Develop Leaders
We strengthen the community of vocational ministers through advocacy, endorsement, credentialing, care, and formation.
The Evangelical Covenant Church envisions a connected and faithful community of clergy and lay leaders who demonstrate the following traits:
- The active inclusion of all persons called to serve God, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, or disability.
- A deep understanding of Scripture, theology, discernment, and Covenant identity.
- A healthy self-awareness and personal care through Sabbath-based rhythms.
- A commitment to lifelong learning and relational accountability.
Develop Leaders
How We Equip Our Leaders
Credentialing
We offer training and grant ministerial credentials to those who are called to serve vocationally in Covenant churches or other ministries.
Care & Support for the Ministerium
Sustaining Pastoral Excellence
The Sustaining Pastoral Excellence and Thriving in Ministry initiatives facilitate learning and growth in pastoral character, competency, and constancy through content, cohorts, and coaching. Grants to help sustain healthy enduring ministry are available focusing on holistic Christ-centered development, lifelong vocational and Biblical formation, and regular occasions of renewal and re-visioning.
Thriving in Ministry
The Thriving in Ministry work focuses on pastoral resiliency. It is our purpose to provide an alternative for our pastors, missionaries, and chaplains to isolation and stagnation which are the enemy of thriving and resiliency.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment, Thriving in Ministry is working in partnership with our conferences and associations to develop cohorts and initiatives to help combat stagnation, address isolation and to solidify and maintain collegial connections.
Women in Ministry
We seek to be a diverse and welcoming church that affirms the calling and gifts of the entire body of Christ. We support God’s gifting of women by urging churches to encourage women in their congregations to embrace leadership. Develop Leaders has several initiatives aimed at helping us live out this affirmation.
Covenant Orientation
We provide clergy and lay leaders opportunities to understand the identity and ethos of the Covenant. Orientation was designed to provide a way for people who are called to serve within the Covenant church but are unable to attend North Park Theological Seminary to fulfill the orientation requirement for Covenant credentialing.
Covenant Financial Leadership
We offer cohorts focused on helping credentialed Covenant pastors take charge of their own and their congregation’s financial health with a ministry and supportive peer community dedicated to the goal of financial resilience and the path out of debt and distress.
Theological Education
We provide the training and tools for vocational and lay leaders to align with Covenant identity and become proficient in who we are and the mission. Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos is a theological and pastoral training center for Hispanic church planters, pastors, and lay leaders, offering courses in multiple locations. North Park Theological Seminary educates whole persons with the whole gospel for the whole world, producing evangelical scholarship and serving Christ’s church.
Resources
Tools for Covenant pastors to take charge of their own and their congregation’s financial health.
Thriving in Ministry work focuses on pastoral resiliency. It is our purpose to provide an alternative for our pastors, missionaries, and chaplains to isolation and stagnation which are the enemy of thriving and resiliency.
Resources needed to complete our credentialing processes and to thrive as a well formed, equipped, and supported minister.
Information and applications for grants that are available to Covenant pastors, missionaries, and chaplains who satisfy the SPE-eligibility requirements and follow the process outlined for application.
Free helpful resources on pastoral growth and care.
Covenant-produced articles, books, and resources that address the call of women to pastoral ministry.
Events
This program provides a way for people who are unable to attend North Park Theological Seminary to fulfill the orientation requirement for Covenant credentialing.
We offer group and self-guided retreats that help ministers to pause and reconnect with Christ regularly in their ministerial lives. Find out more about our 2022 offerings.
A three-retreat experience spanning eight months which will lead participants in an exploration of the third formational stage of ministry life.
This interactive retreat takes a formational, devotional, and practical look at personal finances and identifies tools to help build spending plans that invite impact.
The Thriving in Ministry Initiative provides cohorts of learners, individual coaching and expert content in order to shape, strengthen, and support pastors as they strengthen their leadership skills in deep spirituality, family systems knowledge, emotional skills, and financial acuity.
The Deeper in Christ retreat experience is designed for those in ministry who are seeking to renew their friendship with God, reignite their pastoral imagination, and explore their call in a deeper way.
Our Stories
Women in Leadership Awards Presented to Three Covenant Pastors
The Women in Leadership awards were presented at the annual meeting of the ministerium on June 22, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lilly Endowment Matching Grant to Expand Financial Leadership Initiative
The Evangelical Covenant Church has been given a rare opportunity through Lilly Endowment Inc. to participate in a matching grant that could total $750,000.
Getting to Know the Nominees: Q&A with Herb Frost
Recently the Companion asked Herb Frost about his call to ministry and what he has learned serving the church. Frost is the nominee to be the next executive minister of Ordered Ministry and Develop Leaders. He will stand for election at Gather in June.
