Founded in 1994 as the South East Institute for Theological Education (SEITE), the college trains men and women for ordained and lay ministry in the Church of England and other denominations, under the Common Awards programme.
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[3] which trained people for ministry whilst they remained firmly rooted in their everyday lives and local communities.
SEITE was founded as the merger of these two institutions[3] in partnership with the Methodist and United Reformed churches.
Students come from many different denominations and church traditions, as well as from a variety of social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.