SOUTH AFRICA
The South African leadership team is now helping nearby nations in Perspectives program startup. They assisted Malawi in running their first class in 2020, followed by coaching and training in program development. Malawi now has an emerging national program. The vision is to help other nearby nations develop their own national Perspectives programs.
Perspectives course content entered South Africa very early. Pastor Richard Verreynne met Dr. Ralph Winter in 1982, who gave him a Perspectives Reader and Study Guide. Verreynne used the curriculum to create a missiology course of study at the newly established School of World Mission of the Christian Reformed Theological Seminary. Through the school, Perspectives content influenced local church mission vision and the sending out of hundreds of missionaries in the decade of the 1990s.
The framework for a national Perspectives Study Program, however, was not initiated until 2010 through a visit of Perspectives Global leaders attending the Lausanne Cape Town Congress. They introduced the newest edition of the Perspectives curriculum to key South African leaders. This introduction spurred the start up of Perspectives courses for church members in major cities.
In 2015, Richard Verreynne handed over program leadership to Pastor Suzy Abrahams. Under her leadership, a volunteer team has implemented indigenously led and funded courses, leadership training, and a regional and national structure. Classes are held twice a year, both virtually and in-person. Plans for nation-wide expansion are underway.
Contact: Suzy Abrahams
Social Media: Facebook
“I have had ‘people blindness’ before, but I now know what an obstacle that is in reaching out cross culturally. We, the church, need to wake up, step out of our comfort zones, educate ourselves about the state of the world as far as the unreached are concerned and make a concerted effort in obedience to Gods call to make disciples of all nations.”
—Perspectives Student
