State of Formation, an international network for young religious leaders, is collaborating with Claremont Lincoln University to develop a pilot program for informal interreligious education. The program’s inaugural events will be a monthly series of coffeehouse-style conversations on interreligious topics, beginning with a Dec. 1 evening event on the Claremont campus (see below for details)

State of Formation is an international program of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, run in partnership with Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School and in collaboration with the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. It is a forum for up-and-coming religious and ethical thinkers to draw upon the learning that is occurring in their academic and community work and reflect on the pressing questions of a religiously pluralistic society. A number of Claremont students are regular contributors to State of Formation blogs.

As the founding member of State of Formation’s Education Leadership Circle, Claremont Lincoln University will begin hosting regular coffee hours to foster meaningful conversations, friendships and collegial relationships between students of different traditions. Each gathering will focus on a topic of pressing significance for theological students—from pulpit leadership in a diverse society to overarching theological questions related to identity and news that impacts one or more religious community.

The events at Claremont Lincoln University will serve as a pilot for similar programs at seminaries and universities across the country and will be extended in 2012 to campuses in Chicago and New York, with further growth expected in Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco.

“Seminarians and newly ordained clergy have profound questions related to their role as religious leaders in the world’s most religiously diverse society,” says Joshua Stanton, co-founder of State of Formation. “Yet there is an absence of regular gatherings in which they can discuss the opportunities and challenges that diversity creates. “

The inaugural public event, “Cuppa Interfaith,” will feature Claremont professor Frank Rogers, who will lead the discussion on his most recent book, Finding God in the Graffiti: Empowering Teens Through Stories. The event will be held on Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. in the Haddon Conference Room on the school’s Claremont campus, 1325 N. College Ave. (For more information, contact Program Director and State of Formation Co-Founder Stephanie Varnon-Hughes.)