Gordon-Conwell’s Boston campus, known as the Campus for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), is an international leader in providing urban ministerial education that is theologically rich and culturally-relevant. CUME is an exceptional community of Christians more diverse than its already rich surrounding, led by faculty and staff with extensive ministry and academic experience in urban, global contexts.
CUME was founded in September 1976 at Twelfth Baptist Church in the historic Boston neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts. With the goal of providing urban ministry training for Hispanic/Latino, African American, Asian, and other ethnic minority pastors and church leaders in Boston and throughout the U.S., we served 30 students in our inaugural year. We are now located in our own campus facility a block from the original Roxbury location, and we currently serve more than 400 students representing 39 denominations and 21 nationalities. Guided by Jeremiah 29:7, we are passionate about “seeking the peace and prosperity” of cities.
CUME’s academic programs are contextualized to the needs of the city by means of faculty, staff, tuition, location, and class schedule. Courses are optimized for working professionals and ministry leaders: they’re offered in Boston and 100% online, on weeknights and weekends, and in compressed and full-term flexible formats. Our unique program has served as a model for similar programs in Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; and Portland, Oregon; and in international cities such as Quito, Ecuador and Lagos, Nigeria.
