Welcoming the World Church

If you want to learn firsthand about the state of Christianity around the world, you may not have to go much further than the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary.

Want to know what it’s like being part of a small minority of evangelicals in the Middle East? Talk to Fady Girgis, a student from Egypt.

Interested in the challenges facing the Anglican Church in Nigeria? Walk over to Alexander House and ask the scholars at the Overseas Ministries Study Center, a renowned research hub that recently joined the seminary.

Curious about the rise of megachurches in the Global South? That was one of the topics at a recent three-day conference on campus that had scholars flying in from across the world.

Princeton Seminary has long drawn students from other countries. And seminary scholarship has often interrogated the world. But over the last several years the global engagement has expanded and is now visible in many ways—from enrollment to academic offerings to research.

Students from outside the United States accounted for about 30 percent of this year’s incoming class. And the total international student population represents some 40 nations, including countries the seminary has rarely drawn from, such as Chad and Mozambique.

“We’re seeing students from countries we’ve never had before,” says Martha Redondo, assistant director of international enrollment and program services. “I am so impressed and inspired by our students who come from very far places to study here.”

The change is driven by the decades—long spread of Christianity across the Global South, a worldwide shift that has also inspired bold new directions in scholarship.

In March, for example, the seminary’s annual World Christianity Conference drew more than two hundred scholars for three days of discussion under the title, “War, Pandemic, and Climate Change: Global Crises—Past and Present—And Their Place in World Christianity Scholarship.”

Professor James Ponniah from the University of Madras spent 30 hours on a flight from India to contribute his research to a presentation on the rise of megachurches in the Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

“I am looking at what drives the growth of Pentecostal Christianity in India,” Ponniah said. “And I am thrilled to be here for this conference.”

Only in its fourth year, the conference already has an international reputation.

“People now describe us as the place to go to study World Christianity,” says Afe Adogame, the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Religion and Society, who organized the conference along his colleagues, professors Raimundo C. Barreto and Richard F. Young. “We were packed for three days with a very healthy turnout from the Global South.”

Even apart from the conferences, the day-to-day interaction among students is fueling the spirit of intellectual engagement on campus. Girgis, the student from Egypt, says that a casual conversation over lunch at the Mackay Campus Center or at the Wright Library can bring fresh insights.

“I get to learn about the state of Christianity in Nigeria or Kenya, or maybe in Germany or Italy,” said Girgis, who arrived this year for the Master of Theology program. “It’s fascinating to have people from all these places right here on one campus.”

In turn, Girgis tells his professors and classmates what it’s like to live as part of a tiny minority of evangelicals in his country.

“I know a lot of people in Egypt who accept Jesus, but they cannot say anything, even to their families,” he says.

Girgis hopes to return to Egypt as a theologian who can build awareness and understanding.

“I am studying theology so I can relate it to my culture and to the ethics of the Middle East,” Girgis said. “I want to be able to translate the theology in ways people can understand, so I can have discussions with people, with Coptic Christians and with Muslims.”

Another student, Julia Zhao, said the presence of international students on campus broadens the education of Western students preparing for ministry.

Zhao herself understands both worlds. She was born in China, grew up in Toronto, and earned a PhD from the University of Notre Dame before coming to the seminary to pursue a calling in ministry.

“Protestant seminaries can be very U.S.-centric and embroiled within the culture wars of the U.S.,” she said. “But hearing the stories and narratives that international students bring with them makes the seminary experience richer and broadens students’ understanding of what it means to be a Christian in the world.”

Another striking change on campus is the arrival of the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), which became a program of the seminary in 2020 and produces leading-edge scholarship on the world Christian movement.

Anyone venturing into the 204-year-old Alexander House this year might encounter OMSC’s 10 international scholars who traveled from Australia, India, Myanmar and other faraway places to spend a year at the seminary doing research. Visitors might also meet the noted painter and writer Everlyn Nicodemus, who is OMSC’s 2022–2023 artist-in-residence and a powerful feminist voice from East Africa.

Tom Hastings, OMSC executive director, said the many strands of global Christianity emerging on campus will gradually transform the seminary community.

“The seminary can now learn firsthand, rather than through books, about what is happening in the world church,” Hastings said. “Faculty, students, and staff all have the chance to meet people from the Global South, hear their stories, and learn how they understand the Christian faith and live out their discipleship as followers of Jesus Christ.”

To help give international students the best possible experience, the seminary has empowered the Office of Global Services to be involved in every step along the way—from initial interactions online to students’ arrival at airports to continued assistance in their adjustment to campus life.

“We coach and counsel them, and once they arrive, we pick them up at the airport,” Redondo said. “If you have never traveled outside your territory, it can certainly be extremely intimidating to arrive at a large airport such as JFK.”

The seminary holds virtual open houses, works with prospective students on the application process, and helps to handle the red tape around issues such as visas, vaccines, and transcripts.

Redondo also arranges monthly friendship dinners for new students and is developing a buddy system that pairs incoming students with ones who are returning. She says working with international students is a gift, a great joy and a moral calling.

“These students are brilliant, and they come with values that have been lost in many places,” Redondo said. “They really have a strong intention of the good things they want to accomplish, and I think that that is our contribution to the world. I think that is what we owe the world.”

Click to view more photos of the World Christianity Conference