History of the World Student Christian Federation
The WSCF Executive Committee at their meeting in Princeton, NJ, in 1913. Ruth Rouse is in the front row, center, in the lightest colored coat. John R. Mott is in the second row, just behind Rouse, peeking around her hair. The woman to the right of Rouse is Tsuda Umeko, the first Japanese woman sent abroad by Meiji government with the Iwakura Mission and who later founded Tsuda College.
The WSCF was established in 1895 at Vadstena Castle, Sweden, by students and student leaders from ten North American and European countries, including John R. Mott (United States), J. Rutter Williamson (United Kingdom), Karl Fries (Sweden), Martin Eckhoff (Norway), Johannes Siemsen (Germany), and Luther D. Wishard (United States, representing Christian students “in mission lands”).
There is a close historical connection between the WSCF and the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations. Mott, for example, was leader of the YMCA, and with the help of YMCA colleagues he developed the vision and strategies for forming an international federation of autonomous and self-directing ecumenical student movements. Much of the subsequent work of establishing and linking SCMs was done with the assistance of YWCAs and YMCAs.
Suzanne de Dietrich
Suzanne de Dietrich (1891-1981) was a leader in the French ecumenical movement, primarily known for leading and writing Bible studies. She joined the World Student Christian Federation in 1920, serving as an executive committee member (1920-1935), vice chair (1928-1932), and staff member (1935-1946). In 1932, she organized the first meeting of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians. In September 1939, along with Madeleine Barot, she took part in the foundation of the CIMADE, which gave assistance and support to people uprooted by war.
During and after the world wars, the WSCF played a key role in refugee work in Europe and strove to keep communication and solidarity links open between Christians divided by nationalism and war. After the first world war, the WSCF established the European Student Relief Fund. Over four years, students of forty-two nations provided over $650,000 for the relief of starving students in nineteen countries. At that time, close working relationships developed with Pax Romana, the student organization of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1926, European Student Relief became an autonomous body, International Student Service, later to be called World University Service, which continues to this day. During the second world war, women leaders of the WSCF and YWCA, especially Suzanne de Dietrich, played a major role in creating CIMADE (Comité inter-mouvements auprès des évacués), which worked with refugees.
In the 1960s and 1970s, WSCF movements, especially in North America and Europe, were closely involved with the radical political movements. Their political solidarity and their critique of education convinced them that the mission field was no longer in educational institutions but on the streets and in the villages. The theme of the WSCF in the 1970s – Christian Witness in the Struggle for Liberation – sums up the political commitment of the WSCF at the same time it moved to a regional structure. The political debates in the WSCF were painful and often divisive.
Until the late 1960s, all of the international staff of the WSCF were based in Geneva. A major structural change in 1972 decentralized the WSCF into six regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North America. The Geneva headquarters became the inter-regional office. Programmatic and decision-making work shifted to the regions, reflecting the new mood of self-determination in third-world countries and the search for contextualization in theology and politics. The WSCF continues to critically examine its structures, both politically and administratively, especially as its constituency is now looking for ways to strengthen program and solidarity links that go beyond the regional boundaries.
Archives report
"Final Report on the work on the history and archives project of the WSCF completed by Minda McCandless as of 28 February, 1994"
The WSCF celebrated their centennial in 1995 at the General Assembly in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire. The celebration culminated a two-year effort to collect histories of WSCF movements and to organize the WSCF archives.
Monica Melanchthon (in white) cutting her birthday cake at an Executive Committee meeting in Thailand in 1991, along with Harsha, Kangwa Mabuluki, and Iris Lee.
Attendees at the WSCF General Assembly in Bogotá, Colombia, 2015
WSCF staff standing in front of a section of the Berlin Wall
Participants at the Identity, Diversity, and Dialogue conference in Kenya, 2019
Now, the WSCF lives in a much more complex educational institution environment, and this poses a new challenge to its missionary and ecumenical task. Its member movements have been consolidating their presence in educational institutions again, giving specific attention to conveying the unique ecumenical character of their work and life. As a result, some movements that almost disappeared in the 1970s, including that of the United States, have begun to re-establish their organizational base. Many movements still remain vulnerable, however, with little financial support and strong competition from conservative groups.