From Lee

Summer 2006

During General Assembly in St. Louis, Meadville Lombard held a fundraising breakfast in which we presented the story of our school's current successes, our vision for the future, and the challenges we must meet in order to actualize that vision. This event is an element of our donor cultivation program that makes it possible for supporters to become members of our new multiple-year giving society, Partners in Ministry.

The buzz at our breakfast was obvious. Afterward, I was greeted by many of the three hundred attendees who declared they were never more pleased to have been invited to such an event. That's astounding when you realize that it took place at 7:00 on a Saturday morning.

I was elated by the response.

But not nearly as elated as I was when I returned to Chicago and reviewed the list of people who took the opportunity over breakfast to join our Partners in Ministry Society. For, among the list, are a generous number of new and recent Meadville graduates.

It is a fact of support that says so much. Many of our recent graduates are managing a mountain of school debt, and yet their enthusiasm about keeping Meadville Lombard in the forefront of Unitarian Universalist theological education is as important to them as it is to our school's long-time and trusted friends.

Although it is unusual for any institution of higher learning to receive such support from recent graduates, I'm not entirely surprised that we are different.

Our students come to us because they know that at Meadville Lombard Theological School they will receive not only a transformative academic and practical theological education, but one that is steeped in Unitarian Universalist traditions, practices and values, as well. It is important to our students that this school thrives well beyond their own ordinations, and in so thriving, the school will continue to support and challenge them as they become--and guide congregations to become--the stewards and champions of Unitarian Universalism.

But it isn't only our recent graduates who wish to champion Meadville-our Partners in Ministry Society also includes current students, current staff, faculty, and alumni/ae. Our society boasts 94 members as of this date, and of those, about one-fourth are either alumni/ae or current students, or staff or faculty. That's a telling number. And it doesn't include all those in the same categories who made multiple-year pledges in other amounts.

Most of you have been following the fact that Starr King School for the Ministry and Meadville Lombard have been talking with one another about the possibility of merging our two institutions with the goal of enhancing theological education for all of Unitarian Universalism. A number of potential Partners in Ministry are waiting to hear the outcome of those talks before joining its membership. That's understandable. And it won't be long now before there is concrete news to share on that front. For the time being, feel free to log onto our website to review the full recommendations concerning merger that were endorsed by leaders from Starr King, Meadville Lombard, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Regardless of the final decision, the merger talks have given Meadville Lombard renewed energy and a clearer vision for the future of this school and Unitarian Universalism. We know that there are 300 candidates for the ministry who are currently attending non-Unitarian Universalist seminaries. We are intent on getting our "pedagogical hands" on those 300 students. Whether they come to us as full-time residential students, take advantage of our January and/or summer intensive courses, or enroll in one of our new online courses, we believe it is essential that all our Unitarian Universalist ministers have some grounding in Unitarian Universalism from an institution devoted to that purpose.

Our students and graduates get that. That is why they are bucking a trend, joining our Partners in Ministry Society and making their commitment, along with so many others, to the long arc of Unitarian Universalist ministry through Meadville Lombard Theological School.