Nazarene Theological Seminary

As we began classes this semester at NTS, I asked students in each of the classes I teach, if they had ever been on a short term mission trip.   Of the 80 students, about 98% said that they had been on a short term mission trip, and several had spent extensive time as volunteer missionaries, learning new languages.   When I was a student at NTS in the late 1980’s, the dynamic was completely different.  

Some estimate that today, as many as 4 million Americans take a short-term mission trip out of the country each year.[i]  With the increasing globalization of the world, in which travel and communication of ideas easily moves from one place to another, people who minister in Toledo, Bangkok, Tulsa or Buenos Aires minister in a cross-cultural setting. In such a complex world, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to communicate the gospel with cultural intelligence and with theological integrity.      

Founded in 1965 by Dr. Paul Orajla, Missiological studies at Nazarene Theological Seminary (now known as Intercultural Studies) has pioneered the study of missions in the Church of the Nazarene. This important degree program continues to facilitate innovative and relevant teaching and training of missiologists, international church leaders, missionaries, urban ministers, and pastors; all of whom minister in cross cultural contexts

Students at NTS are challenged to minister incarnationally across the ethnic, cultural, generational, and economic barriers in today's global society. Intercultural Studies at NTS educates leaders to share God's love with unreached peoples in both urban and rural areas, and to bring the Gospel to modern western culture as well.

In his book, The Open Secret, Lesslie Newbigin says “a church that is not the church in mission, is no church at all.”  Our goal at NTS is to be a part of proclaiming the Kingdom of God in a changing world.