About Our School
Our Mission
Mission:
Meadville Lombard Theological School nurtures learners from diverse faith traditions to embody the collaborative work of liberation through congregational and community leadership.
We live our mission by:
- Integrating scholarly excellence in theological education
- Centering interculturality to deepen spiritual leadership formation
- Honing moral imagination, emotional intelligence, and faithful discernment
- Reshaping and reforming tradition to impel innovative ministries
- Harnessing accountability to repair historical wrongs and present injustice
- Mobilizing ethical leadership to build Beloved Community
Vision:
Meadville Lombard Theological School will be an institutional frontrunner in meeting students where they are by offering multi-platform degree and certificate programs for progressive leaders seeking spiritual growth and social transformation.
Values:
- Building community through generous and appreciative participation
- Empowering others by attending to their ideas
- Inspiring wise and faithful action
Our History
Since our founding in 1844, Meadville Lombard has been forming leaders of all races, many ethnicities, and nationalities, who usher in spiritually grounded social change through ministries and faith formation.
Read A Brief History of Meadville Theological School of Lombard College, by Dr. Nicole Kirk, our Rev. Dr. J. Frank and Alice Schulman Professor of Unitarian Universalist History.
Our Learning Model
Meadville Lombard blends a variety of innovative but tested educational techniques—all to the benefit of students’ learning and leadership development.
- Our Contextual Learning model allows students to learn by practicing in mentored internships and supervised site placements.
- Low-residency intensive coursework enables students to have heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul, in-person interactions with faculty and other students three to four times a year, without needing to relocate.
- Multi-credit, multidisciplinary, yearlong Signature Courses integrate academic learning with real-world experience and provide students with a pathway to grow into leadership.
- Learning with dedicated student cohorts means that lessons are enriched by peer-to-peer exchanges, and assigned teaching pastors and mentors guide students through the everyday world of community, pastoral, and ministerial leadership.
- Understanding that justice-making and spiritual growth are bound to each other, our curriculum emphasizes leadership in communities engaged in social movements and nurtures students’ competencies in cross-cultural leadership.
- Co-curricular activities bring students into the worship and governance life of the school in a way that acknowledges the experience and wisdom that they have accumulated before arriving at Meadville Lombard.
