Seminary

History

In 1918 Bishop John M. Springer established the Methodist mission station of Mulungwishi, in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to be the educational center for the region northwest of the city of Likasi. Mulungwishi is not the name of a city or town, but rather the name of the mission station.

The Faculte Methodiste de Theologie (FMT) is a Methodist Seminary. The English equivalent of the name is "Methodist Theological Seminary." The Theological School was founded in 1951 by Woody Bartlett with the goal to educate men and women to serve the church in the Congo. The seminary stemmed from Springer Institute, founded in 1910 as Fox Bible School, which trained teacher-catechists. In 1976 the school became the Kimbulu Kayeka Seminary, with a three-year university Seminary program. In 1985 the seminary became the FMT with an additional two-year graduate level program.

The Seminary is fully accredited with the national university system. It also includes the Doris Bartlett Women's School, which trains the wives of seminary students. The vision is to put the couple into the ministry.

The Seminary encourages students to learn to use computers and email. In fact, students must type their thesis in order to graduate. The Seminary offers a Masters-level program. Students must defend their thesis in order to graduate.

The FMT is fully related to the United Methodist Church and supplies pastors for five Annual Conferences.

For an "up close and personal" experience, read "A Day of Life in Mulunqwishi".

An excellent record

• It was the first university-level seminary for the United Methodist Church in French-speaking Africa.
•  Over 20 years of national faculty and leadership.
•  All the United Methodist Church Bishops in the Congo and most of the Superintendents in Katanga province are graduates of the seminary.
•  1951: Katanga had one Annual Conference + 20,000 members
•  Today: six Annual Conferences + over 400,000 members!
•  The seminary has become the high-level training center for pastors of other denominations in the region.

Building for the future

• The Seminary supplies the need for well-trained pastors in one of the largest growing areas of the church.
•  Annual Conferences are expanding into Tanzania and Zambia
•  The Seminary equips and sends African missionaries to other African countries.

Part of the answer for the hope of Africa and her children are people called by God and trained to share and be channels of the Kingdom of God. Be in prayer for them as they face the challenges before them. Many will receive less than $10 per month as salary. Some will be serving in churches on the other side of the lines in the current conflict. But they go readily to embrace the call God has put on their lives.

United Methodist missionaries work through the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries and the European Council on Mission (a United Methodists organization).