp of what God is doing and has been doing just drop a note to the address on page 24.

2. But suppose you want to go further. The Mission Training Division of the U.S. Center for World Mission, which operates its own small, specialized university, is already moving to set up a full-blown M.A. program built upon and expanding the basic Perspectives Course. You can read more about this new opportunity on page nine.

The development of this particular Masters Degree is one of the most fascinating challenges I have had in my whole life. This M.A. is being designed to be a significant capstone for people who have had a mainly secularized education. Do you realize that there are 3.5 million college students at this moment who have come from evangelical homes? Do you realize that most of these ö at least 19 of 20 ö have grown up in a school system without a single year in a Christian context?

So what is lacking? Perspective, Almost everything that is taught in school lacks a Christian perspective. So much so that even the majority of the texts used in Christian colleges are both produced by and reflect a secularized, and anti-theistic point of view.

But now let report something that is a significant development right here in the U.S. Center for World Mission. Our history falls into three periods in one sense. There was the lengthy period during which we were struggling to perform many of the ministries which we sponsor to this day. But at the same time we were praying and working night and day to fund the vast properties here.

The second period was the one in which we had completed the marvelous "Last $1000" Campaign but were now getting in the remaining millions that had been pledged.

In January of this year we had our Mortgage Burning ceremony, since at that point we had literally paid the Point Lorna College every farthing we owed them for the entire campus here in Pasadena. Only a number of local and internal loans were left.

However, the moment that ceremony was over we discovered to our increasing concern that some of the most basic characteristics of a mission agency in the faith mission tradition were not altogether understood by some of our board members and even some of our staff, especially more recent arrivals.

This past year has been one in which many differing views of how to run things have been urged upon us, and even totally new leadership has been recommended. Very few of these newer pressures has taken into account the rock-solid fellowship of missionary supported members who compose the central core of the U.S. Center for World Mission.

The one major transition needed, from a self-perpetuating board to a board elected by our own missionary members, finally came to pass, but not without a substantial and difficult agreement to disagree. We now have a board consisting of the five original members plus other board members who have been with us and some that are entirely new. We ask your prayers that this Paul/Barnabas type of resolution (Acts 15:39) will not impede but actually speed our progress toward the phenomenal array of growing opportunities which daily press upon us.