Student Life | Covenant Theological Seminary

Student Life | Covenant Theological Seminary
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Student Life
The goal of seminary education is to not only know the Bible, but to be transformed through a deeper relationship with Christ. We believe the deepest transformation occurs within community. Many of our alumni point to their time in community here as one of the greatest times of their life. Our Student Life team seeks to cultivate this transformation through facilitating cohort groups, community events, and co-curricular support and formation.
Whole-Person Support
Relationships are the heart of the Christian life and the basis of effective gospel ministry. The Student Life team pursues each student individually–whether you are a man, woman, residential student or online–as you face the challenge of learning how to rightly minister the word of God to the world.
Fostering Personal Transformation
Cohort groups are designed to promote sustainability for a lifetime of ministry by helping you grow in emotional & spiritual health, relational skills, and wise conflict resolution through reflection on your own story. Growth occurs as we become more like Christ and is crucial for leaders of Christ’s church.
Gospel-Centered Community
Campus life is geared toward nurturing growth in gospel-centered community through many avenues that bring students, faculty, staff, and families together in creative, challenging, and life-changing ways.
All for God's Mission
At new student orientation, you will be told "You are not the end of your education." Your deeper relationship with Christ is not only for you, but for the benefit of those whom you will someday lead and serve, in every area of life and ministry.
Cohort Groups
What makes spiritual formation unique at Covenant Seminary?
Many of us have heard the cliche that “Seminary can be a cemetery.” This saying exists because your devotion to Christ can atrophy if your head becomes disconnected from your spiritual growth. Study the Bible as a textbook only, and your devotional life will suffer.
At Covenant Seminary, we actively work against this practice. Seminary should not be a spiritual graveyard. It should be a spiritual training facility, building up your spiritual and emotional maturity just as the classroom builds your knowledge.
One of the primary drivers in this process at Covenant Seminary is cohort groups: small groups led by a skilled facilitator alongside other classmates. In your first year of the MDiv, MABTS, and MAM programs (MAC students have internship groups), you will get placed into a small group with other students where the goal is to build a safe environment to unpack your life story and talk about how it can affect your future in ministry.
What often starts as an uncertain journey for many students, usually becomes a group of committed brothers or sisters (groups are not mixed gender) by the end of the first year. Some groups even decide to keep meeting every year after. There are multiple cohort groups that meet every year even after students have graduated, as these groups have become a lifeline of health and growth for ministry leaders as they lead churches and ministries themselves.
MDiv ’95
Rev. Kevin Twit
MDiv ’95
“I was mentored at Covenant Seminary. There is something valuable to submitting to wise mentors who know what you need to be equipped for pastoral ministry. At Covenant Seminary students are always mentored by those who have been there and done that.”
MDiv ’95
MDiv ’18
Jon Eagin
MDiv ’18
“At Covenant, there is a balance between both a high level of theological education – commitment to biblical languages, to good exegesis, to good training – but there is also an element of developing you emotionally, spiritually, holistically, as a pastor, as a shepherd to people.”
MDiv ’18
Sarah V. Wright
"Classmates were not competitors but comrades. Professors were not just evaluators, but encouragers, mentors, friends, and fellow workers. The staff didn’t simply check in, work, and then check out—they were constantly loving and serving the student body."
MDiv '21
Gage Arnold
MDiv '21
"The cohort group experience and its integration into the overall MDiv experience was my favorite thing about my time at Covenant."
MDiv '21
Online Student Care
Even as an online student, you’re never alone.
Students are at the center of the mission of Covenant Seminary. And just because you don’t live near our campus doesn’t mean you get fewer opportunities for growth. Some of your challenges are actually harder as an online or hybrid student as you seek to find a sustainable balance between pursuing graduate-level education amid the rest of life.
Knowing these challenges, we have created multiple avenues for both group and individual shepherding during your time as a student. Students get personal access to their faculty members, their classmates, and staff such as our Online Care Coordinator. Online students also have tailor-made co-curricular group experiences such as online student orientation and online cohort groups.
The goal is that your time in seminary, whether in-person or online, is one marked by growth and pursuit of Christ as you seek to lead others in the gospel.
Student Activities + Groups
Chapel
Job & Housing Info
Ministry Lunches
Free Counseling
Family nurture
Brotherhood & BBQ
International Women’s Fellowship
Women’s Student Fellowship
International Student Fellowship
Theological Fellowship
black Student Fellowship
Community of Latin American Students
Community Garden
Day of Prayer
Soccer Team
Basketball Team
Picnics
Women of Wisdom
Asian Student Fellowship
Student Life Team
Mark McElmurry
Dean of Students
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Megan Jung
Associate Dean of Women
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Cary Smith
Online Student Care Coordinator
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Annalisa Smith
Family Nurture Services Coordinator
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Terri Ryan
International Care Coordinator
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Will Nabholz
Chapel Coordinator
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Melissa McKinney
Student Life Coordinator
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