"Praxis" is field education that takes place concurrently with academic work. It provides opportunities for the integration of classroom and practical experience and facilitates the development and identity of professional ministry.  It also offers an unmatched depth of experience for students in the Master of Arts, Religion degree program. 

While praxis is not currently required for our residential students, students matriculating in a Master's degree program or after Fall 2009 will begin their studies in Meadville Lombard's new educational model where theory is integrated with real-life experience. The first implementation of this design is our Community Partnership Program, which begins in Fall 2008 for all first-year residential, Master of Divinity students.  Master of Arts in Religion students may also participate in the first year program, although it is not required. 

Community Partnership Program
Beginning in Fall 2008, first-year students in our MDiv and MAR degree programs will begin their praxis immediately in our new Community Partnership Program. Through a partnership with the 20th Ward in the City of Chicago, we have developed a program that places students in a social service agency for eight hours per week during the academic year. This real-life work is then fostered by a two-hour per week seminar led by faculty members, providing an academic component to the student's work in and for the community. For more on this new program, follow the link to your right.

Meadville Lombard will also be developing the Community Partnership Program so that students not residing in the Chicago area will also have an opportunity to participate in this ground-breaking program. One of the primary differences is that students residing away from campus will be able to consult with the Director of Contextual Ministry to identify and develop praxis opportunities where they live.

Modified Residency Program Praxis
Because modified residency students do not have the continuing community of discourse that is part of the educational/formational experience of residential students, Meadville Lombard has designed MRP praxis to provide an opportunity for students to be part of a religious community to reflect on the lived experience of the theory they are learning while at the same time providing them with practical applications.

Students are required to complete eighteen months (two church years), ten hours per week, of reflective, supervised work in a congregation or agency. The student's home congregation is an acceptable site. The student works with a Transition Support Committee made up of individuals representative of the congregation or agency, and with a minister or other suitable professional who functions in a supervisory relationship. The committee and the supervisor help the student to define goals, evaluate experiences, and reflect on his/her growing ministerial identity.