Course History

Perspectives began as a summer course in 1974, when Dr. Ralph Winter, then a professor at the School of World Mission at Fuller Seminary, designed a course for students who wanted to dedicate their lives to serving God. The course gave an overview of the biblical, historical, cultural and strategic issues of mission, and guest professors shared their passion for God’s purposes as they taught and spent time with the students.

During the early eighties, Perspectives grew up alongside the newly founded US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, California. The Perspectives course has been continually developed over the last twenty years, and has experienced almost exponential growth.

Perspectives is now a truly international movement, affecting the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Perspectives courses have been held in every continent in the world, with translations into many languages including Spanish, Korean, Arabic and Chinese. Today over 80,000 people world-wide have taken Perspectives.