Mission

The mission of the Summit Christian Leadership Center, as an adjunct to Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary, is to build upon the theological education and ministry training of our seminary students and graduates. We do this by providing specialized, practical, experiential training in the areas of team leadership skills, team development skills, strategic management practices, and Biblical counseling.

Purpose

Contemporary pastoral training focuses on exegesis and theology, while offering little in the field of organizational leadership. Meanwhile, modern ministry has become administratively complex. Complicated financial systems, with increased regulatory scrutiny, have created an intimidating contemporary environment for congregational leaders.

Additionally, vocational ministers struggle to appreciate the perspective which lay leaders, active in the corporate world, bring to the “business” of church; while at the same time those lay leaders may see the perspective of vocational ministers as too subjective and “faith-based”.

In response to these concerns, the Summit Christian Leadership Center was established in August, 2006, to provide organizational leadership training and resources for theological students, pastors, lay church and business leaders, and local congregations.

Vision

The vision of the Summit Center employs a four-pronged approach:

1. To provide enhanced strategic leadership training for ministry students through the use of experiential learning methodologies.
2. To provide support ministry and educational resources to alumni and pastors of Bible-believing churches in the areas of team leadership and strategic management.
3. To provide lay church and business leaders opportunities for leadership training from a biblical and theological perspective.
4. To provide vocational ministry students and lay students the opportunity for “live” observation and evaluated participation in biblical counseling ministry.

Summit Center development phases

• Phase one: Create simulation materials for classroom use at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary. These include modular components which may be used to supplement portions of current courses, as well as a full-scale, week-long cumulative simulation which seminarians will complete prior to graduation.
• Phase two: Offer training resources to alumni and friends of the seminary through distance and “on-site” support ministry. Workshops and/or simulations will be made available to church leadership teams, as well as continuing consultation support, one-day regional seminars for local church leaders, etc.
• Phase three: Provide “ongoing education” resources through the seminary and National Leadership Conference for pastors and lay leaders related to biblically-informed strategic leadership.
• Phase four: Supplement the classroom training in biblical counseling by establishing a counseling ministry which would provide opportunities for seminarians to learn through “live” observation of counseling ministry to individuals who reside in the Lansdale area.

Corporate methodology and church leadership

Pastoral readers of corporate leadership theory often come away with doubts: “Nice idea, but that just wouldn’t work at my church. Our bottom line is intangible: the glory of God and qualitative ministry growth. Our emphasis must be on spiritual pursuits which align us with God’s purposes.”

In some “seeker sensitive” ministry models, raw corporate leadership and social theories have been applied in the local church and unbiblical methodology slips through the “biblical grid” and becomes part of accepted practice.

Any corporate leadership theory which is sound and effective must be grounded in biblical revelation. If “all that we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1: 3) is found in the Word, then principally the models of effective organizational leadership can be found in Scripture as well.

The Summit Christian Leadership Center reflects the careful balance indicated in James 4:15: “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” The Summit Center strikes a balance between human self-reliance at the expense of faith in God and abdication of leadership decisions which God has placed in the hands of church leaders.

Contact

Ron Clark, Director
Summit Christian Leadership Center
1380 S. Valley Forge Road
Lansdale, PA 19446
Phone: 215-368-7538 ext. 175
E-mail: