



The purpose of Covenant Theological Seminary is to glorify the triune God by training his servants to walk in God's grace, minister God's Word, and equip God's people--all for God's mission.
These words summarize well what we do at Covenant Seminary: We are all about training pastors and those who serve beside them for fruitful and effective ministry to Christ’s church. And yet, good as it is, our mission statement alone cannot convey the full depth of what our mission involves. Every aspect of what we do here is governed by:
As an institution dedicated to training leaders for Christ’s church, we hold firmly to the following doctrinal beliefs and standards:
Our faculty and Board of Trustees affirm their commitment to these standards annually in writing. The doctrines of the historic Christian faith to which we adhere are expressed clearly in such documents as the Apostles' Creed and the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals (see below).
These beliefs are lived out daily through:
Although not written by the apostles, the Apostles' Creed dates from the early centuries of the church and provides a concise summary of essential biblical teachings.
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into the grave.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic [i.e., universal] church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
The National Association of Evangelicals was organized in 1942 by evangelical denominations and churches in the United States. Its Statement of Faith summarizes essential evangelical beliefs.
1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in his vicarious and atoning death through his shed blood, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal return in power and glory.
4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We do occasionally permit a limited number of applicants who do not share these beliefs to enroll in individual courses as non-degree students. As part of our educational curriculum, we also periodically invite to campus guest speakers who may not hold to the Seminary's doctrinal standards but who offer perspectives and points of view with which our faculty and students need to be familiar.
We believe that a seminary education is successful only if, at its end, the student knows Jesus Christ more intimately than at its beginning. Our approach to ministry training finds both its source and its goal in the person and work of Christ.
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and therefore it is our only infallible rule of faith and practice. We believe in the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit, and thus we affirm the inerrancy of the original manuscripts whose objective truth it is our responsibility to interpret and proclaim in accord with the principles of Scripture.
We believe that the foundation for all that we do must be the gospel of grace—our absolute confidence in God’s acceptance of us provided through his redemptive work in Jesus Christ as the supreme motivation and enablement for love and holiness.
We believe that relationships between students and professors must take a meaningful place alongside teaching content, so that the entire character of the student—mind and heart—might be transformed for ministry.
We believe that our primary task is to train students for pastoral ministry—including church planting, campus ministry, chaplaincy, and missionary service. To accomplish this purpose, we have gathered a faculty of pastor-scholars who are not only first-rate educators but also experienced ministry practitioners.
We believe that, as the seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), it is our responsibility to provide pastoral training that is grounded in the Westminster Standards and the historic distinctives of Presbyterian orthodoxy while equipping the next generation of Christian servants for effective church leadership in a changing world.
We believe that God's ultimate purpose is the gathering of his people from every nation and the renewal of all things. He calls his church to active involvement with the world's peoples and cultures, carrying out the mission of bringing the gospel to those who do not believe and expressing Christ's lordship in every area of life.







