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Lancaster Theological Seminary, a seminary
Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is a specialized and often live-in higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, usually in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy....
 of the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Protestantism Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed churches tradition....
 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the South Central Pennsylvania part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania....
, was founded in 1825 by members of the German Reformed Church in the United States to provide theological education for prospective clergy and other church leaders. The school originally opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Carlisle is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, 18 miles west by southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the State capital....
 on the campus of Dickinson College
Dickinson College

Dickinson College is a private, residential Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773 , Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris , making it the first college to be founded in the newly-recognized United States....
, relocating a few years later to York
York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in South Central Pennsylvania. The population was 40,862 at the United States Census 2000....
.

In the early 1840s, the seminary moved again, to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania

Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, 73 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Originally called Black Town, it was incorporated in 1831....
. Here the work of such celebrated professors as John Williamson Nevin
John Williamson Nevin

John Williamson Nevin , United States theologian and educationalist, was born on Herron's Branch, near Shippensburg Township, Pennsylvania....
, Friederich Augustus Rauch, and Philip Schaff
Philip Schaff

Philip Schaff , was a Swiss-born, Germany-educated Protestant theology and a historian of the Christianity Christian Church, who, after his education, lived and taught in the United States....
 gave rise to the "Mercersburg Theology
Mercersburg Theology

Mercersburg Theology was a Germany-United States theological movement that began in the mid-19th century. It draws its name from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, home of Marshall College from 1836 until its Franklin and Marshall College with Franklin College in 1853, and also home to the seminary of the Evangelical_and_reformed_church#Reformed_Ch...
," noted for its historic concerns for worship
Worship

Worship usually refers to acts of religion devotion typically directed to one or more deity. It is the informal term in English for what sociology of religion call cult —traditional beliefs and practices, the individual study of which is one of the chief concerns of theology....
, sacraments, and Church
Church service

In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism....
 in its ecumenical expressions.

In 1871, the seminary moved to the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.






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Lancaster Theological Seminary, a seminary
Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is a specialized and often live-in higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, usually in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy....
 of the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Protestantism Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed churches tradition....
 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is a city in the South Central Pennsylvania part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania....
, was founded in 1825 by members of the German Reformed Church in the United States to provide theological education for prospective clergy and other church leaders. The school originally opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Carlisle is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, 18 miles west by southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the State capital....
 on the campus of Dickinson College
Dickinson College

Dickinson College is a private, residential Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773 , Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris , making it the first college to be founded in the newly-recognized United States....
, relocating a few years later to York
York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in South Central Pennsylvania. The population was 40,862 at the United States Census 2000....
.

In the early 1840s, the seminary moved again, to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania

Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, 73 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Originally called Black Town, it was incorporated in 1831....
. Here the work of such celebrated professors as John Williamson Nevin
John Williamson Nevin

John Williamson Nevin , United States theologian and educationalist, was born on Herron's Branch, near Shippensburg Township, Pennsylvania....
, Friederich Augustus Rauch, and Philip Schaff
Philip Schaff

Philip Schaff , was a Swiss-born, Germany-educated Protestant theology and a historian of the Christianity Christian Church, who, after his education, lived and taught in the United States....
 gave rise to the "Mercersburg Theology
Mercersburg Theology

Mercersburg Theology was a Germany-United States theological movement that began in the mid-19th century. It draws its name from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, home of Marshall College from 1836 until its Franklin and Marshall College with Franklin College in 1853, and also home to the seminary of the Evangelical_and_reformed_church#Reformed_Ch...
," noted for its historic concerns for worship
Worship

Worship usually refers to acts of religion devotion typically directed to one or more deity. It is the informal term in English for what sociology of religion call cult —traditional beliefs and practices, the individual study of which is one of the chief concerns of theology....
, sacraments, and Church
Church service

In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism....
 in its ecumenical expressions.

In 1871, the seminary moved to the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. While viewed as a temporary arrangement, the present site of the seminary was not purchased until 1893. The buildings were completed and occupied in 1894.

For most of its history (109 of its 168 years), LTS was the sole seminary of the Reformed Church in the United States (German Reformed Church). With the formation of the Evangelical and Reformed Church
Evangelical and Reformed Church

The Evangelical and Reformed Church was an American Protestantism Christian denomination formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States with the Evangelical Synod of North America. In 1957, it merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches to form the United Church of Christ....
 in 1934, the seminary became one of three seminaries serving that newly united denomination. LTS is currently one of seven seminaries holding full relationship with the UCC, a denomination formed in 1957 by the union of the E&R Church and most of the Congregational Christian Churches
Congregational Christian Churches

The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the United States from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United Church of Christ....
.

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