History of the ISFM

Despise not the day of small things . . .

It was the prophet Zechariah who admonished the people of God to not despise the day of small things, but instead to rejoice in promising beginnings. This admonition found a new application September 19-20, 1986, when 23 North American mission leaders from 15 agencies gathered in Colorado Springs, Colorado to discuss goals for the year 2000 and, in particular, to consider needs and opportunities in pioneer church-planting. Out of these discussions emerged a new professional society—the US Society for Frontier Missiology.

The founding members promptly stated their hope that the new society would become international in membership and name. An initial purpose statement called for the society to focus on “the promotion of thinking and sharing on an international level in the area of missiology oriented toward a concern for the unfinished task and toward the significance of the year 2000 for the completion of that task.” Links to the International Journal of Frontier Missiology (IJFM) were forged from the outset.

Since 1986 the society has incrementally become more international, and further progress is underway. We welcome participation from East and West, North and South in the International Society for Frontier Missiology.