Moving to a sustainable future

In August 2025 Wesley House will be moving from its Jesus Lane site to St Giles Court in central Cambridge. The move enables the college to secure its long term sustainability and develop new patterns of work for the changing needs of theological education.

From 1 August 2025 our address will be Wesley House, St Giles Court, 24 Castle Street, Cambridge CB3 0AJ.

St Giles Court is situated opposite Castle Street Methodist Church, close to the Cambridge Theological Federation offices and other Federation partners on the Westminster College campus.

Our new premises will comprise offices for academic and administrative staff, a reception area for visitors, a meeting room, a small chapel and a large library space for study and accessing books.

Our rooms will be equipped with the technology to support our hybrid and remote teaching, and provide the space to house our regular in person courses and study intensives.

There is parking on site and disability access. The premises are in central Cambridge and within easy walking distance of the city centre, shops, eating places and other libraries. The top floor offers beautiful views of St John’s college and the roof tops of the city.

The Revd Dr Jane Leach, Principal since 2011, says:

“Although it will be sad to leave the historic Jesus Lane site I believe that the new premises will offer a beautiful place to study, to connect and to worship. We will be taking much of our artwork and furniture with us and the rooms will soon begin to have our signature identity.  We look forward to welcoming you to be part of Wesley House’s next chapter from October 2025 onwards.”

 

Jesus Lane

The move to this new chapter is made possible by successive investments in the Jesus Lane site. We have been able to reach agreement with Jesus College on the determination of our lease on the historic site and this capital provides a significant long-term investment to support the sustainability of the College’s work into the future.

Christine Elliott, our Board Chair, says:

“In some ways it is hard to leave the newly refurbished premises on Jesus Lane but our investment in that site has not been wasted. The last twelve years have given us an opportunity to reconceive the vision and mission of the college and to build a global reputation.  The changes we now make reflect recent changes in education and position the college to respond to evolving needs in the future.”

 

 We have been hugely grateful for the generous gifts to our bursary fund and to capital projects from so many individuals and grant bodies, particularly over the past ten years . As we transition to new premises your gifts will be re-invested.  As we establish new lines of work we will continue to value your partnership and support.

 

Getting Involved

This term

We continue to value your prayers and support as we embark on this new chapter.

Alumni and friends of the college are welcome to join us at any of our in person public events during the remainder of year.

 

From October

We look forward to welcoming students, alumni and friends of the College at the new College premises from 1 October. Join us for worship and to meet the team on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in term time, including for our monthly Thursday Eucharist and Dinner.

Visit our library 9am to 5pm on Mondays to Fridays.

Contact us for our availability and to book free parking: office@wesley.cam.ac.uk

In January 2026 we launch the first of our biannual fortnight-long study intensives where 15 students, scholars and sabbatical visitors are invited to join the staff in Cambridge for study, prayer and fellowship. The annual Brian E Beck and Edward Rogers lectures will take place during these study intensives and will be open to everyone.

Read more at www.wesley.cam.ac.uk/visit/intensives

 

Our worldwide mission

Rooted in the world class university city of Cambridge, Wesley House specialises in public and practical Methodist theologies. Together with our partners in the Cambridge Theological Federation, the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University we offer a full range of study opportunities from open access online short courses and accredited professional development courses to Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. We work in partnership with Methodist theological seminaries and colleges all over the world through our membership of the International Association of Methodist, Schools, Colleges and Universities and with the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Higher Education as one of its LEAD Hubs. We continue to value our work with the Methodist Church in Britain, the World Methodist Council and with ecumenical partner churches and non-profit organisations with whom we consult and offer training programmes.

The Revd Dr Jane Leach, Principal since 2011 says,

 “The college has been through many changes in its history and has needed to adapt to keep playing its part in God’s mission to the world. We see the need now for a Wesleyan-inspired theological education, much as our founder did more than a century ago, and we are stepping out in faith again, trusting that the God who calls us will also equip us.”

 

Our intercultural vision

Our vision is to see the fruits of our research and teaching making an impact in God’s world: increasing spiritual attentiveness, social inclusion, peace resilience and intercultural collaboration.

Through our teaching programmes and our ways of working we form leaders who are both spiritually attentive and intellectually critical; both theologically rooted and contextually engaged; who can work independently and collaborate with others; who can celebrate their own identities and embrace those who are different; who can navigate complexity and live simply and equip each other for the tasks of decolonization.

We believe that the tools of the Wesleyan theological tradition provide deep roots to nourish collaboration and solidarity in an increasingly polarized world. Our free access, peer review journal, Holiness, for example, provides a multi-lingual platform for international conversation that helps build theological tools for navigating change and complexity, informed by the scholarly and practical work being done in multiple contexts.

 

Background

At the time of writing we have over 50 students studying for degrees in practical and public Methodist theology. The majority are from Africa (51%), with 31% from the UK & Europe, 12% from North America, and 6% from Asia and Oceania. In common with many higher education colleges, we are finding that the demand is for students, particularly at masters and doctoral level, to study part-time alongside their work and family commitments and in their home contexts. These students and those studying on our professional development courses in reflective pastoral supervision and skills for ministry (at any one time numbers average 100) work through intensive study weeks in person, with ongoing online support.

This trend for distance learning enabled by advances in IT and accelerated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has widened possibilities for worldwide teaching and collaboration. We have been able to expand the network of people actively engaged in delivering and supporting our work and expand the circle of those engaged in learning.

Our need now is less for permanent residential accommodation and a daily pattern of college life than it is for a base for cohorts to visit for intensive experiences, supported by high quality digital library resources and infrastructure. St Giles Court will provide precisely that kind of base.

  

For further information

Please see our FAQs: www.wesley.cam.ac.uk/faq

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