July 01, 1979 by Mission Frontiers staff

FACT The USCWM was founded to serve existing mission agencies. All our efforts at research, mobilization, and training are meant to funnel new facts, money, and missionary candidates into the agencies.

COMMENT Since we were created to serve mission agencies it was truly amazing to us when mission agencies showed an interest in serving us--almost immediately offers to help and expressions of support began coming to us. Almost none of them were solicited.

FACT To date over thirty different mission agencies have taken the initiative to help us in one way or another. (See following chart).

ACMC--Association of Church Mission Committees; AIM--Africa Inland Mission; ANFM--All Nations Frontier Mission; BMF--Bethany Missionary Fellowship; CBFMS--Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society; CCC--Campus Crusade for Christ; C&MA--Christian & Missionary Alliance; CNEC--Christian National's Evangelism Commission; ECMC--Episcopal Church Missions Community; FEGC--Far Eastern Gospel Crusade; GMU--Gospel Missionary Union; GR--Gospel Recordings; IMA--International Missionary Advance; ISI--International Students, Inc.; NAM--North Africa Mission; Navs.--The Navigators; Naz.--Nazarene Mission Board; OC--Overseas Crusades; OMF--Overseas Missionary Fellowship; PCA-Presbyterian Church of America; Prov. --Providence Missions Homes; RBMU--Regions Beyond Missionary Union; SIM--Sudan Interior Mission; TEAM--The Evangelical Alliance Mission; UPOWE--The United Presbyterian Order for World Evangelization; WBT--Wycliffe Bible Translators; WEC-Worldwide Evangelization Crusade; WMPL--World Mission Prayer League; WT--Worldteam; WV--World Vision.

FACT--To date ten mission agencies have agreed to jointly endorse and promote our onesemester student missions program (the Institute of International Studies) to student contacts, churches and friends. These include: Africa Inland Mission, Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society, North Africa Mission, Overseas Crusades, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Sudan Interior Mission, Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, Worldteam, and Wycliffe Bible Translators. Altogether, sixteen agencies are distributing our student brochure.

FACT--Eight different mission agencies have loaned personnel to the staff of the U.S. Center for World Mission including:In the Institute of Chinese Studies, Jim Ziervogel of Overseas Crusades and Alan Gates of the

Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

As Director of the Institute of Tribal Refugees and Chairman o(the Strategy Division, Ernie Heimbach, until recently Home Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship

As chairman of the Division of Mobilization, Ben Jennings of International Missionary Advance

FACT--Bethany Missionary Fellowship printed our promotional brochure at great discount--a real savings'!

Campus Crusade for Christ loaned us $100,000 (unsolicited) before our 1st major deadline and then several months later decided to make most of it a gift.

Overseas Crusades president Luis Palau sent out a letter to 13,000 people on OC's mailing list before our first big deadline asking for $15.95 from each one. (see Fact Sheet C) Worldwide Evangelization Crusades' affiliated Scottish Mission Centre has offered to host the 1980 Edinburgh Il (a conference on frontier missions for missionaries and mission executives).

Just recently International Students Inc. has seconded a man for 18 months to help coordinate the conference. World Literature Crusade contributed the salary for a secretary for Dr. Winter during a six month period. In addition they also loaned us $100,000 before our 1st deadline.

World Vision gave us $25,000 before the first major deadline.
How the USCWM is invading secular college

campuses

FACT: An estimated 1.2 million really dedicated Christian students are currently enrolled in secular colleges. FACT: These future church members and leaders are immersed for four solid years in an atmosphere generally characterized by skepticism, secularism and ignorance or disdain for the Christian movement.
FACT: In such a corrosive atmosphere, a high percentage of entering Christian students eventually reject Christ or at best acquiesce to the tacit assumption of a dying and irrelevent Christianity.

FACT: Secular education offers little reason to believe in Christianity's vitality. For example, few secular courses on Africa will normally mention that 85% of Africa's schools and hospitals have been founded by missionaries, or that in Africa and Asia, 1000 new churches are opening their doors each week (Have you ever heard these two astonishing facts?)

Thus, it is ironic that at the very hour in

history when the Christian movement is stronger and more successful worldwide than ever before, there is a growing feeling that just the opposite is true. Satan has accomplished this by sealing Christians off from the facts.

The USCWM is now operating a prototype program which effectively counters the severe misinformation or vacuum of the typical secular college curriculum. The Institute of International Studies (IIS) is an intensive semester /quarter designed to invigorate the Christian student (in secular colleges) with new vision, direction and purposes for his life-all while he or she loses no time or money in college.

HOW DOES THIS PILOT PROGRAM WORK?
There are few subjects which Christianity does not vitally affect. History, for example, is more coherent when taught from the perspective of God's hand in world events. Anthropology/Sociology--the study of man and his cultures--is strengthened by a biblical view of man. Philosophy is clarified by a Christian realization of man's full purpose and value on earth.

Many "secular" topics are legitimately and more accurately taught from a biblical and Christian standpoint. Yet, the current textbooks and courses have till now been bleached of such perspectives. Christian students suffer from the lack.

The IIS prototype program now offers fully accredited courses from a Christian perspective as a one-semester/quarter supplementary program (not competing with Christian colleges or Bible schools). This exciting course gives biblical, historical and international perspective of God's work all across the world. The IIS program thus rapidly injects the vitamins into, the purely secular perspective normally given to Christian students at secular colleges.

College students normally invest an average of 55hours each week towards course work. Now, llS allows them for one high-powered semester or quarter to invest all of this prime energy into the rediscovery of God's purposes in their lives and the world. Like-minded students from scores of secular colleges transfer to the IIS program for one semester or quarter or even January inter-term (whichever fits), to receive a brief but powerful reorientation.

This brief "vacation from secularism" into uplifting prayer and purpose energizes the rest of their secular college career with the understanding of God's presence behind secular interpretation. Yet, such a reorientation-fully transferable arid secularly accredited-is only half the cost of most private colleges.

PROTOTYPE' The concept of a one-semester, accredited intensive study of Scripture and God's purposes, as an oasis in the midst of a secular college career, is now being examined by Christian colleges as a viable alternative to abandoning most Christian students to totally secular input.

With the participation of colleges across the country, space for perhaps 20,000 young people per year would be available (the present IIS prototype can only accomodate 2000). (Incidentally, this participation by Christian colleges would also rescue them from the current crisis in funding caused by dropping enrollment.) As the idea catches on with more and more Christian colleges, perhaps another 100,000 annually could be reached. An independent study course for adults is already available. Such a massive, powerful reorientation to the FACTS of God's work in the world could well revitalize the church's vision and ministry in the world.
How we hope to ovoid perennial fund raising

In 1974, a call was published at the large Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization establishing the grounds for a new thrust to penetrate to the remaining 2.5 billion people still without a church. (That call is available---ask for The New Macedonia $1.00.)

Out of that call, the U.S. Center for World Mission was founded as a U.S. base of operations in the new effort. Its $15 million founding budget included housing, a former college campus, and operating endowment--resources to be used to establish the beehive of new strategy institutes, training programs, mobilization centers, and supporting services needed to gear up for the new thrust. (The book Once More Around Jericho tells the exciting story of its vision and founding).

The Center was designed to be self-supporting once in operation--deriving its operating budget not from continuing fund drives, but from rental, tuition, interest, shared staff, etc. However, $15 million was needed for its founding. Even in this founding period the Center wanted to avoid competing with the very mission agencies it sought to serve. Moreover, it recognized the need to spread as far as possible the vision of evangelizing those still unreached 2.5 billion people. Therefore, after much prayer, it was decided that the Center should do something very different from traditional, perennial fund raising.

The Center decided it would:

1) not ask money from church budgets

2) not ask more than $15.95 from any one person (the 9541 is the cost of returning instructional materials).

3) not ask for repeated gifts from anyone. These severe restrictions have horrified most seasoned fundraisers. By this method to raise the necessary $15 million the Center would have to involve one million Christians in its founding. Many declared this to be impossible for a relatively unknown group of missionaries.

HAS IT WORKED? Well ...yes and no. It is true that we have faithfully followed these policies since December 1977. And the Lord has provided faithfully for each of our payment deadlines. Yet, so far He has used individuals who have volunteered far more than $15.95, to help us until the million people are reached. (As $15.95 gifts come in, the amounts above $15. 95 will be reassigned to more front line projects.)

Reorienting evangelicals to the bold new task ahead has turned out to be painfully slow. Yet again we have been pleased and surprised with their response. Many pastors across the country (especially those who have read the Jericho book and understand the full import of this new vision for their congregation) have spearheaded a onetime campaign in their church, handing out the Jericho book, showing the film Penetrating the Last Frontiers, and encouraging members to give once. The fact that it is a one-time gift has impressed pastors.

Laymen have also participated--informing Sunday School classes or Bible studies, for example. Mission agencies similarly have approached their constituencies for a one-time $15.95 gift and have increased their own giving. In many cases, we never see the names and addresses from these campaigns, since we intend no return solicitation.

Some individuals have lent the Jericho book to friends, pushing the vision farther than we ourselves could have. One elderly man lent out four books to 40 of his friends; 28 became Center Founders by sending in $15.95. Many other creative approaches have been taken by people eager to share the new vision with others.

In fact, it is this kind of spontaneous and contagious movement of the Spirit on human hearts upon which we primarily depend.

In many ways the establishment of the Center is now out of our control. Somehow, to continue meeting accelerating payments there must be an acceleration of concern, a more rapid spread of the vision. Yet, in this too we depend upon the accelerating responses of many more who, like those before them, will warm to the vision of finally reaching the least-reached peoples on earth, and share this vision with their friends.

Would you be able to help? If you haven't read the Jericho book, perhaps that would be a good first step. Then, if you can help share the vision, please contact us.