Nikki Toyama-Szeto
Nikki is the Executive Director of Christians for Social Action, a network of scholar/activists. She helps Christians have a faith-fueled engagement with justice issues. CSA educates and empowers people through innovative programs, to engage with justice issues on both personal and systemic levels. Founded by Ron Sider, the author of “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”, CSA modesl the deep scriptural engagement and tangible social action.
Before coming to CSA in 2017, she served in leadership positions at International Justice Mission, the Urbana Conference and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She loves working with communities around the world, whether through scripture, thoughtful reflection on leadership, or stirring the spiritual imagination.
Christians for Social Action was originally Evangelicals for Social Action but changed its name in Sept 2020. As seen on NPR, Newsweek, Religious News Service, and Christianity Today: Nikki writes and teaches on the intersection of faith and justice. She serves as a “Leading Voice” for the Missio Alliance. Her work was profiled in Outreach Magazine’s Leadership Issue (Sept 2017 Cover), Christianity Today’s, “Who’s Next?” and Rejuvenate Magazine’s “40 under 40”.
Nikki has served on the board of Interserve USA, Mission Year, Missio Alliance, INFEMIT, and Casa Chiralagua.
She was a co-editor of the book More than Serving Tea (IVP, 2006) a collection of essays, stories and poems looking at the intersection of race, gender, and faith for Asian American
women. She also co-wrote Partnering with the Global Church (IVP, 2012) with Femi Adeleye and edited the Urbana Onward series. She is a co-author of The God of Justice: IJM Institute’s Global Church Curriculum (IVP, 2015).
Much of her insights stem from experiences living among poor people in the slums of Nairobi, Cairo, and Bangkok. She helped develop and direct the Global Urban Trek, an
urban immersion program designed to challenge students to use their majors on behalf of the world’s most marginalized people.
She has a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford University and completed her masters in organizational leadership at Eastern University studying in South Africa. Nikki resides in the DC metro area with her family.
