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In March 2005, Meadville Lombard launched a brand-new partnership, a multi-year giving society called the Partners in Ministry Society. To date, we have 68 members in the society and nearly 100 other individuals and couples have made other multiple-year pledges to Meadville Lombard. Since its inception, the Partners in Ministry Society has raised more than $950,000 for the school.
"The goal of Meadville Lombard's Partners in Ministry program is to build a strong foundation for expanding our programs and to provide a stable future for the School," said Trish Bailey, Vice President of Institutional Advancement. "It gives donors a way of saying: 'Count me in. I really do understand your mission. And, you have my support.'"
O. Darwin and Myra Smith of Dallas, Texas, attended our Partners in Ministry breakfast at General Assembly in June 2005 and responded to this call to support Unitarian Universalism by supporting its seminaries. "I do believe it is important that there be a Unitarian Universalist school," said Darwin Smith, "a place where UU theology resides and thrives."
Smith has experienced Meadville first-hand, having audited Winter Intensive courses at the school on three separate occasions. "I appreciate the level of teaching there, and I have used a lot of what I learned," said Smith.
Justin Osterman, DMin '99, says supporting his alma mater by joining the Partners in Ministry Society "seemed like the right, important thing to do. We need to be shaped by our own movement. We can't look to the Methodists to do it," said Osterman. "We need vibrant, vital seminaries for vibrant, vital congregations."
Furthermore, Osterman says our future ministers need "sound, ministerial training" and Meadville Lombard needs to be able to rely on those who have benefited from the school, either as ministers or as the congregants they serve.
This is exactly what the Partners in Ministry Society aims to do: make certain the school remains strong for the future. Financial support for Meadville Lombard generated through our Partners in Ministry program is directed to our greatest need: our day-to-day operations. These funds allow us to provide aspiring UU ministers with the grounding in Unitarian Universalist history, theology and ethics, as well as the practical training in preaching, pastoral care, and religious education that is unique to our faith tradition and that is at the core of Meadville Lombard's mission.
Martha Atherton feels strongly that the Unitarian Universalist faith needs "well-prepared ministers," and, when she and her husband Robert attended a Partners in Ministry luncheon we held in Chicago in November 2005, they were happy and eager to support Meadville Lombard. The Athertons have been supporters of UU theological education for a number of years, having set up an endowment for the ministry through the UUA. That endowment, she says, has furnished assistance to many theological students and she has been excited to meet some of the recipients over the years.
Recently, our Professor of Ministry, David Bumbaugh, BD '64, was guest minister at the Atherton's congregation, Countryside Church in Palatine, Illinois. Martha Atherton says that it was "an extraordinarily good service," and was encouraged to support the school even more, knowing that ministers such as Bumbaugh are shaping our faith movement's young ministers.
Visit our website for more information on our Partners in Ministry Society. You can also join the Partners in Ministry online.
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