2025 Impact Report

THE CENTER FOR PASTOR THEOLOGIANS
Forming pastor theologians to shepherd the church in our complex world.

 

New
Initiatives:

Eight new Local Theologian Cohorts
Introducing church leaders around the country to what it means to be a pastor theologian

Two new Learning Cohorts
Equipping pastors and ministry leaders to engage complex topics relevant for church ministry

Dinner and Discussion events
Connecting local pastors with experts to discuss ministry challenges facing churches today

Fiscal Year 2025 in
NUMBERS:

380 Conference Attendees
Our September 2024 conference “Kingdom Politics” sought to help Christian leaders and laypeople think theologically about politics.

50 Podcast Episodes
Our most listened-to episode in 2025 was “Reading Scripture Faithfully” with Kevin Vanhoozer. 

  • 796 total Pastor Theologians served

  • 115 in Fellows Program

  • 137 in Local Theologian Cohorts

  • 118 in Student Theologian Cohorts

  • 32 in Learning Cohorts

  • 25 Fellowship Gatherings hosted

From the President:

The world is desperate for a healthy church that is led by healthy pastors. We long for a church that is rooted in Christ and bearing good fruit. Today, we are far from this reality. The church is marked by declining attendance, polarization, and young people leaving the faith. 

To serve the church, over the past 15 years, CPT has gathered a network of mature, wise, and humble shepherds from across evangelicalism who are committed to discipling the church to maturity in Christ. We invite you to join this movement for renewing the church.

-Joel Lawrence

“In our wild and wooly world there is a need for serious thinking like is being done at the Center for Pastor Theologians.
”
— Mark Noll, Research Professor of History at Regent College

Faculty Books

28 books written by 23 Fellows this year

“This book was influenced by CPT because it was here that I began to appreciate the local church as a distinctive reading culture for reading Scripture in ways different from how we learn to read it in the academy.”
— Kevin Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Looking AHEAD:

10th Anniversary Conference
Good Shepherds: Pastoral Identity and the Future of the Church

Senior Fellows Symposium
New in 2026

Thriving Congregations Cohort
New in 2026

22 New Local Theologian Cohorts
Increasing from18 to 40