History & Vision

We are a Christian learning community that serves God by shaping and equipping people for innovative, creative, dynamic service in the twenty-first century. We encourage people to explore their calling and imagine possibilities for their future. Faithfully journeying together, we are a community that fosters love for God, one another, and the world.

We value

• Relationships: Loving God passionately, one another authentically, and the world sacrificially.
• Excellence: Striving for excellence in our worship, academic life, work and witness together.
• Learning: Gaining wisdom, knowledge, and experience as we creatively research, reflect, and develop together.

Some eighty years ago, NTC started at West Hurlet House near Glasgow. In 1959, we moved to the White House in Didsbury and incorporated Beech Lawn Bible College of Stalybridge. In 1997, Emmanuel College in Birkenhead joined us, commemorated by the Emmanuel Centre, our library and classroom building.

Initially, students received a college diploma; now, they graduate with a University of Manchester degree as NTC has been a partner college of the University of Manchester since 1992. 

Belonging to the World Methodist Council, NTC is among fifty-three global colleges and universities linked with the Church of the Nazarene, a denomination rooted in the nineteenth-century holiness movement. With over two million members in 150+ countries, the church adheres to historic Christian faith and evangelical principles.

NTC warmly welcomes students from any tradition who believe they can benefit from the kind and quality education the College offers. Students include Anglicans, Baptists, Brethren, Congregationalists, Church of God of Prophecy, Methodists, Salvationists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, and many others.

Below is a selection of digitised books on the history of the Church of the Nazarene in the UK and of NTC’s own history.

• Hugh Rae, Scholarship on Fire: A Personal Account of Fifty Years of Nazarene College in Britain (1994). Written by a former NTC principal and one of its first alumni, contains first-hand accounts recording NTC’s history.
• Jack Ford, In the Steps of John Wesley: The Church of the Nazarene in Britain (1968) . Written by a former NTC principal.
• T.A. Noble, Called to be Saints: A Centenary History of the Church of the Nazarene in the British Isles, 1906-2006 (2006). Written by a former professor at NTC, this updates Ford’s accounts and takes it into the 21st century.