John Wesley College was the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

of the

Methodist Church of Southern Africa The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is a large Wesleyan Methodism, Methodist denomination, with local churches across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, and a more limited presence in Mozambique. It is a member chu ...

situated at Kilnerton in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It was most commonly referred to as John Wesley College Kilnerton. It opened at Kilnerton in 1994, and was replaced by the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, located in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, in January 2009, There is also a John Wesley College in Fiji, South Pacific.

History

The facility was first established as Kilnerton Institution in 1886 and situated in Weavind Park, a suburb of Tshwane (

), and was named after the Rev John Kilner, secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society who encouraged the formation of an indigenous clergy in South Africa. The goal was to provide education for the local people. There was also a request from local chiefs for the Methodist Church to provide land where they could safely settle. When Kilnerton Institution was established these people settled at what became Kilnerton Village. Kilnerton served the community with a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, a training college or normal school as well as with a clinic and special domestic science course. Their spiritual needs were served by the services held in the chapel on the hill.

Revival

Kilnerton became the site of the revival of John Wesley College when the Federal Theological Seminary of Southern Africa closed, opening its doors on 6 February 1994. This occasion also marked the revival of Kilnerton as a training institution after 32 years. With the closure of the Department of Theology and Religion at

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

in 2000, John Wesley College Kilnerton became the only centre for residential theological education in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.

Notable alumni

* Dikgang Moseneke, Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa,

William Frederick Nkomo William Frederick Nkomo (1915–1972) was a South African medical doctor, community leader, political activist and teacher from Pretoria. He was the founding chairman of the African National Congress Youth League. While at the University of the W ...

, Thomas Masekela, Enos Makhubedu, Miriam Makeba, Lilian Ngoyi, Rev Sedumedi Molope, and Sefako Makgatho

References

External links

John Wesley College
{{authority control Christianity in Pretoria Seminaries and theological colleges in South Africa Methodist seminaries and theological colleges Methodism in South Africa Schools in Pretoria