CHICAGO, IL (October 10, 2007) \u2013 The Department of the Ordered Ministry is overhauling the Covenant External Orientation Program (CEOP) so that participants will have to travel less and have the ability to complete the program in less time.<\/p>\n
CEOP is the credentialing process for licensed and ordained ministers coming into the Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n
Components of the new program, Covenant Orientation (CO), will be offered for the first time during the 2008 Midwinter Conference in Chicago. Courses under the current system will be offered for the final time at the conference. Anyone not completing their current program at the conference will have to enter the new program.<\/p>\n
Four components will be offered under the new program:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0History of the Evangelical Covenant Church
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Theology of the Evangelical Covenant Church
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Mission and Ministry in the Evangelical Covenant Church
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Vocational Excellence in the Evangelical Covenant Church<\/p>\n
Each of the courses will be offered twice a year. Two will be four days long, and the other two will span five days. None of the courses will include weekends. Two courses will be offered at Midwinter or during a summer intensive at North Park Theological Seminary, and the others will be offered in a regional conference setting. The ministry component will be offered only offsite during the spring and winter.<\/p>\n
Under the current program, participants are required to take seven classes ranging from one to eight days, most of which are in Chicago. Some require a weekend stay.<\/p>\n
The new program will enable participants to complete their studies within two years, which has been difficult with the current arrangement, says Christine Olfelt, CEOP manager.<\/p>\n
Many of the people in the program work only part-time in their churches, explains David Kersten, executive minister of the Department of the Ordered Ministry. The frequent travel and its cost have been barriers to participation.<\/p>\n
Cost of the program will remain at $4,750. The fee will continue to include registration for the Midwinter conference.<\/p>\n
Olfelt says about 90 people participate in the process each year, which is double what was anticipated when the program started 10 years ago. CEOP was started in 1997 because few people seeking credentials in the Covenant could participate in the required one-year intensive at the seminary.<\/p>\n
The program enhances the denomination\u2019s ministry because the number of credentialed ministers is not keeping pace with the growth of available positions, Kersten says. CEOP credentials 60 to 70 people each year, while the seminary is able to credential about 25.<\/p>\n
Kersten adds that the program fosters connectional ties. The new system will further strengthen those ties because participants will have more extended time together.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in the program are very zealous about the Covenant,\u201d Kersten says. \u201cMany of them have left other denominations.\u201d<\/p>\n
They choose the Covenant, he says, \u201cbecause we have a unique identity, and we teach and nurture that identity,\u201d which he describes as \u201cwarmly evangelical that also focuses on compassion and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n