Propelled by Hope: The Story of the Perspectives Movement
Ebook
50 Years of Mobilizing for Frontier Missions
“Do not despise the day of small beginnings.” These words from the book of Zachariah were prophetically spoken by famed missiologist Arthur Glasser to the inaugural Perspectives class in 1974. The mystery of transformation from a tiny classroom discussion into a sweeping frontier mission seems lost to time.
The fascinating connection between the Perspectives movement, the frontier mission movement, and church planting movements is a story rarely told yet vital to understanding the spread of the gospel to resistant populations. Yvonne Huneycutt’s Propelled by Hope unfolds the hidden tapestry of these interconnected movements through sixty personal interviews and inspiring anecdotes. Huneycutt explains how the Jesus Movement transformed disillusioned youth into fervent volunteers for mission.
Discover not just history but a spiritual journey that offers lessons, inspiration, and encouragement for today's believers. Whether you are a mission leader, a student of missiology, or someone seeking to understand God's movement in the world, this book will deepen your insight into the strategies, goals, and personal stories that have shaped modern missions.
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: The Beginnings
Chapter 1: The Historical Context in Which Perspectives Emerged
Global Realignments
Societal Trends
Negative View of Missions
A New Spiritual Vitality
Chapter 2: Responding to the Move of the Holy Spirit
Fuller Foundation
Zechariah 4:10
Lausanne ’74
In the Gap
Laying Foundation Stones
The Living God is a Missionary God
Decline, Reorganization, and Expansion
The Remarkable Penn State Class
A Published Text at Last
Chapter 3: Developing Trends in World Missions 1980–2000
Paradigm Shifts
New Strategies
Activisim
From Mission Field to Mission Force
Key Mission Entities and Events with Frontier Mission Focus, 1975–99
Chapter 4: Growing Influence, Growing Pains
Extension and Expansion
Changing Audience
First Forays Into Other Lands
Stabilization and Growth
The Perspectives Add-dition
A Shift in Focus
Follow the Fruit
Part 2: Into the Third Millennium
Chapter 5: Global Events and Cultural Shifts Impacting Mission
Re-mapping Global Populations
Migration, Urbanization, Globalization
Post-Western Christianity and Post-Christian West
Chapter 6: Frontier Mission Developments 2001–2020
New Agencies and Networks for a New Millennium
One Hundred Years of Progress
Changing of the Guard
Therefore Pray to the Lord of the Harvest
Globalization of Mobilization
The Harvest Force
The Harvest Field
Exploring New Strategies
Fruitful Practices
Twenty-First Century Surprise
Collaboration for the Sake of the Name
College Student to Church-Planting Movement
Chapter 7: Catalyzing a Movement
Struggling to Catch Up
A New Start: Fresh Faces in New Places
New Edition for a New Millennium
Auxillary Curriculum for Strategic Demographics
Coordinator Training Reboot
Launching Online
Back to the Mother Ship—Headwinds Ahead
Building for the Future
Perspectives Goes to Hollywood
Defining Identity
Long Overdue: Instructor Development
Chapter 8: Fruitful Frontier—Perspectives Global
FirstFruits Internationally
A Root Bearing Offshoots
Kairos—Emerging from the Philippines
The Necessity of Soil Preparation
United Kingdom
Fruitful Strategy
Cultivating the Movement
Sowing and Reaping in Rocky Soil
Establishing the Movement
Promising Yield
Seeding Into Other Asian Nations
Propagating into Other African Nations
Extending the Movement
Latin America: Ripe for Mobilization
Divine Connections With Perspectives Instructors
Chapter 9: Moving With God into the Next Half-Century
USCWM Becomes Frontier Ventures
Perspectives USA Launches Out On Its Own
Perspectives Global Matures
Perspectives Curriculum Fifth Edition
2020: Unexpected, Uncertain, Chaotic and Fruitful
Celebrating the Past, Looking to the Future
Conclusion
My friend Rex attended Perspectives Lesson 1 with his arms folded, wondering when the class would be over. By the end of the evening Rex was learning forward, asking himself, “Why have I never heard this Biblical overview of missions before?” By Lesson 15 Rex and his wife Anna heard God’s call “to give up their smaller ambitions” and “go ahead as far as they could see.” They trained to become Perspectives coordinators and brought Perspectives to their home church. Then, with the love of God compelling, Rex and Anna sold their possessions and moved with their children to one of the most remote regions of the world. Yvonne Huneycutt has told the Perspectives story in this superb book. As Ralph D. Winter said, “We should be on tiptoes to see what is about to happen next.”
Robert Blincoe
President Emeritus, Frontiers US
Yvonne Huneycutt pulls back the curtain on the connections between the origin and development of the paradigm shifting Perspectives course and the frontier mission movement that has dominated mission thinking for the last fifty years. Many are aware Perspectives has played a significant role in stimulating, expanding, and sustaining that movement, but few have been privy to the stories of the ordinary men and women used by God to do extraordinary things to align God’s church with his purpose for his people within history. Countless thousands have given themselves sacrificially for the sake of his name within every segment of humanity. They are propelled by the hope that they are not just making history, they are fulfilling it.
Even for someone like me who has been deeply involved for the last twenty-five years, this recounting of the bigger story is full of insights and surprises.
The cover depicts with stunning vibrancy the fleet of nationally led programs that have emerged around the world, taking their direction from the Son, and although exposed and vulnerable, they boldly seek to capture the wind of the Spirit to mobilize and unite the church around an ancient promise that is an anchor for our souls and the ultimate hope for all nations.
Bruce Koch
Director, Perspectives Global Service Office, Frontier Ventures
I was freshly inspired by Yvonne Huneycutt’s Propelled by Hope. Here is a well-crafted collection of stories honoring scores of individuals in frontier mission mobilization. It stretches across decades inside a larger drama: God’s movement through the Perspectives course to mobilize individuals, local churches, and organizations around the world toward fulfilling His singular ancient purpose: blessing all the peoples of the earth through Jesus Christ. This book is a Christ-centered worship offering. It gives historical witness to the multitudes who’ve been “ruined” away from the ordinary by the Perspectives course and “The Story of His Glory.” What a gift to the global church and missions community!
Werner Mischke
VP, Mission ONE and Author, The Global Gospel
For the past two decades I’ve watched Perspectives and the people that steward it have an outsized impact on the expansion of the gospel around the world. I’ve often thought, “someone needs to document what’s happening!”
Yvonne is the one! She knows the movement from every angle. She knows the tactical aspects of running classes and the biblical intricacies of Perspectives’ vision and content. Yvonne knows the founders, editors, leaders, and volunteers. She’s hands on with the extraordinary global phenomenon of mission mobilization as it’s expressed in numerous languages and contexts. This book will help you see the importance of Perspectives and its context in the broader frontier mission movement. You will become inspired to participate! More importantly, the book will leave you in awe of God and of His astonishing activity and purpose!
James Mason
CEO, Perspectives USA
Propelled by Hope is remarkably and inspiringly focused on the glory of God among all peoples. The writer tells the Perspectives story in a way that is as enjoyable to read as it is academically factual. Yvonne’s Propelled by Hope is a story of human efforts and Spirit guidance in developing a dynamic movement worth narrating, worth participating in, and worth propagating. It is fitting that Yvonne is the one authoring this story. She brings to this work, what she often does while teaching the historical section of the Perspectives course—life! This book is a welcome addition to our quest to herald the glory of God as championed by those who truly hope for his appearing.
Rev Canon Timothy O Olonade, PhD
Pioneer Executive Secretary, Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association
Founding President, El-Rehoboth Global Leadership Foundation
Before Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, Jesus proclaimed to His followers that they would be empowered to bear witness of Him to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately, the church today has relegated Christ’s mission to a peripheral program emphasis. Yvonne Huneycutt has blessed us with a glimpse of how God graced his church through a curriculum that he has used to awakening his church around the world to the central mission of Jesus Christ and His bride. Thank you, Yvonne, for giving us a history of the God-given vision and people He used through the Perspectives movement to bring His church to repentance and obedience.
Jeff Lewis
Founder/Director, 1352
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement was life-altering for the church I pastored and for me. It provided the education and motivation we needed! I’ve long appreciated Yvonne Huneycutt’s friendship and partnership. She's a humble, hard-working missiologist who keeps her finger on the pulse of Gospel advance! Her book about the Perspectives movement is an exceptional and readable addition to the missionary history that’s unfolding in our lifetime!
Robert J. Morgan
Author, Speaker, Bible Teacher
Propelled by Hope is the sweeping narrative of a global movement that started from a seemingly small beginning when Perspectives was launched fifty years ago. Huneycutt's inspiring book reveals how God himself is the movement maker. Today, Perspectives is rapidly spreading through the non-Western world. This excellently researched book reveals why thousands around the world have experienced a radical paradigm shift and have now joined this movement of making His glory known. This global God story is continuing into future generations.
Mary Ho
International Executive Leader, All Nations
It is amazing what God has done through the Perspectives course! In 2001 we hosted the course at the church I pastored in Tennessee. One of the instructors, David Watson, exposed us to the amazing things he had seen God do in India in a disciple making movement. An African pastor staying with me at the time was enrolled in the course. Together we wondered, “Would God do something like this in Africa?”
With David’s mentorship, we gathered other African leaders to implement disciple making movement principles in three regions of Africa. God has blessed the work with 39,565 new churches, including 18,284 among Unreached People Groups. Through Perspectives we met a long-term mentor and learned the importance of partnership and building on what others have done. Propelled by Hope is filled with such fascinating stories of the works of God through the quiet faithful labors of many.
Jerry Trousdale
Final Command Ministries
Author, Miraculous Movements and The Kingdom Unleashed
Dr. Huneycutt has given us a marvelous gift by expertly recounting the fifty-year history of what is now a global missions education movement. While she aptly puts this account in the context of frontier missions, she also recognizes that, since 1974, Christianity itself was transformed as it shifted to the Global South. Both trends have brought greater diversity to the global church while moving us nearer to the Revelation 7:9 vision of all peoples so eagerly anticipated by Perspectives graduates around the world. A compelling and life-changing read!
Todd M. Johnson, PhD
Co-Director, Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
The Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course changed my life. I first took the course in 1981 with instructors the likes of Ralph Winter, Don Richardson, and other pioneers in the frontier mission movement. I lead a mission that is mobilizing artistic and innovative ministry practitioners in fifty countries. As I look back over forty years, I see that the dynamic insights in the Perspectives course have laid the biblical and contextual groundwork that has given me great confidence and courage for innovative efforts in God’s world mission.
Yvonne Huneycutt’s insightful book beautifully describes the impact Perspectives has made around the world. Reading it will give you renewed vision, historical perspective, deep enjoyment, and an enlarged passion for what is still an unfinished task. A task in which Jesus wants you to become more deeply involved. You will make no mistake devouring Dr. Huneycutt’s great new book!
Dr. Byron Spradlin
President, Artists in Christian Testimony Int’l, Brentwood, TN
Incredible! Yvonne Huneycutt has expertly and sensitively condensed fifty years of the Perspectives course and international movement into an exciting and fast paced narrative full of vision, passion, teamwork, setbacks, victories, and most of all, changed lives. Be inspired by what God has done in and through Perspectives, and let it motivate you to make a difference in this ever-growing world Christian movement.
Dr. Steve Shadrach
Global Ambassador, Via (formerly Center for Mission Mobilization)
Surprisingly, this book shows us more than just the history of the Perspectives movement. It is about the fulfillment of our ultimate hope: to bring praise and worship to God from every people, nation, and language. The Perspectives movement has expanded beyond English-speaking countries to become a global movement. As readers will discover in these pages, Perspectives is spreading as global south churches, formerly mission fields, begin to actively participate in global missions. Through this book, we can imagine what amazing things God will do through the global churches in the future. The publication of this book would not have been possible without the author's persistence, spirit of inquiry, insight into history, and deep love for the Perspectives movement.
Chulho Han
Director, Mission Partners Korea and Perspectives Asia
In her book Propelled by Hope Yvonne Huneycutt has shown the Perspectives movement to reflect the power and vision of our missionary God. She shows how Perspectives is deeper than a trend and wider than one place and one time. Her book brings forward the thinking of its first leaders, traces the development of the course, and carries it into its global impact. At a time when algorithms and “best practices” can dull our minds and imaginations, her work allows us to see the fingerprints of our missionary God and invites us to join. The invitation takes us closer to the grace of God. The movement changed my calling in 1993. Under the tutelage of my friends David Garrison and David Barrett, I founded Anglican Frontier Missions. While others continue that work, the truths of Perspectives continue to teach me and take me in new paths.
Rev. Canon Tad de Bordenave
Propelled by Hope is a story for our time and for a new generation. Now from the advantage point of some fifty years, Yvonne, in looking back has helped “join the dots” of two significant Holy Spirit movements—the Frontier Missions Movement and the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course—together with the family of courses that has flowed out of Perspectives. Yvonne Huneycutt has done a masterful job. This informative book is riveting, extremely well researched, highly inspirational, and well written. It carries a prophetic element that will help a new generation to be “propelled by hope” and engage enthusiastically with God on mission, as their meaningful expression of worship for God’s eternal Glory.
Max Chismon
International Director, Simply Mobilizing International
Here is the story of how the Perspectives course has been helping thousands to step into the great story of God fulfilling his global purpose.
Steve Hawthorne
Lead Editor, Perspectives
A book like Propelled by Hope has never been written. Ever. Yvonne has interwoven the story of Perspectives with the history of missions over the last five decades! I couldn't put it down. She traces the development of Perspectives as a worldwide phenomenon—in the context of seemingly every major mission milestone during the past fifty years! Propelled by Hope pulls no punches. It describes sodalities and modalities that are real, raw, and yet, redeemed. As it turns out, this book isn't a commercial for a missions course. It's the true story of a tapestry called Perspectives becoming a global movement, changing the lives of course-developers and leaders just as radically as it transforms students into missional world-changers. If you buy just one book this year, I suggest you make it this one.
Doug Lucas, DBA
President, Team Expansion and Founder/Co-Editor, Brigada
I’ve been curious about how certain things thrive and others never get traction. Having been near the Perspectives movement since 1982, I have often wondered “how did this happen?” What a joy to read the story about this ministry tool, which helps people get into the story themselves. And it’s still happening! Such is the case when you have a course designed to instill globally informed discipleship in people who are committed to do whatever the Lord calls them to. They tend to want to pass it on!
Greg H. Parsons, PhD
Global Connections Specialist, Frontier Ventures
- Title: Propelled by Hope: The Story of the Perspectives Movement
- Author: Yvonne Huneycutt
- Publisher: William Carey Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781645084662, 9781645084648, 1645084647, 1645084663
- Resource ID: LLS:9781645084662
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-26T12:38:34Z
Yvonne Huneycutt (DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) has served the Perspectives movement since 1991, and she is currently on staff with Perspectives Global as an instructor, trainer, and author. Yvonne’s varied career experience includes the corporate world, local church ministry, missions, and managing a non-profit organization. She spent a decade on staff with the U.S. Center for World Mission. Yvonne resides in Texas with her husband Steve.