CRE Course Catalog
Level 1: Personal Formation
Course Description
This course is an immersive retreat designed to help participants clarify their ministry identity and name their primary ministry function for the current season of life and leadership. Through guided reflection, peer conversation, spiritual practices, and discernment exercises, participants identify the kind of ministry they most readily inhabit—prophetic truth-telling, pastoral care, teaching, counseling, evangelism, chaplaincy, organizing, administration, mentoring, worship leadership, spiritual direction, advocacy, or community building—along with other identities that may be emerging as gifts grow and circumstances change. Ministry identity is approached as a faithful point-in-time reading of how a person is presently wired and called, not a permanent label; participants are invited to mature across the full range of ministry responsibilities while learning to lead from their strengths with humility, clarity, and accountability.
The retreat also helps participants translate identity into ministry function by expanding their imagination for what Commissioned Ruling Elder service can look like in a particular context. Participants explore the many ways Christian leadership can be expressed through and beyond congregational life—equipping elders and ministry teams, developing discipleship pathways, strengthening governance and systems, cultivating prayer and care networks, guiding Bible study and formation, supporting schools and community institutions, partnering with local nonprofits, walking with those in crisis, serving neighbors experiencing poverty, or mobilizing mission in a neighborhood. Ministry function is framed as a provisional vocational focus—what is most needed, most fitting, and most sustainable right now—subject to revision as communities change, opportunities open, and God’s guidance becomes clearer. Because CRE ministry is not a single, uniform model, FORM 101 equips participants to articulate a clear ministry identity, discern an appropriate ministry function for their setting, and take concrete next steps toward faithful, integrated service.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a clear, present-tense ministry identity that reflects their gifts, temperament, convictions, and spiritual maturity.
- Name a primary ministry function appropriate to their current context, limitations, and opportunities, and explain why it fits this season.
- Differentiate between identity and function, and describe how each may adapt over time as circumstances, communities, and call evolve.
- Identify core strengths and growth edges for ministry, and practice receiving feedback with humility and accountability.
- Connect ministry identity to concrete practices of leadership, including communication, decision-making, collaboration, and care.
- Develop an expanded theology of vocation that includes congregational leadership and ministry beyond church walls.
- Generate a short list of ministry expressions that match their identity and context (e.g., teaching, care, organizing, systems leadership, community partnership).
- Discern constraints and supports that shape sustainable ministry (time, family/work commitments, boundaries, supervision, and self-care).
- Draft a concise next-step plan for discernment and deployment, including conversations to have, training to pursue, and experiments to try.
- Prepare to communicate their evolving sense of call in a coherent way to mentors, session, and presbytery leaders as part of ongoing discernment.
- Be oriented towards helping the people within their ministry define and refine their ministry profile.
Course Description
This course invites students into spiritual formation as a lifelong practice shaped by rhythm, attention, and discernment rather than technique or performance. Drawing from the Reformed tradition and the lived experience of ministry, the course explores practices that cultivate attentiveness to God, self, neighbor, and the work of the Spirit in everyday life. Spiritual formation is approached as both personal and communal, supporting resilience, humility, and faithfulness in commissioned ministry.
The course includes sustained engagement with practices including, but not limited to:
- Prayer in its various forms
- Scripture as a formative practice
- Silence, Sabbath, and rest
- Discernment and vocational attentiveness
- Rule of life and spiritual rhythms
- Reflection on lived experience
- Practices of self-awareness and self-care
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Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe spiritual formation as an ongoing practice rooted in the Reformed tradition and the life of the church.
- Engage a variety of formative practices with openness, discipline, and theological reflection.
- Reflect on personal spiritual rhythms and patterns in relation to the demands of ministry.
- Develop and adapt formative practices appropriate to their context, vocation, and season of life.
- Articulate the relationship between spiritual formation, pastoral presence, and faithful leadership.
- Demonstrate a growing capacity for attentiveness, resilience, and discernment in ministry.
- Being to help others embrace spiritual practices that are helpful to their faith development
Course Description
This course focuses on developing self-knowledge as a core component of faithful and sustainable ministry. Through guided reflection and the use of selected personality and leadership assessments, students are invited to explore their unique personhood as members of the body of Christ and as leaders called into commissioned or ordained ministry. The course emphasizes that self-knowledge serves growth, accountability, and humility rather than excuse-making or self-justification.
Assessments used in this course may include, but are not limited to, the Change-Style Indicator, the Enneagram, and CliftonStrengths (developed by Gallup). These tools are employed as lenses for reflection rather than as definitive descriptions of identity or capacity. Students are encouraged to consider how temperament, patterns of response, leadership instincts, and stress behaviors shape their ministry—particularly in times of conflict, transition, and uncertainty.
The course attends explicitly to the concept of the shadow side of leadership, helping students recognize both gifts and vulnerabilities, and to cultivate practices of growth, accountability, and self-regulation in service of the church.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe the purpose and limits of personality and leadership assessments within Christian formation and ministry.
- Reflect on personal patterns of leadership, communication, change-response, and stress through guided use of assessment tools.
- Articulate how individual gifts and tendencies contribute to the life and health of the body of Christ.
- Identify potential shadow sides, blind spots, and habitual responses that may impact ministry relationships and decision-making.
- Demonstrate a theological understanding of personhood that resists using personality as an excuse for harmful or ineffective leadership.
- Integrate self-knowledge into practices of spiritual formation, boundaries, supervision, and ongoing growth.
- Be oriented to help others grow in their self-knowledge
Level 1: Biblical and Theological Foundations
Course Description
This course provides a basic introduction to the Old Testament’s content, historical background, canon, genres, theology, culture, interpretation, and ecclesial use. By the end of the course, students will be able to responsibly interpret passages from the Old Testament and evaluate how others use the Old Testament.
Course Objectives
- Evaluate common uses of the Old Testament in the church.
- Analyze how particular Old Testament books and texts relate to overarching historical periods and the broader biblical story.
- Analyze how particular Old Testament books and texts relate to overarching canonical divisions and key types of literature.
- Analyze how particular Old Testament books and texts relate to theological themes and central texts.
- Analyze how particular Old Testament texts relate to ancient cultural dynamics.
- Create frameworks for responsibly interpreting the Old Testament in church settings.
Course Description
This course introduces the New Testament as a collection of ancient texts from varying genres. By the end of the course students will be able to articulate what the New Testament is, to identify the various ancient literary genres that New Testament texts represent, to explain how both modern and antique contexts shape interpretation of the New Testament, and to evaluate interpretive debates about specific New Testament texts.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Explain what the New Testament is.
- Articulate the various genres that New Testament texts represent and the constituent literary features of these genres.
- Explain how the historical, theological, cultural, and religious contexts in which the New Testament texts were written are relevant to their interpretation.
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to Reformed theology through readings, lectures, and discussion with a particular focus on the theology of John Calvin and the content of the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), especially the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds and the Heidelberg Catechism.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Be able to identify and analyze major theological and ethical teachings in the Reformed tradition especially as articulated in the work of John Calvin and the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
- Be able to use the content of the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), especially the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds and the Heidelberg Catechism, as a theological resource for church leadership.
Course Description
This course introduces the core theological convictions that shape the faith, worship, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Building upon foundational study of Scripture and Reformed theology, students explore how Presbyterians understand God, salvation, the church, worship, mission, and Christian discipleship.
Particular attention is given to the ways God is made known through what Presbyterians have often described as the Living Word, the Written Word, the Visible Word, and the Proclaimed Word. Students will examine Jesus Christ as the Living Word of God, Scripture as the Written Word, the Sacraments as the Visible Word, and preaching as the Proclaimed Word through which God continues to speak to the church.
The course also introduces the PC(USA) Book of Confessions as a collection of faithful responses to Scripture developed across different times, cultures, and challenges. Students will explore how confessions guide the church’s teaching, worship, mission, and discernment while remaining subordinate to the authority of Scripture. Through study, discussion, and reflection, participants will develop a clearer understanding of what Presbyterians believe and how those beliefs shape ministry and leadership within the church.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate key theological convictions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
- Explain the relationship between Jesus Christ as the Living Word and Scripture as the Written Word.
- Describe the role of preaching as the Proclaimed Word and the Sacraments as the Visible Word in the life of the church.
- Demonstrate familiarity with the structure, purpose, and authority of the Book of Confessions.
- Identify major themes found across the confessional tradition, including grace, covenant, discipleship, worship, justice, and mission.
- Explain the relationship between Scripture, confessions, and church practice within the Reformed tradition.
- Apply Presbyterian theological principles to contemporary questions facing the church and society.
- Teach basic Presbyterian beliefs in ways that are accessible to congregations and ministry settings.
Engagement and Evaluation
Evaluation will be based upon active participation, completion of assigned readings, engagement in group discussion, and written reflection.
Students will:
- Read selected portions of the Book of Confessions and related theological resources.
- Participate in guided discussions and theological reflection exercises.
- Complete short written assignments connecting Presbyterian theology to ministry practice.
- Develop and present a brief teaching lesson, devotional, or educational resource that communicates a core Presbyterian belief to a congregation or ministry setting.
Successful completion of the course requires regular participation and demonstration of an emerging ability to interpret, explain, and apply Presbyterian theology within the life of the church.
Level 1: Ecclesial Structure and Accountability
Course Description
This course introduces students to the polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a living system that shapes the life, governance, and ministry of the church. Grounded in the Book of Order, the course explores how authority, accountability, and shared leadership function within sessions, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly. Emphasis is placed on understanding polity not merely as rules to be followed, but as a theological framework that supports ordered ministry, faithful discernment, and the church’s witness in the world. The course equips Commissioned Ruling Elders to navigate church structures with confidence, clarity, and pastoral wisdom in local and presbytery contexts.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe the theological foundations of Presbyterian polity and its grounding in Reformed theology.
- Navigate the structure and purpose of the Book of Order, with particular attention to governance, leadership roles, and accountability.
- Explain the respective responsibilities and relationships of sessions, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly.
- Apply principles of PC(USA) polity to common ministry situations, including decision-making, conflict, and boundary-setting.
- Interpret polity as a tool for discernment and shared leadership rather than mere procedural compliance, including the importance of consensus building.
- Demonstrate functional competence in Presbyterian governance appropriate to commissioned ministry.
- Teach a simple lesson to others about the Foundations.
- Reference the Worship section to teach others about our theology of Worship.
Course Description
This course provides required training in healthy boundaries and ministerial conduct for those serving in commissioned ministry. Grounded in the theological commitments of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and informed by best practices in ministry ethics, the course addresses the responsibilities entrusted to leaders who serve in positions of authority, care, and trust. Emphasis is placed on understanding boundaries not only as rules to be enforced, but as practices that protect the dignity, safety, and well-being of individuals, congregations, and the wider church.
The course includes focused instruction on policies and practices including, but not limited to:
- Sexual Misconduct Policy
- Harassment Policy
- Child, Youth, and Adults with Vulnerabilities Protection Policy
- Anti-Racism Policy
Participants will engage these policies through case studies, discussion, and guided reflection, with attention to real-world ministry situations and the shared responsibility of the church to create safe and just communities.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe the ethical and theological foundations for healthy boundaries in ministry.
- Identify behaviors that violate ministerial boundaries and recognize situations of increased risk.
- Interpret and apply PC(USA) policies related to misconduct, harassment, protection of vulnerable persons, and anti-racism.
- Respond appropriately to concerns, disclosures, and boundary violations in accordance with established procedures.
- Articulate the role of boundaries in fostering trust, safety, accountability, and justice within the church.
- Demonstrate readiness to serve in commissioned ministry with integrity and responsibility.
- Be able to explain to those in their ministry why Healthy Boundaries and Healthy Boundaries Training are important.
Course Note:
- This course is mandatory for commissioning and must be completed and renewed as required by the PC(USA).
- Completion of this course does not replace, but complements, ongoing supervision and accountability structures.
Course Description
This course centers on psychological self-assessment and reflective integration as a component of preparation for commissioned ministry. The evaluation process is typically conducted through LeaderWise and includes a comprehensive battery of assessments, followed by a confidential conversation with a qualified counselor or clinician. The resulting evaluation report is reviewed by the Commission on the Preparation for Ministry as part of the broader discernment and formation process.
The purpose of this course is not to diagnose or label, but to support deeper self-knowledge, emotional awareness, and vocational readiness. Students are invited to reflect honestly on personal strengths, patterns, stress responses, and areas for growth, and to consider how these factors may shape their ministry over time. Attention is given to integration rather than perfection, and to growth rather than disqualification.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Engage the psychological evaluation process with openness, honesty, and reflective curiosity.
- Demonstrate increased self-awareness regarding personality, relational patterns, stress responses, and emotional health.
- Reflect on evaluation feedback in conversation with a counselor and appropriate ministry mentors.
- Identify areas of personal growth, development, and support that may be necessary for healthy ministry.
- Articulate how psychological self-knowledge contributes to resilience, boundaries, and faithful leadership.
- Participate responsibly in the CPM review process as part of communal discernment for commissioned ministry.
- Create a plan for their well being and personal growth.
Course Notes
- This evaluation is understood as a formational tool, not a one-time test.
- Results are interpreted within the context of ongoing supervision, spiritual formation, and boundary training.
- The goal is to help students develop sustainable, self-aware patterns of ministry, not to achieve an idealized profile.
Level 1: Foundational Ministry Practice
Course Description
This workshop introduces foundational skills for effective preaching by focusing on communication, structure, and listener engagement prior to advanced work in biblical interpretation and exegesis. The course is designed to help students recognize and address common barriers to hearing and understanding the preached word, and to develop habits of proclamation that are clear, hospitable, and attentive to the lived experience of listeners.
Attention is given to identifying rhetorical, structural, and delivery practices that unintentionally inhibit communication, including abstraction, over-explanation, lack of narrative movement, and assumptions about listener knowledge. Students are introduced to several sermon frameworks that support clarity and engagement, including the Homiletical Loop and the Four Pages of the Sermon, as tools for shaping sermons that move faithfully from text to life and back again.
The workshop emphasizes preaching as an act of communication in service of the gospel, not performance or information transfer. Through guided practice, discussion, and reflection, students begin to develop preaching instincts that are listener-aware, theologically grounded, and pastorally responsible.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Identify common communicative obstacles that prevent sermons from being heard and received.
- Describe preaching as a relational and theological act shaped by both content and form.
- Be able to identity the focus of the sermon in one sentence.
- Be able to identify the function of the sermon, including application options/holy invitations
- Utilize basic sermon structures, including the Homiletical Loop and the Four Pages of the Sermon.
- Demonstrate increased awareness of listeners, context, and narrative movement in preaching.
- Practice sermon development that prioritizes clarity, coherence, and theological integrity.
- Reflect on their own preaching habits and identify areas for continued growth.
Course Description
This practicum prepares students to lead the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper faithfully, reverently, and pastorally within the Reformed tradition and the polity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Emphasis is placed on understanding the sacraments as gifts of grace entrusted to the church, rooted in Scripture, shaped by theology, and expressed through the worshiping life of the congregation.
Students learn through observation, guided practice, and reflection alongside experienced leaders who model thoughtful preparation, clear theological grounding, and pastoral sensitivity. Attention is given to liturgical leadership, the use of authorized resources, the role of the session, and the integration of the sacraments into the broader life of worship and discipleship.
The practicum also addresses the pastoral and communal dimensions of sacramental leadership, including hospitality, inclusion, preparation of participants, and care for individuals and families at significant moments in the life of the church. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own theology of the sacraments and to grow in confidence and humility as they lead these central acts of Christian worship.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a Reformed theological understanding of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper for children, teens, and adults appropriate to their age and development.
- Prepare and lead sacramental services in accordance with PC(USA) polity and authorized liturgical resources.
- Integrate the sacraments into the worshiping and missional life of the congregation.
- Demonstrate pastoral sensitivity in preparation for and leadership of sacramental moments.
- Collaborate appropriately with the session and other leaders in planning and oversight.
- Reflect on their own practice of sacramental leadership and identify areas for continued growth.
Course Description
This practicum introduces students to the theory and practice of Christian mission as a community-building endeavor rooted in relationship, mutuality, and shared witness, rather than solely in meeting immediate needs. Drawing from biblical, theological, and contemporary missional frameworks, the practicum invites students to re-examine common approaches to mission and to explore healthier, more faithful expressions of engagement within local contexts.
Students participate in ministry days with approved mission and ministry sites that model relational, asset-based, and community-centered approaches to mission. These experiences are designed to expose students to practices that honor dignity, foster belonging, and cultivate long-term transformation for both communities and congregations.
As part of the practicum, students reflect critically on their experiences and consider how existing congregational mission efforts might be adapted to better align with these principles. The practicum culminates in a one-day workshop that builds on the frameworks and practices introduced through Mission Lab, supporting integration, shared learning, and practical application.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe Christian mission as a relational, community-building practice grounded in the gospel.
- Distinguish between charity-based approaches to mission and models that emphasize mutuality, dignity, and shared life.
- Engage thoughtfully with local mission and ministry sites that model healthy community engagement.
- Analyze congregational mission practices and identify opportunities for growth and adaptation.
- Articulate theological and practical insights gained through direct participation in mission contexts.
- Integrate learning from site visits, reflection, and the Mission Lab workshop into future ministry leadership.
- Be able to demonstrate relational mission practices, debrief, and worship cycles with the guidance of a mentor for a period of one year.
Course Description
This practicum focuses on the practice of moderating congregational leadership meetings with clarity, purpose, and pastoral wisdom. The primary emphasis is on moderating Session meetings and committee meetings, where much of the church’s discernment, relationship-building, and decision-making takes place. Corporate meetings are included as appropriate, but they are not the central focus of this practicum.
Students learn from experienced leaders who have demonstrated the ability to design agendas and lead meetings that are both faithful and effective. Attention is given to the moderator’s role as a steward of the church’s shared life, helping teams attend to mission and relationships while also carrying out necessary governance responsibilities.
Drawing on the leadership framework articulated by George Bullard, the practicum uses the metaphor of front-seat and back-seat leadership. Vision and relationships belong in the front seat of leadership meetings—they guide purpose, trust, and direction. Ministry management, policy, and structure belong in the back seat—they remain essential, but they do not drive the church’s life. Students are equipped to hold these together in healthy balance as they lead Session and committee meetings within the context of Presbyterian polity.
Through observation, participation, and guided reflection, students develop practical skills in agenda design, meeting leadership, and decision-making, while also attending to group dynamics, anxiety, and the pastoral dimensions of leadership.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Design Session and committee meeting agendas that prioritize vision, relationships, and discernment while appropriately addressing ministry management and structure.
- Moderate Session and committee meetings with clarity, confidence, and pastoral attentiveness.
- Apply the front-seat / back-seat leadership framework to congregational leadership settings.
- Recognize and respond to group dynamics, conflict, and anxiety that emerge in meetings.
- Demonstrate leadership that integrates polity, mission, and relational awareness.
- Reflect on their own moderating style and identify areas for continued growth and development.
- Be able to explain to their leaders why relationship and vision are the central work of teams, committees, and boards.
- Teach others to design helpful agendas in the vision, relationship, management, structure design.
Course Description
This practicum prepares students to lead funeral and memorial services as a faithful witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and as a pastoral act of care for those who grieve. Grounded in the hope of the Christian gospel and shaped by the Reformed tradition, the practicum attends to the unique theological, liturgical, and pastoral dimensions of death and loss within the life of the church.
Students learn from experienced leaders through observation, guided practice, and reflection. Emphasis is placed on proclaiming the resurrection with honesty and humility, holding together grief and hope, and speaking with pastoral sensitivity to families and communities in moments of profound vulnerability. Attention is given to planning services, selecting scripture and music, crafting homiletical reflections, and collaborating with families, congregational leaders, and funeral professionals.
The practicum also addresses the emotional and relational demands placed on ministers in times of loss, inviting students to reflect on their own responses to death and grief and to cultivate practices that support healthy, compassionate leadership.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a Reformed theological understanding of death, resurrection, and Christian hope.
- Plan and lead funeral or memorial services that are faithful, pastoral, and appropriate to the context.
- Proclaim the resurrection with clarity and compassion while honoring the reality of grief and loss.
- Provide pastoral presence and care to individuals and families in seasons of mourning.
- Collaborate effectively with congregational leaders, families, and funeral service professionals.
- Reflect on the personal and pastoral impact of leading services of death and resurrection.
- Articulate what is the primary function of a pastor during the time of death and during the Witness to the Resurrection, as well as secondary healing elements of this work.
Level 2: Leading the Worshiping Community
Course Description
This course in Reformed Worship and Sacraments introduces the basic scriptural, historical, and theological principles of Christian worship as viewed from a Reformed perspective, with special focus on liturgical practice in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- An introductory knowledge of Christian worship from a Reformed perspective;
- An introductory knowledge of the resources available for preparing and planning for worship;
- An ability to plan a worship service with commentary, explaining the theological and liturgical function of each major component of the service.
- An understanding of worship leadership and the ability to adapt Reformed practices to a particular context;
- A knowledge of the sacraments that coheres with Reformed theology;
- An introductory knowledge of the ordering and administration of pastoral services.
Course Description
An introduction to the basic principles of preaching: what sets preaching apart from other types of oral communication; how does one select biblical texts for preaching; what spiritual practices best serve the sermon design and preparation process; what exegetical questions best accord with faithful interpretation; what considerations bear upon the application of the sermon to Christian life; what delivery considerations merit the most intentional practice?
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Discover, identify, and apply the unique attributes of preaching that distinguish it from other forms of human communication.
- Identify and compare primary options for selecting biblical texts that will serve as the basis for messages (sermons) appropriate to the needs of the church, its worship, and its mission in the world.
- Interpret selected biblical texts with attention to both ancient literary and modern ecclesial contexts. Construct a theological (focus) statement that arises from the selected biblical text, and relate it (with a function statement) to Christian practice.
- Paraphrase focus and function statements so as to distinguish them from competing cultural claims, indicating corrective and edifying theological insights for the individual listener and the church.
- Compose and assemble weekly devotional messages that explain the selected scripture, summarize the theological claim, and appraise its implications for the Christian life.
- Organize and develop one devotional message into a sermon, delivered audibly and clearly
- Evaluate peer sermons and/or those by notable preachers in assigned readings or other media.
Course Description
This course explores the role and practice of the teaching and discipling ministries of the church as graced means of cultivating the character of Christ personally and corporately. An incarnational model of teaching and learning—engaging the whole person—will be emphasized. Students will reflect on their own experiences of these ministries, both as teacher and student; engage texts on teaching and instructional design, the neuroscience of learning and habit formation; contemplative attention; spiritual formation in children and youth; and practice practical theological reflection as they build skills for teaching in various contexts. Models for learning, recent cognitive research, and instructional design models will be dialogue partners as students select and describe a context of teaching and learning; then design, teach, and evaluate a teaching/learning experience.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Be able to identify and build on biblical, theological, and practical foundations for the educational tasks of the local congregation.
- Use models for structuring the worship and ministry of congregations in ways that call and shape disciples from spiritual infancy to maturity in Christian community and public witness, as measured by the evaluations of a teaching session.
CRE CURRICULAR GOALS
- Be formed by, live in, and minister out of Scripture and the historical and theological tradition of the Church.
- Educate and equip individuals and congregations to live and minister joyfully and faithfully as part of their own denomination and the ecumenical church.
- Integrate theology and practice in all areas of life and ministry.
Level 2: Leading Self and Congregational Systems
Course Description
This course deepens the practice of spiritual formation within the specific demands of congregational pastoral leadership. Building upon foundational work in spiritual disciplines and self-knowledge, students examine the interior and relational pressures that accompany sustained ministry responsibility. Particular attention is given to the cultivation of resilience, healthy limits, emotional regulation, and long-term sustainability in the life of a congregational pastor.
Spiritual formation in this course is approached not as private devotion detached from ministry, but as the ongoing integration of prayer, theological reflection, and embodied practice within the realities of leadership, conflict, grief, and organizational anxiety. Students explore how patterns of over-functioning, avoidance, exhaustion, and self-reliance can distort pastoral leadership, and how intentional rhythms of rest, supervision, accountability, and community can restore clarity and stability.
The course invites honest reflection on the cost of ministry and the temptation to equate faithfulness with availability or performance. Students consider how sustainable leadership requires alignment between vocation, capacity, and spiritual grounding. Through guided conversation, reflective practice, and peer learning, participants develop practices that support enduring, faithful ministry over time.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this course seeks to cultivate leaders who can remain spiritually attentive, emotionally grounded, and pastorally present in seasons of both vitality and strain.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a theological understanding of sustainable ministry that integrates vocation, limits, and dependence upon God.
- Demonstrate increased awareness of the emotional and spiritual pressures inherent in congregational pastoral leadership.
- Identify personal patterns of stress response, over-functioning, withdrawal, or reactivity within ministry settings.
- Develop sustainable rhythms of prayer, rest, supervision, and relational accountability appropriate to ongoing pastoral leadership.
- Recognize warning signs of burnout, boundary erosion, and emotional exhaustion, and describe practices that support resilience and renewal.
- Integrate spiritual formation with congregational leadership rather than treating formation as separate from ministry responsibility.
- Reflect constructively on their ministry context and articulate strategies for maintaining spiritual vitality amid complexity and change.
Course Description
This course introduces students to family systems theory as a framework for understanding congregational life, leadership dynamics, and emotional processes within the church. Drawing from the work of Murray Bowen and subsequent systems thinkers, the course explores how anxiety, triangulation, conflict, role expectation, and patterns of reactivity shape congregational behavior and pastoral leadership.
Building upon prior work in self-knowledge and sustainable ministry, students learn to observe congregations as emotional systems rather than collections of isolated individuals. Attention is given to differentiation of self, boundaries, over-functioning and under-functioning patterns, generational transmission, and the ways anxiety moves through groups. The course emphasizes the pastor’s role not as fixer or rescuer, but as a steady, non-anxious presence within complex relational environments.
Students apply systems concepts to real congregational situations, including leadership transitions, conflict episodes, resistance to change, grief, and community stress. The course integrates theological reflection with systems awareness, exploring how pastoral care, preaching, moderating, and mission leadership are shaped by emotional process.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this course equips leaders to navigate congregational complexity with clarity, steadiness, and pastoral wisdom.
Course Objectives
- Describe core concepts of family systems theory and apply them to congregational life.
- Interpret congregations as emotional systems rather than merely collections of individual personalities or isolated problems.
- Identify patterns of anxiety, triangulation, cutoff, reactivity, over-functioning, and under-functioning in ministry settings.
- Explain differentiation of self and its importance for pastoral leadership, congregational care, and decision-making.
- Recognize how anxiety moves through families, leadership teams, sessions, committees, and congregations.
- Reflect on their own family-of-origin patterns and how those patterns may shape their pastoral leadership.
- Respond to conflict, grief, resistance, and transition with greater steadiness and less reactivity.
- Practice non-anxious presence while maintaining appropriate boundaries and pastoral compassion.
- Apply systems thinking to preaching, moderating, pastoral care, mission leadership, and congregational change.
- Develop a pastoral response to a real congregational situation using family systems concepts.
Course Description
FORM 203 equips students to lead through congregational tension with steady presence, clear communication, and spiritually grounded resilience. The course explores how conflict functions in anxious systems, how miscommunication escalates reactivity, and how leaders can de-escalate while maintaining clarity of purpose. Students practice core skills such as defining the issue, listening for underlying values and losses, setting boundaries, naming patterns without shaming, and speaking truth with humility. Attention is given to difficult conversations in pastoral settings (staff, session, congregational meetings, and community partnerships), including repair after rupture. The course emphasizes “non-anxious presence,” accountability, and the ethical use of authority in emotionally charged situations.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Demonstrate non-anxious presence and self-regulation in high-tension ministry settings.
- Identify common congregational conflict patterns (triangulation, scapegoating, cutoff, overfunctioning/underfunctioning) and describe how they intensify.
- Apply practical communication skills—active listening, reflective summarizing, clean questions, and “I” statements—in pastoral and leadership conversations.
- Distinguish between content issues and process issues, and intervene appropriately in each.
- Plan and facilitate a difficult conversation with clear goals, boundaries, and follow-up steps.
- Use covenantal frameworks and clear expectations to prevent chronic conflict and reduce ambiguity.
- Practice repair strategies after conflict (confession, apology, accountability, and restoration) appropriate to pastoral leadership.
- Demonstrate responsible handling of confidentiality, power dynamics, and ethical risks in conflict situations.
Level 2: Leading Structures and Stewardship
Course Description
This practicum develops advanced competencies in congregational leadership through the intentional design of healthy boards, ministry structures, and decision-making systems. Building upon foundational work in polity, moderating, and family systems theory, the course equips students to move beyond maintaining inherited structures toward shaping governance systems that support mission, clarity, and shared leadership.
Attention is given to the architecture of leadership within Presbyterian congregations, including the role of session, committees, staff, and volunteers. Students examine how poorly designed systems generate confusion, burnout, and chronic conflict, while well-structured systems clarify authority, reduce anxiety, and foster trust. The course explores agenda design, role clarity, accountability structures, communication pathways, and alignment between vision and governance.
Students analyze real congregational leadership models and reflect on how size, context, and congregational history influence structural decisions. Particular emphasis is placed on balancing front-seat leadership (vision, relationships, discernment) with back-seat leadership (policy, administration, compliance), and on designing systems that sustain healthy pastoral leadership over time.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this practicum prepares students to shape leadership environments that are faithful to Presbyterian polity while responsive to the lived realities of local ministry.
Course Objectives
- Describe the purpose and function of healthy leadership systems within Presbyterian congregations.
- Analyze the relationship between mission, vision, governance, and organizational structure.
- Evaluate existing congregational leadership structures and identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas requiring redesign.
- Distinguish between front-seat leadership (vision, relationships, and discernment) and back-seat leadership (policy, administration, and compliance), and appropriately integrate both within congregational life.
- Design meeting agendas, leadership processes, and decision-making systems that support clarity, participation, and mission effectiveness.
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, authority, and accountability among sessions, committees, staff, and volunteers.
- Recognize organizational patterns that contribute to confusion, burnout, conflict, or leadership bottlenecks and propose constructive interventions.
- Develop communication pathways and accountability systems that foster trust, transparency, and shared ownership.
- Apply principles of family systems theory and Presbyterian polity to congregational leadership challenges.
- Assess how congregational size, history, culture, and context influence leadership structure and governance decisions.
- Create or revise a ministry system, leadership process, or governance structure designed to support healthier and more sustainable congregational leadership.
- Equip elders, committees, and ministry teams to lead effectively within a shared leadership model.
Course Description
POL 201 provides a practical foundation for financial governance in congregational and presbytery contexts. Students learn how money functions as a theological and organizational reality—shaping trust, mission capacity, and organizational health. The course introduces core financial systems and controls (budgeting, cash flow, internal controls, restricted funds, designated giving, audits/reviews, and reporting), with attention to transparency and compliance. Students examine the financial responsibilities of sessions/boards, treasurers, finance committees, and pastors—especially how leaders communicate financial realities without shame, manipulation, or avoidance. The course also addresses risk management, ethical decision-making, and the mechanics of building sustainable ministry models in changing congregational environments.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Interpret core financial statements and reports used in congregations (budget, balance sheet, income/expense, cash flow summaries).
- Develop and evaluate a mission-aligned annual budget that reflects strategic priorities and realistic revenue assumptions.
- Describe and apply basic internal controls and financial policies that reduce risk and increase transparency.
- Differentiate restricted, designated, and unrestricted funds and explain appropriate handling practices for each.
- Explain the roles and responsibilities of session/board, treasurer, finance team, and pastoral leadership in financial governance.
- Create a clear monthly reporting rhythm and dashboard that improves decision-making and reduces anxiety.
- Identify common financial warning signs (chronic deficits, deferred maintenance, unclear fund categories, informal controls) and propose corrective actions.
- Communicate financial realities to a congregation using clear, pastoral, non-reactive messaging that strengthens trust and shared ownership.
- Evaluate stewardship practices and giving patterns in relation to congregational culture, mission clarity, and leadership systems.
Course Description
This course explores stewardship and generosity as theological practices that shape congregational identity, mission, and discipleship. Rooted in Scripture and the Reformed tradition, the course examines how financial stewardship is not merely a budgetary concern, but a reflection of gratitude, covenantal responsibility, and participation in God’s work in the world.
Students consider the theological foundations of generosity, including grace, gratitude, justice, and trust in God’s provision. Attention is given to the ways congregational narratives about money, scarcity, and security influence giving patterns and leadership decisions. The course invites students to examine how anxiety around finances often reveals deeper questions about identity, mission, and confidence in God’s call.
Practical components include developing stewardship messaging that is theologically coherent, cultivating year-round practices of gratitude rather than crisis-based appeals, and aligning financial leadership with congregational vision. Students also explore how pastors model generosity through transparency, clarity, and relational leadership, rather than manipulation or pressure.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this course prepares leaders to guide congregations toward healthy financial practices grounded in faith, integrity, and shared mission.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a theological understanding of stewardship grounded in Scripture and the Reformed tradition.
- Interpret congregational financial behavior through the lenses of narrative, anxiety, and systems awareness.
- Develop stewardship strategies that reflect gratitude, mission alignment, and long-term sustainability.
- Integrate financial leadership with vision casting and discipleship formation.
- Communicate about money in ways that are transparent, pastoral, and theologically responsible.
- Identify patterns of scarcity thinking and describe practices that cultivate trust and generosity.
- Collaborate effectively with finance committees and session leadership in shaping congregational stewardship culture.
- Reflect critically on their own theology of money and how it influences pastoral leadership.
Course Description
This eight-week course provides an overview of Presbyterian Church (USA) polity, both in principle and in practice. There will be an emphasis on the use of the constitution in the local congregation as well as the governing bodies. Class structure will include lectures, discussion, case studies, and outside assignments.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to:
- Equip students to become competent moderators of Session.
- Help students become knowledgeable interpreters of Presbyterian polity for the local congregation.
- Increase student’s awareness of the denomination’s broader missional purposes.
- Instill in students an appreciation for our connectional nature.
Course Description
Church buildings are more than assets to maintain; they are tools entrusted to the church for ministry and mission. This course introduces students to the practical and strategic aspects of property stewardship within congregational life. Participants will explore the responsibilities associated with caring for church facilities, including maintenance planning, risk management, insurance, accessibility, capital improvements, vendor relationships, and legal considerations.
Attention is also given to the theological and missional dimensions of property stewardship. Students will examine how buildings can support—or hinder—the mission of the church and will consider strategies for aligning property decisions with congregational vision, community needs, and long-term sustainability. The course equips leaders to make informed decisions about facilities while balancing stewardship, ministry effectiveness, and financial responsibility.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Describe the responsibilities associated with church property stewardship.
- Develop basic facility maintenance and replacement planning strategies.
- Understand common issues related to insurance, liability, safety, and risk management.
- Interpret the role of trustees, sessions, property committees, and other leaders in building oversight.
- Evaluate building use in relation to congregational mission and community engagement.
- Identify common facility challenges and develop appropriate response strategies.
- Assess the financial implications of property decisions, maintenance, and capital improvements.
- Apply principles of stewardship to decisions regarding church facilities and property.
Engagement and Evaluation
Evaluation will be based on participation, practical application, and reflection.
Students will:
- Review case studies involving church property management and facility decisions.
- Assess a congregational property using a structured evaluation tool.
- Participate in discussions regarding stewardship, risk management, and building sustainability.
- Develop a basic property stewardship plan or facilities assessment for a congregation or ministry setting.
Level 2: Leading Outward in Mission and Care
Course Description
This practicum develops the skills and theological grounding necessary to lead Bible study as a formative, communal practice within the life of the congregation. Building upon foundational biblical study and preaching formation, the course focuses on facilitating Scripture engagement in ways that cultivate spiritual growth, theological reflection, and shared discernment rather than mere information transfer.
Students explore how biblical texts function within community settings, attending to questions of context, interpretation, and lived application. Particular attention is given to creating environments of trust, hospitality, and thoughtful dialogue, where participants are invited to engage Scripture with curiosity, humility, and faith. The course examines the differences between preaching and teaching, lecture and facilitation, and informational instruction and transformational formation.
Attention is also given to navigating difficult texts, divergent theological perspectives, generational differences, and emotionally charged conversations that may arise within study groups. Students practice structuring sessions that integrate prayer, contextual awareness, interpretive depth, and communal reflection, while maintaining theological integrity within the Reformed tradition.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this practicum prepares leaders to cultivate congregations that engage Scripture thoughtfully and faithfully as a central practice of discipleship.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Design Bible study sessions that integrate biblical interpretation, theological reflection, and communal dialogue.
- Facilitate group discussion in ways that foster participation, trust, and respectful engagement.
- Distinguish between lecture-based teaching and dialogical facilitation appropriate to congregational settings.
- Interpret challenging biblical texts with pastoral sensitivity and theological integrity.
- Navigate disagreement and diverse perspectives within study groups without escalating anxiety.
- Integrate prayer, context, and lived experience into communal engagement with Scripture.
- Demonstrate increased confidence in leading Scripture-based conversations across varied age groups and ministry contexts.
- Reflect critically on their own facilitation style and areas for continued growth.
Course Description
This practicum equips congregational pastors to lead communities into faithful, relational engagement with their local contexts. Building upon foundational work in community-based mission, the course moves from participation in ministry sites to strategic pastoral leadership that integrates mission, evangelism, and presence into the congregation’s identity.
Students explore the theological foundations of Christian mission within the Reformed tradition, emphasizing participation in God’s reconciling work rather than institutional expansion. Attention is given to distinguishing between charity-driven outreach and relationship-centered engagement rooted in dignity, mutuality, and shared witness. The course invites students to examine how congregational anxiety, scarcity thinking, or internal preoccupation can inhibit outward movement.
Practical components include assessing community context, identifying assets and partnerships, cultivating sustainable relationships, and aligning mission initiatives with congregational capacity and calling. Students reflect on evangelism as relational invitation rather than persuasion, and on the role of the pastor in modeling curiosity, humility, and faithful presence in public life.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this practicum prepares leaders to guide congregations beyond episodic service toward sustained, community-rooted engagement that reflects the gospel.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a theological understanding of mission and evangelism grounded in the Reformed tradition.
- Assess the social, cultural, and relational dynamics of their local community with attentiveness and humility.
- Distinguish between programmatic outreach and relationship-centered community engagement.
- Design mission initiatives that align with congregational capacity, identity, and long-term sustainability.
- Model evangelism as relational invitation and faithful presence rather than institutional recruitment.
- Collaborate with community partners in ways that honor dignity and mutuality.
- Identify internal congregational dynamics that either support or inhibit outward engagement.
- Reflect critically on their own posture toward mission, public presence, and evangelism.
Course Description
This practicum develops the capacity for sustained Christian presence in moments of vulnerability, transition, illness, grief, and spiritual questioning. Grounded in the hope of the gospel and the pastoral tradition of the church, the course prepares congregational pastors to offer prayerful, attentive, and theologically grounded care across a range of life circumstances.
Students examine the theology of presence as participation in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation and compassion. Attention is given to listening as a pastoral discipline, to the appropriate use of Scripture and prayer in care settings, and to discerning when referral or collaboration with other professionals is necessary. The course explores the emotional demands placed upon pastors in hospital rooms, homes, crisis situations, and everyday conversations of care.
Particular emphasis is placed on boundaries, differentiation of self, and avoiding over-functioning in care relationships. Students reflect on how their own experiences of suffering, grief, and faith influence their pastoral posture. Through role practice, case reflection, and guided supervision, participants cultivate habits of presence that are steady, compassionate, and spiritually attentive.
Designed for Commissioned Ruling Elders serving as congregational pastors, this practicum prepares leaders to embody Christian hope with humility and integrity in the most tender moments of congregational life.
Course Objectives
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- Articulate a theological understanding of pastoral presence rooted in the ministry of Christ.
- Demonstrate attentive listening and appropriate use of prayer and Scripture in spiritual care settings.
- Provide pastoral visitation that is compassionate, grounded, and responsive to individual context.
- Recognize emotional and spiritual dynamics present in crisis, grief, illness, and transition.
- Maintain healthy boundaries and appropriate differentiation in pastoral care relationships.
- Discern when referral or collaboration with other care professionals is necessary.
- Integrate systems awareness into pastoral care without losing personal attentiveness.
- Reflect on their own responses to suffering and identify practices that sustain compassionate leadership.