The Queen’s Foundation is one of England’s oldest theological colleges, preparing candidates for ordained ministry in the Church of England since the early part of the 19th Century. From 1970 Queen’s pioneered ecumenical training with the Methodist Church as a primary partner. Queen’s was also a pioneer of ecumenical part time training and of having a dedicated research centre.
Queen’s strives to be a diverse, challenging, Gospel-focused community, shaping people for God’s mission in the world.
As a community, gathered and dispersed, Queen’s strives to:
- practise deep attentiveness to Jesus Christ
- live by the Holy Spirit’s leading
- stimulate joyful, challenging exploration of the riches of the Bible and Christian traditions
- create a lively, extended prophetic community of worship, prayer and action
- provide searching, supportive pathways of formation and training for discipleship and ministry
- listen to voices which are often not heard
- enable the less confident to find their voice and flourish.
We celebrate unity in diversity, in a community that is international, multi-cultural, and ecumenical. We aim to enable Christians to deepen their spiritual life, to grow in a faith that is generous, enquiring, deeply rooted and creative in thought and practice, and to be passionate for God’s work in God’s world. So whatever your reason for embarking on theological study, wherever God is calling you to, you’ll find Queen’s a hospitable but challenging place. We’ll help you grow through a journey of exploration and development, as your beliefs are tested and strengthened, and as God grows and forms you for your future service.
Whatever your reason for theological study or training at Queen’s you will find a community that is:
Ecumenical and inclusive
- Where we cherish our ecumenical commitment and our desire to be inclusive of a range of traditions within as well as between churches.
- Our aim is to create safe spaces in which Christians of many traditions learn from and with each other, becoming more confident in their own traditions without defensiveness or fear of those who think or believe differently.
- We seek to be communities of learning and worship in which we learn more fully to be the Body of Christ – generous in receiving and offering the gifts and insights of denominations, traditions, and different theological perspectives; respecting and valuing distinctiveness in ways that forms people who are confident and rooted within particular traditions; and growing in the unity that is formed in diversity that enables people to be confident in working with other traditions and open to the unity that is God’s will for the Church.
Holistic in mission
Forming disciples and ministers who are enabled to participate more fully in the missio dei as expressed in the Five Marks of Mission. We have a particular commitment to embedding the fourth mark, to “transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation”, in the curriculum and in the practices of the Foundation.
Global in perspective
Seeking to be a community that is shaped by encounter with the wider world church and an engagement with global Christianity.
Research focused
Embedding research and scholarship at the heart of our thinking, teaching and learning, supporting excellence in teaching, and contributing to the ‘publics’ of Society, the Academy, and the Church.
Cross cultural and intercultural
Set within the multi-ethnic, diverse context of Birmingham, we are committed to learning that is cross cultural and intercultural, focusing especially on Black and Asian theologies and on interfaith engagement.
