In the mid 1960s, a group of students at Westminster Theological Seminary developed the idea of establishing "an indigenous, inter-denominational, evangelical and graduate level theological institution for the purpose of training university graduates to serve the churches in China and to evangelize around the world.

"[3] This group included Jonathan Chao (who became the first President) and Che Bin Tan.

Tan had noticed that "in America, seminaries assume that the spiritual needs of students will be met through their church involvement".

"[4] CGST has also been "working at specialized approaches to reach blue collar workers," including the composition of Christian hymns "using well known Chinese folk tunes".

[5] According to its mission statement, CGST upholds the "absolute truth of the Bible's inerrancy", and "works toward a contextual theology that is relevant to and brings transformation to Chinese culture.