Berkeley, CA —Pacific School of Religion (PSR) has received a major ten-million dollar grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish the Transformative Learning Collaborative, a pioneering, five-seminary project to address one of the most urgent challenges facing Christian congregations today: the need for accessible, sustainable, and culturally responsive educational pathways for preparing pastoral and lay leaders.
The Collaborative brings together Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley School of Theology, BSK Theological Seminary, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, each recognized for innovative approaches to theological education and deep relationships with diverse denominations across the United States.
Grounded in research and responding to rapidly changing ministry needs and widening gaps in leadership preparation, the Collaborative is responding through coordinated board development activities, joint faculty learning, and shared digital infrastructure. It will complement the reach and impact of each school’s already recognized graduate programs.
“Theological education is at a turning point,” said Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy, President of Pacific School of Religion. “This Collaborative builds on a long legacy of cooperation and innovation among our five institutions. This project brings our shared vision into digital, non-degree learning spaces that meet leaders where they are. Together, we are forming the collaborative leaders the church needs for an increasingly complex world.”
A New Cross-Institutional Model for Theological Education
The Transformative Learning Collaborative is structured around three integrated strategies that together form a model called Theological Education 3.0, a distributed, collaborative, and digitally enabled ecosystem for learning and leadership formation.
- Strengthening Governance and Executive Leadership
Boards and presidents across all five seminaries will participate in joint retreats, shared learning frameworks, and co-developed resources that support bold, collaborative decision-making, an essential shift in a time when many theological schools face shifting enrollment realities, rising operational costs, and rapidly changing ministry needs. - Equipping Faculty for Innovation
Faculty will work across institutions to design new non-degree pathways, experiment with cross-disciplinary and community-engaged pedagogies and develop modular learning experiences that reflect the lived realities of ministry, especially in under-resourced contexts. The initiative emphasizes partnerships with denominational leaders to ensure offerings are both academically rigorous and pastorally relevant.
- Leveraging the Kwaray Digital Platform for Access and Scale
Powered by Kwaray, PSR’s community-based digital learning platform, the Collaborative will deliver accessible continuing education, micro-credentials, and certificate programs. Kwaray enables shared course development, flexible delivery formats, and scalable outreach across seminaries, denominations, and congregations nationwide.
By the end of the grant period, the Collaborative will provide a publicly available “playbook,” a practical guide to scaling collaborative, digitally enabled theological education across the field. Through shared digital offerings, accessible credential pathways, and community-rooted theological learning, the Collaborative aims to engage more than 5,000 learners from diverse communities over five years.
This initiative is funded through Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, a multi-phase effort designed to help theological schools across the U.S. and Canada strengthen their ability to prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations.
About Pacific School of Religion
Pacific School of Religion equips spiritually rooted leaders with the vision, resilience, and skill to create a world where all can thrive. Founded in 1866, PSR is a progressive Christian seminary and a founding member of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation supporting community development, education, and religion. Its religion grantmaking aims to deepen the vitality of Christian congregations by strengthening the institutions that support them.