About Our School

Our Mission

At Meadville Lombard Theological School, our mission is to educate students in the Unitarian Universalist tradition to embody liberal religious ministry in Unitarian Universalist congregations and wherever else they are called to serve. We do this to take into the world our Unitarian Universalist vision of justice, equity, and compassion.

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 of bridge-building and can help us realize a multicultural future for the world.

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.