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How It Works

Relations between departments: Covenant Orientation satisfies the orientation requirement for credentialing in the Evangelical Covenant Church set by the Board of the Ordered Ministry. The Department of the Ordered Ministry and Covenant Orientation are housed in the same office and communicate about pastor's credentialing progress regularly.

"A strength of the Orientation Program is that it brings pastors from many different walks of life together. I really enjoyed rooming with different guys while in Chicago taking the classes. The relationships I formed also helped my understanding of what the Covenant denomination is about. We value relationships and we learn and grow much better when we do so together. I was able to learn through conversation how different churches and different pastors conduct their ministries and what their Sunday morning worship experiences look like. This aspect of the program helped me to understand the diversity within our denomination." - Tom Noble

Enrolling in Covenant Orientation consists of submitting the completed application and a $100 application fee. Transcripts (of the highest level of education) are needed for students who take courses for graduate credit. To request an application packet please contact us with a postal address at 1-888-268-7764 Receipt of the application and $100 fee will generate a first program fee invoice. A payment must be made before a pastor takes his/her first class or by January 15th, whichever is first.

Course Scheduling:
Each course is offered at least twice a year. Courses are normally offered before, during, or immediately following the Midwinter Conference, during a summer intensive at North Park Theological Seminary and in the spring and fall in conjunction with conference annual meetings and ministerial retreats. Please see the course schedule for the most current scheduling information.

The Ministry class is only offered at regional conferences and some summers, never at the Midwinter Conference.

Coursework needs to be completed by or during the Midwinter conference before ordination/commissioning/transfer of ordination takes place.

Example of a Workable Course Schedule:

	Two Year Schedule	Three Year Schedule
1	Theology (Midwinter) Sustaining Vocational Excellence (Fall)	History (Midwinter) Sustaining Vocational Excellence (Fall)
2	History and Mission & Ministry (two week intensive, North Park)	Mission & Ministry (Midwinter)
3		Theology (Spring)

Registering for courses: Once a pastor is enrolled in Covenant Orientation he/she will get course registration forms as they are available, usually one or two months before the class. These are sent by email and posted on this website but will be mailed as needed.

Syllabi: Access to course syllabi is given with the confirmation of registration. Syllabi list pre-readings which must be done before class attendance.

Course reading materials can be purchased by calling 1-800-621-1290.

Turning in papers: Students are given six weeks from the last day of class to turn in coursework. Papers may be mailed, postmarked by the due date or emailed as attachments to covenant.orientation@covchurch.org. Papers that include the student's name are most satisfactory! The Covenant Orientation office can print documents created using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher. Students should use their name as a part of the title of their paper when they save it, for ease in identification. (example : save as "TheologypaperJohnson.doc")

Grades: Instructors have six weeks to grade and return papers. After this the graded papers are returned to students. Audits and credits granted are "stored" by North Park Theological Seminary. Transcripts can be requested via North Park University.