The John Perkins Center

 

 

John M. Perkins was born into Mississippi poverty, the son of a sharecropper. He fled to California when he was 17 after his older brother was murdered by a town marshal.

 

Although Dr. Perkins vowed never to return, in 1960 after he accepted Christ, he returned to his boyhood home to share the gospel of Christ with those still living in the region. His outspoken support and leadership role in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment, imprisonment, and beatings.

Today, Dr. Perkins is president of John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development of Jackson, Mississippi. He is one of the leading evangelical voices to come out of the American civil rights movement. He is also an internationally known author, speaker, and teacher on issues of racial reconciliation and Christian community development.

Despite dropping out of school in the third grade, Dr. Perkins is an author and international speaker and teacher on issues of racial reconciliation, leadership, and community development. For his tireless work, he received honorary doctorates from Wheaton College, Gordon College, Huntington College, Geneva College, Spring Arbor University, North Park College, and Belhaven College.

He is the author of nine books including A Quiet Revolution, Let Justice Roll Down, With Justice For All, Beyond Charity, He’s My Brother, Resurrecting Hope, and A Time to Heal. He has written numerous chapters in other books. John Perkins formally served on the board of directors of World Vision, Prison Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals, Spring Arbor University, as well as 15 other boards.

 

John Perkins Center Vision Statement

The vision of the John Perkins Center at Patten University is to train leaders and students who work for wholistic urban Christian community transformation and to partner with community organizations, churches, and city agencies to positively impact the personal and economic well being of underserved communities within Oakland.

 

John Perkins Foundation Vision and Mission

Vision: Our desire is to see lives redeemed among the poor which will in turn redeem (biblically transform) whole communities.

Mission: To develop the lives of youth, leaders and underprivileged in our community and around the world by setting an example of God’s love to further his Kingdom.

 

Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Vision and Mission

Mission: The mission of CCDA is to inspire, train, and connect Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities.

Vision: Wholistically restored communities with Christians fully engaged in the process of transformation.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Perkins Center for Christian Community Transformation

Patten University - Oakland, California Campus.

The John Perkins Center is established to embrace the values of the Christian Gospel of holism. These values, listed below, shape the core mission and initiatives of the Perkins Center. They express basic commitments that have been approved by the board of trustees in the university strategic plan. The Perkins Center is the culmination of over four years of planning and reflection.

In September 2006 Patten University began plans for the “Office of Community Care and Transformation” to serve Oakland and the Bay Area with the aim of collaborative community service and transformation. In the fall of 2007, specific plans were in place to staff and house the Office and by December a decision was made to rename the Office to the John Perkins Center for Christian Community Transformation. This reflected a partnership arrangement with the nationally respected leader in Christian Community Development, Dr John Perkins, and the organizations he has established, The John Perkins Foundation and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). On October 7, 2009 the Center's new location on the corner of Logan and Coolidge was formally opened dedicated with the presence of Dr Perkins and the CCDA Executive Director, Noel Castellanos.

The Center reflects university's fundamental existence as an institution.

The John Perkins Center is an expression of Patten University’s overall mission objective:

“Be a premier Christian university that integrates faith and learning to inspire and equip men and women for ministry and service to effect community and global transformation." (From the Strategic Plan for Patten University – 2/2/07. Community Transformation is elaborated in Strategy #5.)

 

 

The rationale/mission of the Perkins Center:

The foundation upon which Patten University was established was God’s call to train men and women to fulfill the Great Commission. In response to this call, in 1944, Dr. Bebe Patten opened the Oakland Bible Institute, which has since become Patten University. Today, the University exists and remains committed to the original vision to equip men and women for ministry and service to effect community and global transformation.

Embracing the “situatedness” of Patten University’s location in the heart of Oakland, California, the John Perkins Center for Christina Community Transformation, responding to the mandate of the good news of the kingdom of God, serves as a catalytic presence to holistically transform, for the good, the neighborhoods and communities of the Bay Area, with the aim for global community transformation.

 

Core Values of the John Perkins Center for Christian Community Transformation

            Embracing the values of the CCDA, we are committed to:

Þ   Reconciliation- seeing people reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and working to break down the racial, ethnic, and economic barriers that divide people from each other.

Þ   Relocation -The incarnational dimension of Christ’s redemptive ministry that intentionally loves and lives with one’s neighbors.

Þ   Redistribution- The social justice of the kingdom of God that seeks equitable sharing of resources.

Þ   Leadership development – Preparing new generations of leaders who embrace the character of Christ and the values of community development.

Þ   Listening to the Community – Recognizing the true community transformation must be shaped by the people living the in the community.

Þ   Church-based - The centrality of the local church in the redemptive purposes of God.

Þ   Wholistic - A holistic approach to the gospel proclamation and community transformation.

Þ   Empowerment - The importance of servanthood to and empowerment of the marginalized and disenfranchised.

In Summary, Patten University is delighted to be one of many partners in serving Christ in urban environments. Our aim is to be a catalytic resource for the kingdom of God in the California Bay Area and beyond to the mega-cities of the world.