Our curriculum is designed to challenge and support students in an ongoing process of developing their individual and unique gifts for service in the liberal religious community.

Liberal religious heritage: The ability of students to read themselves deeply, passionately, and critically into the story of liberal religion, especially Unitarian Universalism, as part of the larger human story.

Excellence in ministerial practices: The ability to demonstrate a significant understanding of and progress in the basic arts and skills of ministry: leadership and administrative skills, worship leadership, religious education, preaching, pastoral care, and prophetic ministry in the larger community.

Intellectual capacities: The capacities that will open for students the fields of intellectual discourse, allowing them to make significant contributions to the cause of liberal religion.

Moral vision grounded in an engagement with a diverse world: A deeply moral engagement with the world, celebrating its rich diversity, and confronting its problems of oppression, injustice, poverty, and environmental degradation. 

Personal readiness: Personal self-awareness, resilience, humor, good judgment, ethical and moral integrity, a well-tested seriousness of intent, and the ability to balance personal needs with the needs of ministry.

Spiritual depth: A spiritual depth united with disciplines that aim to preserve and increase that depth as they encounter the challenges and distractions of a ministerial life.

Interdependence: Ability to exercise collaborative leadership of the church understood as a covenant community, learning institution, and agent of broader cultural transformation.

Meadville Lombard Theological School educates students in the Unitarian Universalist tradition to serve as religious leaders in congregations and communities. The learning community strives to create an academic and formational experience that prepares our student to lead in the multicultural, pluralistic society and the global realities of the 21^st century. Follow this link for the full statement of our Educational Effectiveness.

Meadville Lombard TouchPoint℠ theological education offers students a distance-learning format through a blend of face-to-face classes and electronic classroom and teleconference experiences where they interact with each other and the faculty.

Classes at Meadville Lombard
Meadville Lombard's academic courses are taught in an intensive format--reducing the amount of time that our students are required to be on campus. Intensive classes meet typically for one week in the months of January, March and July; each intensive class is the equivalent of thirty-seven hours of residential classroom work.  Enrollment in the classes happens months ahead of the face-to-face time, providing students enough time to complete reading and assignments before the class meets.

Intensive courses are taught by Meadville Lombard's core and affiliated faculty as well as by adjunct faculty with academic and practical experience.