Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism

In recent decades, the most dramatic growth in the Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith — as in the Christian church more generally — has occurred in countries outside of Europe and North America. Today there are some 1.7 million Anabaptist-Mennonites in the world, representing 227 groups in 83 countries. From the perspective of five centuries of Anabaptist history, this is a phenomenal development that is transforming the character and future of the tradition. Mennonites in North America are vaguely aware of this transformation, but we have not been clear about the details of what is unfolding or about its larger significance and meaning.

Building on a rich tradition of Anabaptist-Mennonite studies, the unique resources of the Mennonite Historical Library and the Mennonite Church USA Archives, and the gifts of Goshen College faculty, the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA) will help to nurture a new generation of scholarship and fraternal exchange explicitly oriented to the global Anabaptist church. The institute will serve as a visible and vibrant point of intersection between Goshen College students, Mennonite Church USA, the worldwide Anabaptist communion and the rapidly expanding global Christian church. Read more about the ISGA.