North Park Theological Seminary serves the Evangelical Covenant Church by providing orientation programs for persons seeking credentialing (licensing, commissioning, or ordination) for Christian ministry within the Covenant denomination.

All matters regarding ordination, transfer of ordination, and licensure are the responsibility of the Evangelical Covenant Church's Board of the Ordered Ministry.

Objectives: By the end of the orientation process, the participants will:

	be acquainted with Covenant history, theology, polity, missions, and resources for ministry
	have been introduced to Covenant leadership at the Seminary and to administrators at the denominational and conference level
	have participated in Covenant congregations and general Covenant life experiences, such as Covenant Midwinter Conference and the Annual Meeting
	have established relationships with peers with whom they will serve in the Covenant Ministerium
	have evaluated themselves and been evaluated by others in reference to ministry within The Evangelical Covenant Church

Two programs of orientation to Covenant ministry are provided by the Seminary in cooperation with this Board:

Residential Covenant Orientation Program (in Chicago, on campus):

This program consists of full-time academic study-in-residence (24-30 semester hours), designed in light of the person's previous studies, to meet particular goals. The student is assigned an advisor who will help design the program. The credits received during the year of orientation may be transferred to another seminary to complete a degree program. Also, students completing 30 or more semester hours of study at North Park may consider transfering credits from another seminary towards a North Park seminary degree.

The program includes the following:

	Required courses include History and Theology of the Covenant Church; Foundations of Christian Worship, and two weekend Connecting classes.
	Participation in the total life of the Seminary community (chapel, forums, lectureships, recreational activities, Seminary retreats, etc.) and other general Covenant life experiences such as the Covenant Midwinter Conference
	Supervised ministry in a Covenant church (according to the standards established by the respective Boards for credentialing in the Covenant)
	An evaluation and recommendation to the Covenant Board of the Ministry will be provided by the seminary administration in regards to the individual's preparation for credentialing in the Covenant Church

Non-Residential Covenant Orientation Program:

For information on other Orientation programs, please visit the Covenant denomination's web site at www.covchurch.org/cov/ministry/orientation.html

Foundational Courses for Credentialing

North Park Theological Seminary now offers a 'package deal' on the four classes required for credentialing. This is a discount of almost 50% on the cost of the four courses. 

This package deal is for those who are:

1. Seeking Ordination to Specialized Ministry (who have a non-theological master's degree in their area of specialization).  A year of full-time graduate theological studies (which includes the four courses) is required.
2. Seeking Commissioning who have a bachelor's degree (they must take the four courses at      graduate level)
3. Seeking a Local Ministry License.
4. The Foundational Courses for Credentialing are offered through the SemConnect program or Main Campus, year-round at one class per semester--creating a two year program. 

The four courses include:

Church History:  HSTY 6210 Christian Tradition and Mission

New Testament:  BIBL 5150, New Testament I or BIBL 5151, New Testament II

Old Testament: BIBL 6120 Old Testament I or BIBL 6121 Old Testament II

Theology (Systematic): THEO 5330 Survey of Christian Doctrine, on-campus two-week summer intensive or semester-long on campus, or THEO 6330 Christian Theology. 

TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY, INDIVIDUALS MUST APPLY TO BECOME VISITING STUDENTS AT nORTH pARK tHEOLOGICAL sEMINARY.

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