Mission

“Deeply rooted in Christian faith and radically open to what God is doing now, Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School educates inspiring leaders for faith communities.” 

Greetings, and welcome to Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School. We are glad you are paying us a visit and are happy to share information with you about our school’s history, mission, programs, and how you can get involved. 

Andover Newton Seminary is the congregational (note the small “c”) partner on the Yale Divinity School Quad. Our mission is to educate inspiring leaders for faith communities in settings where hierarchies are flat, laypersons collaborate actively with clergy, and Christian faith practices walk hand-in-hand with social justice. We further endeavor to create new knowledge that feeds faithful people with new and hope-filled ideas about how a life of faith can be carried out both with God and in community.

Using this website, you will learn where our school came from. To make a more than two-centuries-long story short, Andover, Newton, and Yale Divinity Schools all emerged from the early 19th Century’s Second Great Awakening. That moment and movement in US religious history was characterized by a coming together of faith and reason. All three schools clung, and now cling, to the notion that spirituality and religious doctrine are both needed in the church, feeding off of one another in the carrying out of a Christian way of life.

You will also learn in this web site about where our school is going. Andover Newton’s students at Yale Divinity School are already shaping a new way of being thoughtful, intelligent, spirit-led leaders before they even graduate. Imagine what the future holds for the faith communities led by them in the years to come!

In faith,

Rev. Dr. Sarah B. Drummond
Founding Dean