November 30, 2021 | CLAREMONT, Calif.

Claremont School of Theology (CST) announced today it is a recipient of a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help the school sharpen its educational vision and reinvent its operational structures in order to better serve a profoundly changing church.

“I am so excited for CST to have received this important grant,” said CST’s president, the Rev. Dr. Kah-Jin Jeffrey Kuan. “It will reinforce our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within our institution and will strengthen our work in the preparation of leaders for the church — particularly for our students of color.

“I see the project as an extension of the ethos and values embedded in CST’s identity, and I could not be more grateful to Lilly Endowment for its visionary leadership in the creation and funding of the Pathways Initiative,” said Dr. Kuan.

CST’s proposal grew out of the need it identified for the school to serve rapidly changing demographics through world-class, Christian, and interreligious theological education rooted in spiritual formation, intellectual exploration, and innovative congregational leadership. The school will work to realign its operational structures and educational vision to holistically form agile, justice-oriented leaders for the transformation of the church.

CST’s project, titled “The Activating Change Project: Reinventing CST’s Operational Structures and Educational Vision to Educate Church Leaders for the Transformation of Congregations and Communities,” will lay out a three-year effort to redesign its educational strategies, institutional practices, and financial operating model, while relying on the ongoing and active participation of our administration, faculty, students, and alumni/ae and their congregations as we build towards a sustainable future.