Founded as part of the curricular revolution at Meadville Lombard in 2011, the Fahs Collaborative picks up the historical mandate of 20th-century Unitarian religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs, whose approach to religious education marked a radical departure from traditional content and methods. Today, the Collaborative supports religious workers who want to infuse religious and ethical qualities into every aspect of their social and justice-making lives.
As an experiential laboratory for educational practice, the Fahs Collaborative brings unlikely actors and new ideas together, developing resources and practices that shake off outmoded ideas and practices, honor all forms of diversity, and strengthen communities with the resiliency necessary to meet the needs of today’s world. We accomplish this by:
The Fahs Collaborative carries forward the Unitarian Universalist tradition of liberal religious education while pioneering innovative, faith-based practices that empower and sustain the human spirit. Named after Sophia Lyon Fahs—a visionary who challenged conventional religious education—it encourages exploration of life’s big questions beyond institutional boundaries.
Originally founded in 1993 as the Sophia Fahs Center at Meadville Lombard, the initiative was made possible through generous support from Fahs’s family and donors. After a period of dormancy, the Center was revitalized in 2011 through a major grant and reimagined as the Fahs Collaborative Laboratory for Innovation in Faith Formation.
A “Listening Team” led focus groups with educators and leaders to develop a new vision. In 2012, a Start-Up Conference launched the renewed Collaborative, affirming its mission to foster bold, creative approaches to religious education.
Pictured: Fahs Collaborative Start-Up Conference, April 2012