United World Mission
United World Mission was born in the heart of a local church pastor in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Sydney Correll and his wife, Helen, led their church on evangelistic and compassion trips to India, Africa, and Latin America. They established a Bible School and local churches in Cuba, with a vision to see Cubans go as missionaries to Latin America. Their vision attracted seventeen like-minded churches in Ohio that “united” for world mission. In 1946 they incorporated as United World Mission (UWM) and began to grow into a global interdenominational ministry with a passion for church planting, ministry training, and ministries of compassion and development.
Since the early 1990s, UWM has focused on partnership with the national church around the world. UWM leaders made an intentional shift in the missionary role from “doing” to “facilitating,” especially by equipping and capacity-building, rather than by leading and directing. An era of partnering was born.
The Latin America Mission
The Latin America Mission was born in the hearts of Harry Strachan, a Canadian-born Scot and his Irish-born wife Susan who felt God’s missionary call to Argentina. In 1921, the Strachans moved from Argentina to San José, Costa Rica, where they founded what would later be called the Latin America Mission. The Latin America Mission was innovative, inter-denominational, and bold in its efforts to bring the whole gospel to all of Latin America.
Evangelism and social concern were always integrated in the LAM, which became known for “integral mission.”
In 1971, control of all LAM ministries was legally transferred to Latin partners. The LAM’s conviction was that the future of the gospel in Latin America was with the Latin Church, and missionaries needed to serve Latin vision and under Latin leadership. An era of partnering was born.
Overseas Council
Overseas Council was born of the vision of several businessmen in Indianapolis. While attending a building dedication of the Seoul Theological Seminary (STS) in 1974, they noticed the inability of students to pay for their seminary studies. The group returned home, determined to raise scholarship funds for STS, and Overseas Council for Seoul Theological Seminary was born! Within five years, the ministries of Overseas Council expanded beyond scholarships for Korean students to include various programs and strategies for assisting seminaries and men and women in many nations who were called to Christian ministry. By 2017, Overseas Council was helping provide excellent theological education to equip Christian leaders through 130 seminary partners in 70 nations.