College of the Transfiguration — Grahamstown (Makhanda)
Grahamstown, Eastern Cape
The primary theological college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa — a place of rigorous scholarship, deep spiritual formation, and the transforming encounter with the living God.
The College of the Transfiguration — CoTT — is the principal theological college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and the institution where the majority of the Diocese of False Bay's ordinands receive their formation for ordained ministry. Located in Grahamstown (Makhanda) in the Eastern Cape, CoTT has been forming priests and deacons for the Church in southern Africa for generations.
CoTT is more than a place of academic study. It is a community of formation — a household of faith in which ordinands live, pray, study, serve, and grow together over three or four years. The rhythms of daily prayer, common meals, community life, and pastoral placement are as formative as the classroom, and the College takes both with equal seriousness.
The Diocese of False Bay sponsors its ordinands to CoTT through the Ordinands' Programme, maintaining a close relationship with the College throughout each candidate's training and ensuring that the transition from formation to ministry in the False Bay context is well supported.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
— Romans 12:2A rigorous BTh or MTh programme in partnership with UNISA, covering Old and New Testament, church history, systematic theology, ethics, and missiology — accredited at degree level.
The College's entire life is shaped by the Daily Office, Eucharist, silence, and retreat. Spiritual direction is a core part of each student's formation throughout their time at CoTT.
Ordinands are trained in leading all Anglican rites — from the Eucharist and Daily Office to baptisms, weddings, funerals, and the pastoral liturgies of the Church's ministry.
Regular placements in local parishes, hospitals, schools, and community settings give ordinands hands-on experience of ministry before ordination.
The College is deeply embedded in the social and cultural realities of South Africa. Formation takes seriously the demands of ministry in a context of inequality, diversity, and transformation.
Living, praying, eating, and serving together forms bonds of fraternal charity that last a lifetime and prepare ordinands for the relational demands of parish ministry.
The Diocese of False Bay has a close and longstanding relationship with the College of the Transfiguration. CoTT serves all dioceses of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and the majority of the Diocese's ordained clergy received their formation there. This shared experience of formation creates a common language of faith, liturgy, and ministry across the Diocese.
When the Diocese sponsors an ordinand to CoTT, it does not simply send them away for training and wait for their return. The Bishop maintains active oversight of each ordinand's development, visiting the College, receiving regular reports, and working with both the ordinand and the College to ensure that the formation is progressing well and that any challenges are addressed promptly.
Formation at a residential college necessarily focuses on broad theological and spiritual foundations that are transferable across contexts. But the Diocese of False Bay also takes steps to ensure that its ordinands are specifically prepared for the particular challenges of ministry in the False Bay context — urban and rural, affluent and impoverished, Cape Malay and Afrikaner, English-speaking and Xhosa-speaking.
During college vacations, ordinands return to the Diocese for placement in parishes that reflect this diversity. They are introduced to the Diocese's ministries, its structures, and its people — so that by the time they are ordained and assigned to a title parish, they know the Diocese they are serving and feel genuinely rooted in it.
The Diocese provides financial sponsorship towards the costs of college training — fees, accommodation, and basic study materials. The Diocese does not wish financial constraints to prevent anyone whom God has called from receiving the formation they need. Ordinands in financial difficulty are encouraged to speak openly with the Bishop's office about their situation.
The path to CoTT begins with the Fellowship of Vocation — the Diocese of False Bay's community of discernment for those exploring a call to ordination. Speak with your parish priest, or contact the Diocesan office to begin the conversation.