Lesseyton: A Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Experiment in African Industrial and Theological Education

Abstract

This article explores the long history of both industrial and theological education and ministerial formation that since the 1850s has included, inter alia: Healdtown and Lesseyton; Kamastone; D’urban (Peddie); Bollihope; Fort Hare and Rhodes Universities; the Federal Theological Seminary and John Wesley College; and Kilnerton, Pretoria. Taken together, the story of these places speaks of the Methodist Church’s long-standing commitment to invest in the education and formation of those who respond to God’s call to the ordained and other ministries (Seth Mokhitimi Methodist Seminary 2018). Compared with Healdtown and Kilnerton, Lesseyton institution is less well known and appreciated. Nevertheless, it played a significant role in South African education in the Eastern Cape and particularly in industrial training and education for ministry within the Methodist Church. This provides the focus for this article.