Preparing Leaders for the Church of 2025 and Beyond
PASTORAL
Meeting with students in Covenant Groups is only the beginning of our faculty’s commitment to walking with students during their studies. Professors also collectively spend more than 1,500 hours each semester instructing and mentoring students one-on-one. With an average of 9 years of pastoral ministry experience prior to joining our faculty, professors not only bring expertise in their fields, but also model the kind of shepherding that we hope will mark students’ future ministries.
Preparing Leaders for the Church of 2025 and Beyond
CONFESSIONAL
We profess and proclaim the historic Christian faith as revealed in Scripture and summarized in the Apostles’ Creed and the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, although subordinate to the Bible in their authority, set forth our understanding of biblical truth in a consistent, concise, and reliable form. We also seek to help students articulate these truths clearly, defend them reasonably, and live them out graciously as they experience the transforming impact of the gospel in their lives.
Preparing Leaders for the Church of 2025 and Beyond
MISSIONAL
Covenant Seminary aims to be a place where students experience the transformative nature of the gospel in their own lives within the structure of thoughtful curriculum and pedagogy, and with the support of the Covenant community. Weekly Covenant Groups, for example, offer one opportunity for students to process together the highs and lows of their journey toward Christ-likeness under the care of faculty/staff mentors as they prepare to take the gospel to others.
Preparing Leaders for the Church of 2025 and Beyond
BIBLICAL
The inspired and inerrant Word of God has the power to transform hearts and lives, and as such, it is at the center of our curriculum. Through a framework of covenant theology, students learn to study the Bible in its original languages, appropriately interpret the Bible as it was written to specific people at specific points in history, and effectively apply its timeless truths in various contemporary ministry contexts.
KEVIN TWIT RUF CAMPUS MINISTER - BELMONT UNIVERSITY
Covenant Seminary's whole-person approach to ministry training follows the pattern established by Christ with his disciples: life-on-life involvement with one another that underscores the transformative power of God's grace in our lives and shapes the head, the hands, and the heart for service.Dr. Mark Dalbey, President
PASTORAL TRAINING CORE VALUES
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.
CHURCH LEADERSHIP CORE VALUES
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.
KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE CORE VALUES
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.
CHRIST-CENTERED MINISTRY CORE VALUES
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.
BIBLICAL AUTHORITY CORE VALUES
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.
GRACE FOUNDATION CORE VALUES
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.
RELATIONAL EMPHASIS CORE VALUES
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.
50
Covenant Seminary graduates live and serve in all 50 states.
40
Covenant Seminary graduates live and serve in 40 countries.
9
Average number of years of pastoral ministry experience among faculty
20
Number of full-time professors
1,500
Average number of office hours held by all professors each semester
$2.2 MILLION
Covenant awards more than $2.2 million dollars in scholarships and tuition assistance each year.
45%
Full-Time Pulpit MinistryInitial placement of MDiv graduates from 2000-2011
15%
Youth and Campus Ministry
11%
Missions & Church Planting
6%
Post-Graduate Studies
13%
Other Ministry
COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE IN REFORMED THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION SINCE 1956.
COVENANT IS A PLACE WHERE I LEARNED TO LOVE.
AT COVENANT, I AM LEARNING TO BECOME A MAN OF WEAKNESS AND SORROW, WHICH IS WHAT PEOPLE WHO REALLY NEED THE GOSPEL ARE LIKE.
COVENANT IS NOT JUST ABOUT KNOWLEDGE OR A DEGREE. IT IS AN EXPERIENCE, AND IT WILL BE TRANSFORMING.
