The percentage of indigenous Christians from the entire population of the Holy Land has dwindled drastically in the last 100 years, from 10% in 1921 to less than 2% today. Many Christians leave the birthplace of Christianity and the land of the Old Testament because of political hardships or because of economic opportunity in the West. The land where Jesus walked is today inhabited by fewer than 180,000 Christians out of a total population of 10 million. Most of the Christians in the Holy Land reside in the Galilee region, with the city of Nazareth home to the largest number: around 25,000.

Evangelical Christians in Israel and the West Bank number around 5,000. Baptists represent the largest denomination in the Evangelical family in Israel and grew from only 3 churches in 1962 to 20 churches in 2007. Despite the small numbers, there is a spiritual awakening at work here among local believers. Churches are being planted and new believers baptized on a regular basis. However, the majority of the pastors and Christian leaders are untrained theologically and Biblically. It was recognized by the Baptist leaders that this was a great weakness in the effort to build the Kingdom of God here in the Holy Land. Thus, the Nazareth Center for Christian Studies (NCCS) was born. We opened our doors in September 2007 with 20 qualified and very dedicated students.

As we continue in our first year, we have been richly blessed with a diverse student body and a talented faculty, but our needs are still evident. We lack the funding to provide scholarships for our students, almost all who continue in their full time jobs and in ministry while attending college. We also require the resources to hire local faculty. Ex pat faculty members are supported by their sending agencies, but no such support is provided for indigenous Christian scholars. Please be in prayer as we continue with this great vision of building the Kingdom of God in the Holy Land.