SEITE (South East Institute for Theological Education) was founded in 1994 to serve the churches of the South East of England in training people for Christian ministry.
In 1959, the Bishop of Southwark had a vision for training Christians to take ministry from the church out into society. In doing so, he broke with the normal pattern of ministerial training in which ministers are taken away from their everyday situations to study theology in a college community. Instead he set up the Southwark Ordination Course which trained people for ministry whilst they remained firmly rooted in their everyday lives and local communities. This way, people learn to make connections between Christian theology and the world in which they live. This vision remains central to SEITE.
The mode of learning which this course set up has become the model for all such courses in the UK today. In 1977 the Canterbury diocese set up an equivalent course, the Canterbury School of Ministry. SEITE was founded as the merger of these two institutions in partnership with the Methodist and United Reformed churches. We also now train people for ministry with the Baptist and Lutheran churches and for reader ministry in the Dioceses of Canterbury, Chichester and Southwark. SEITE is an ecumenical foundation, drawing together Christians from many denominations to explore together how we can work together to proclaim and live out the gospel in ways that make sense to contemporary society.
SEITE provides courses in theology for a variety of people in a variety of circumstances. Students come from many different denominations and church traditions, as well as from a variety of social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Students come to us with different academic experiences and abilities, are at different stages in life and bring with them a rich variety of Christian experience. Our programmes of ministerial formation are rooted in both good theological learning and practical ministerial experience in local churches.