The Covenant Community
As you consider the possibility of attending Covenant Seminary, you realize that academics will be a major part of your life here. But thinking Christians like you also have concerns about the rest of life. How will seminary impact your walk with God? Your ministry involvement? Your family life?
As a seminary committed to training Christ's servants for ministry, we seek to address these concerns in all we do. In Student Services, we focus especially on your life outside the classroom. You will find a healthy emphasis on community and living together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Students have often said that one of the greatest experiences of attending Covenant Seminary is the opportunity to meet, share with, and grow with people who have a heart for God and are seeking to serve Him. We believe that this sense of community and commitment to one another are vital parts of seminary life.
A Community of Worship
B. B. Warfield, the respected nineteenth-century theologian, once wrote that a body of students "cannot maintain a healthy, full, rich religious life individually, unless they are giving organic expression to their religious life as a community in frequent stated diets of common worship." Covenant Seminary recognizes this need and seeks to fulfill it in a variety of ways.
Chapel
Chapel services take place every Tuesday and Friday during the regular school year, providing students, spouses, faculty, and staff a regular time to gather for community-wide worship, prayer, and teaching. Most chapel services feature professors, local pastors, or distinguished guest speakers who preach while students lead worship. Ordinarily, chapel is formatted as a worship service but on specific occasions the time is used for topical presentations and information sharing of a more informal nature. Several times a semester, the service includes extended times of singing and prayer.
Covenant Groups
Another important element of spiritual development is encouragement and accountability through small group prayer. Covenant Groups are formed at the beginning of each semester and meet weekly throughout the year. In each group, students and a faculty member share personal needs, struggles, and testimonies of praise with the purpose of encouraging and praying for each other. This opportunity to create long-lasting friendships with other students and faculty members by ministering to one another in a close, personal environment is strongly recommended for all students. Other small groups, such as Mission Prayer Groups and Peer Discipleship Groups involving first-year students, are also available.
A Community of Families
At Covenant Seminary we believe that when the Lord calls a married student into ministry, He calls a family.
Family Nurture Program
Flowing from a deep sense of commitment to the family, Student Services directs a unique Family Nurture Program designed to focus specifically on the needs and interests of married students (and those preparing for marriage), their spouses, and their children as they prepare for a lifetime of ministry. This program includes a variety of opportunities for support groups, fellowship, learning, and general preparation for the joys and challenges that ministry brings to family life. All student families are invited and encouraged to take part.
Fellowship activities for wives are held periodically with the specific intention of addressing the special needs of student spouses in both a small group setting and a larger context of fellowship. In addition, Parents' Night Out and Mothers' Mornings Out provide free childcare for seminary couples and wives who desire free time that might otherwise be difficult to arrange. The Family Nurture Program also "adopts" certain courses by providing free childcare so that couples with children can learn together in class.
Spouse Tuition Scholarship
Spouses of full-time students may audit or take courses for credit free of charge by utilizing the Spouse Tuition Scholarship.
A Community of Fellowship
Students often say that one of the greatest experiences during their time at Covenant Seminary is the opportunity to meet, share, and grow with others who have a heart for God and are seeking to serve Him. We believe this sense of community -- a commitment to one another growing out of a mutual commitment to Jesus Christ -- is a vital part of seminary life.
From the moment they arrive, students begin to discover and participate in the special relationships between other students and faculty and their families that make the Covenant Seminary community unique. Multiple times throughout the summer, seminary-wide gatherings for picnics or worship times with dessert provide opportunities to develop relationships with other students, faculty, and staff members. The fun and fellowship surrounding these events allows students and their families to begin to feel more at home in their new environment.
Learn more about campus community life. (PDF format)
Campus Maps
Campus Location
To reach Covenant Theological Seminary from any direction, the key junction is the one between Interstate 270 and Highway 40/I-64 (better known to St. Louisans as Highway 40). The first exit east of that intersection is the Ballas Road exit. Exit Highway 40/I-64 at Ballas Road and drive north one block to the stoplight at Conway Road. Turn left (west) onto Conway Road (you will pass under Interstate 270); proceed to the Covenant Theological Seminary sign (on your left). Turn left into the administration building parking lot. The distance from Ballas Road to the administration building is approximately a quarter mile.
Campus Layout
Download a PDF version of the campus map.
About St. Louis
There are many available sources of information about St. Louis. We have found these Web sites to be particularly helpful. (Note that all of these links will open in a new window.)
General Information: http://www.explorestlouis.com/
St. Louis Weather: http://www.weather.com/weather/local/USMO0787
St. Louis News: http://www.stltoday.com/
Housing: http://www.mo-re.com/
Local PCA Churches: StLchurchesPCA.pdf
