Institutional Partners
The Centre is a working partnership between a range of institutions: Nazarene Theological College; The University of Manchester John Rylands Library; The University of Manchester Religions and Theology Subject Area; the International Board of Education of the Church of the Nazarene; Nazarene Theological Seminary; Cliff College; Point Loma Nazarene University and Asbury Theological Seminary. Each partner is already actively engaged in research in this field, and the object of the collaboration is to develop a centre for research with a national and international profile.
Asbury Theological Seminary was established in 1923 as an evangelical seminary in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition. It consists of four schools (Biblical Interpretation and Proclamation, Practical Theology, Theology and Formation, and the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism) located on three campuses: Florida, Kentucky, and Virtual. ATS was founded to prepare and send forth a well-trained, sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry’ to spread scriptural holiness throughout the world.”
Cliff College, Derbyshire, was founded in 1883 and is a unique place that combines academic excellence with an environment where Christian discipleship is encouraged and deepened. Cliff focuses on learning, discipleship, evangelism training and caring for one another.
The International Board of Education, Church of the Nazarene
IBOE is the organisation which provides support and advocacy for over fifty educational institutions in the Church of the Nazarene worldwide. The IBOE sponsors the annual MWRC lecture in Wesley Studies.
Nazarene Theological College (NTC)
Nazarene Theological College (NTC), Manchester, 
was established in 1944. It is a college in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition committed to providing a theological education that is both academically sound and practically relevant. Its vision is to help to equip men and women with a sound biblical and theological foundation and with professional ministry skills.
That vision also commits the College to inspire them with a passion for Christian Holiness and so enable its graduates to maximise their usefulness in the service of God, in the Body of Christ and to the whole world. NTC, through validation with The University of Manchester, offers taught degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and delivers two research degrees, the MPhil and PhD, through supervised research.
The Mission of Nazarene Theological Seminary, a graduate school of theology in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, is to prepare women and men to be faithful and effective ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to offer itself as a theological resource in service to the Church of the Nazarene, its sponsoring denomination, and the wider Christian Church.
Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU)
Point Loma Nazarene University is one of the leading Christian liberal arts universities in the USA. Point Loma's Wesleyan Center for 21st Century Studies offers an annual co-sponsored scholarship with the Manchester Wesley Research Centre for PLNU faculty to do research in Wesleyan Studies. Both institutions support scholarly presentations in the UK and in America to further Wesleyan research in the church and academy. Founded in 1902 by Phineas F. Bresee, the university has a strong commitment to explore its Wesleyan/Holiness tradition. With its commitment to educating students as whole people, Point Loma has prepared graduates for meaningful careers in fields as diverse as medicine, ministry, education, and politics. The university moved from its original location in Pasadena, California to its Point Loma home in San Diego in 1973.
The University of Manchester (Religions and Theology)
Religions and Theology at Manchester is one of the oldest and most prestigious departments of its kind in the United Kingdom. In the two most recent HEFCE Research Assessment Exercises it was given the top rating of 5*, which indicates international excellence in all areas of its research. It provides supervised research leading to the degrees of MPhil and PhD. With some 20 full-time and 12 part-time and honorary members of the academic staff, it is able to offer students an intellectually stimulating and diverse educational environment for postgraduate study.
The John Rylands University Library
The world famous John Rylands University Library of Manchester is one of Britain’s finest academic libraries. The JRULM houses its remarkable and rich ‘Special Collections’ at its Deansgate building in central Manchester. This historic purpose-built library building, the ‘finest example of neo-Gothic architecture in Europe,’ has resources ‘from papyrus to plastic’ that ‘constitute one of Britain’s greatest cultural assets’.
The internationally renowned Methodist Archives and Research Centre (MARC) holds the world’s largest collection of manuscripts relating to the founders of Methodism, John and Charles Wesley and other members and close associates of the Wesley family.
We also work collaboratively on select scholarly projects with The Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research and the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, Oxford Brookes University. Wesley and Methodist Studies is a joint project of the MWRC and Oxford Centre.
