From The President
Welcome to Wesley! I'm David McAllister-Wilson, president of Wesley Theological Seminary. I was someone like you, looking for my path. I believed God wanted me to make a difference in the world and I thought a seminary in Washington was the place to do that. That’s why I am still here.
When I first arrived from California, I left my bags unpacked for two weeks, unsure if this was the place for me. I had doubts about my faith and the church, but it didn't stop the diverse faculty, classes, and student body at Wesley from being like Jesus on the shore for me, calling me into a new and different life. I'm proud to say that Wesley is still full of these kinds of people—like you will never meet anywhere else.
These days, I get to be in meetings on Capitol Hill and at the Central Union Mission and I still go with my wife Drema (whom I met here) to the Smithsonian on the weekends. Many people have found their path at Wesley and you can too. It begins with a step. So take a moment to look around this site and then come and look around our seminary: Wesley in Washington.
David McAllister-Wilson
President
From The Dean
Welcome to Wesley Theological Seminary! If you have been embraced by a loving God, intentional about exploring life’s amazing richness through the Jesus Way, and open to the wild possibilities offered by the Holy Spirit, then Wesley might be the right place for you.
I relocated from Bangalore, India to teach here 18 years ago and have found in Wesley a community of theological scholars and kingdom activists who are shaped by each other under God as we seek to transform the world. We are a warm and welcoming community of caring persons with amazingly different stories bound together by our desire to know, love, and serve God, each other, and our fragile earth. I invite you to continue your theological journey in partnership with Wesley Seminary.
Wesley is a seminary in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSACS). The seminary offers master’s degrees in three different programs (M.Div., M.T.S., and M. A.) and focused specializations in the arts, public theology, African American Studies, and Children and Youth Ministry and Advocacy. For those already engaged in ministry and seeking spiritual and intellectual renewal, our Doctor of Ministry program is an avenue for life-long learning in an academic setting with several focus areas and tracks beginning each year. In addition to our formal academic programs, Wesley sponsors several specific events and conferences each year through the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, Community Engagement Institute, and the Luce Center for Religion and the Arts.
Wesley is a learning community rooted in the Christian tradition in respectful dialogue with other religions and secular ideologies. Situated within the corridors of power in Washington, DC., it also has footprints in various countries across the world. As a community of faculty, staff, and students, we bring the wealth of our theological, racial, economic, and socio-cultural differences to participate joyously and daringly in God’s mission in the world. Because our hearts are “strangely warmed,” we come together expectantly for our minds to be enlightened even as we prayerfully offer our hands and feet to be strengthened for service to the kingdom of God. I urge you to reach out to us if you have any questions or need more information about Wesley Theological Seminary.
Sathianathan “Sathi” Clarke
Interim Dean and Professor of Theology, Culture, and Mission (Bishop Sundo Kim Chair for World Christianity)
From the Student Council President
Welcome to Wesley Theological Seminary! We remain committed to leading in these hybrid and liminal times. Our leadership is sharpened and grown at the intersection of diverse theologies, ideologies, and spiritual practices.
At Wesley, whether your call is crystal clear; you are discerning a call that is new to you; you are journeying on a path that is away from a previous career or vocation; or you are in search of community to discern and reflect your call; Wesley is the seminary, the community, and the discernment space you have been searching for.
At Wesley, we aim to live out our mission in equipping ministry leaders for roles in the church, the academy, and the public square. We are growing into our role as a model of prophetic voice, tradition, and practice as we expand our ability to envision an equitable future through the tensions of truth telling and transgressing. Our witness is sharpened by opportunities to live, learn, and love together.
I invite you to consider the ways your seminary journey is a period of discernment, an opportunity to discover spiritual practices that restore you and engage in unapologetic sabbath to sustain you. I invite you to engage in spaces of academic exploration, vocational inspiration, cultural immersion, and spiritual renewal. May you take time to explore the resources on this campus from the Lewis Center to the Luce Center, from Student Council to Community Life, and from Residence Life to Student Care.
I invite you take time to notice and cultivate relationship with those who sojourn alongside you.I invite you to discover diversity in community on campus, in community, in the Washington Theological Consortium and in Washington, DC.
Whether you are a residential student, commuter, hybrid, online and/or non-degree student, you are welcome here.
Standing with you,
Evan Taylor, CEI fellow, M.Div expected graduation May ’23
Student Council President 2022-2023
