Perspectives, a movement sweeping the United States, offers college level courses to communities to teach members to unite Christians and “live a life of purpose.” Katelyn Hannan, a community member and Perspectives organizer, has brought the course to Marshall University in the hope to give members that opportunity. 

“We must not sacrifice obedience together on the altar of our personal theological biases,” Hannan said. “I am excited about the Perspectives course because it is an intercultural, intergenerational, interdenominational experience that unites Jesus followers to discover and explore God’s heart to bless the world.”

Hannan, who said she learned about the course through a friend, said it allows Christians to come together to discuss the ways they are different in a safe space. 

“There are plenty of peripheral issues Christians choose to disagree on and cause division, so I want this class to be a space where we have rich discussions about our differences and still work together on the clear commands of Jesus upon which we call all agree,” Hannan said.

The 15-week course is through the organization, Frontier Adventures, and has four parts which Hannan said are, biblical, cultural, historic and strategic. 

 “It is ultimately through Frontier Adventures, which is based out of California, but the Perspective movement in general is just a course designed to mobilize the church, mobilize Christians of all denominations, all generations, all races,” Hannan said. 

Each week guest instructors, both local and out of state, teach participants about a different aspect to the four categories.

“There are 15 different guest instructors that come in every week, some local, some farther away, who have ministry experience and overseas missionary experience,” Hannan said. 

The course, which can count as a college credit, invites community members from all ages and backgrounds to come together to explore the Bible. 

Marshall student Logan Foster said he found out about Perspectives through Hannan on Facebook and decided to take the course to learn more about how he can take the lessons from the Bible and bring it to those around the community.

 “One of the biggest things to me in my life was seeing the Bible’s continued story from Genesis to Revelations and how God calls us to go to the people and just like tonight, we are talking about the first book in Genesis and how God has sent one man to be a blessing to all nations,” Logan Foster, senior Marshall student, said. 

Foster said he wants to unite Christians and local churches and hopes this course can achieve that. 

“I want unity but also within this class, for example my name tag says First Baptist of Kenova, but there are other churches here to and we are all coming together under the world church that God envisioned,” Foster said. “Through that there is unity and it is hopefully going to impact Huntington and like the drug epidemic and combat that going forward.” 

Hannan said her biggest hope for the course is to unite Christians in the Huntington community and to bring awareness to the international students on Marshalls campus. 

“I also deeply long for the course to have the practical outcome of more people loving and serving the internationals in our community as Jesus commands his followers to do,” Hannan said. “I especially desire it to open student’s eyes to the international student community at Marshall to which they can show hospitality and befriend during their time here.” 

The course is Thursday evenings from 6-8:45 p.m. at New Baptist Church on Fifth Avenue. The price for the course is determined by the level taken. The Key level, which is the basic, is $290. Participants taking the course for a college credit or a certificate pay $550. Students receive $60. Registration for this course ends Jan. 31. For more information about how to register visit the Perspectives Huntington Facebook page. For more information about other courses in the area visit www.perspectives.org. 

Meredith O’Bara can be contacted at [email protected].