A vibrant and diverse evangelical Christian community.

‘By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established’  Proverbs 24:3

Cranmer Hall, St John’s College,

3 South Bailey, Durham DH1 3RJ

Cranmer Hall – an introduction

An Introduction to Cranmer Hall

We seek to engage with God – and serve the Church and the world – in ways which are constantly  developing but consistently rooted in our historic values and identity.

So, for example, we are Anglican and committed to serving the Church of England. Many of our full time students are training for Anglican ordination, but we have a thriving ‘Free Church Track’ of people training for ministry in newer churches, and a good number of other students studying for a degree in Theology, Ministry and Mission.

We train people for ordination, but over half our students are undergraduate and postgraduate students either studying for their own interest or for professional development.

This is a unique and special place.

We are an evangelical foundation and as such we value high quality Biblical and theological learning, and are serious about wrestling with the gospel particularly in mission and fresh expressions. However we are also gentle and non-defensive and find that we attract many students from a variety of traditions who are drawn to this loving place of deep engagement and prayerful community.

We are a place of tradition and embody the strengths of an established university, but we are a place of innovation and spontaneity. We are, for example, home to the fair trade movement, we were the first college to train women for ordained Anglican ministry, and we gave rise to the first ever Anglican Methodist student covenant reflecting our mature relationship with the Wesley Study Centre.

Cranmer Hall is part of St John’s College, founded a little over 100 years ago to provide a place for evangelical Anglicans to train for ordained ministry in the context of Durham University. This means that we are a community within a community and thus enjoy the fellowship of a small college and the riches of an internationally renowned University.

Cranmer Hall is one of the Church of England’s brightest jewels. It combines a fresh sense of twenty-first century mission and ministry with unmatched historic roots. It draws on a world-class Theology Faculty while offering training experience in some of the country’s most needy areas.
Rt Revd NT Wright, Bishop of Durham, 2003-2010

This is a place that is about passion. The students are passionate about the community in which they live, passionate about learning more about Jesus and passionate about mission and ministry in a post-Christian culture. Right here, in the shadow of Durham’s ancient cathedral, we seek to be open to the Spirit in exploring new forms of mission, learning to communicate the gospel afresh in a media-dominated culture, and developing skills of leadership and pioneering for the 21st Century church.

If those are your passions too, I hope you will join us.
David Wilkinson: Former Principal of St John’s College