Pastor Focus Certification
Clinical training that transforms how you lead your congregation.
Accredited CPE built for parish ministry, a powerful laboratory for your personal leadership transformation, so you can stay present, prevent burnout, and shepherd your people through anything.
Built for those who lead the local church
The program
CPE isn’t just for hospitals
Clinical Pastoral Education is one of the most powerful tools a parish leader can have, and it’s about far more than hospital chaplaincy. It speaks directly to the challenges of leading a congregation, from conflict and crisis to burnout and grief.
This track is a powerful laboratory for your personal leadership transformation. You’ll grow in self-awareness, learn to stay grounded under pressure, and lead your people from a deeper, healthier place.
It’s built on an evidence-based curriculum grounded in Clinical Pastoral Education and 50+ years of combined developer experience.
A practice-reflection model
Ministry as your classroom.
This program is unique because it uses a practice-reflection model. You bring real ministerial encounters, the hard conversation, the board meeting, the funeral, to a small, supportive peer group, and grow from what actually happens in your ministry.
“A powerful laboratory for your personal leadership transformation.”
What you learn
Skills to lead and shepherd well
This track develops the whole leader, the emotional intelligence, the self-awareness, and the pastoral presence that congregational ministry demands.
Emotional intelligence
Grow in the self-awareness and empathy that shape every relationship in your ministry.
Your leadership story
Understand how your own personal history shapes the way you lead, for better and worse.
Conflict transformation
Move beyond managing conflict to transforming it into growth and deeper trust.
Non-anxious presence
Learn to remain calm and present in the middle of congregational tension.
Burnout prevention
Build habits of self-supervision that protect you and sustain a long ministry.
Crisis intervention
Respond with skill and steadiness when your people face sudden loss or trauma.
Systems thinking
See the deeper dynamics at work in your church and lead the system, not just the moment.
Grief counseling
Walk with grieving families and members with real competence and compassion.
Managing your triggers
Recognize and manage your own triggers so they don’t run your leadership.
Program structure
How a CPE unit works
Each unit is 400 hours of accredited Clinical Pastoral Education, delivered in flexible units that fit around a busy ministry schedule.
Hours of supervised practice
Your own ministry becomes the classroom, real encounters brought into supervised, reflective practice.
Hours of structured learning
Small-group reflection, case studies, and guided instruction that turn ministry experience into lasting leadership skill.
Who it’s for
- Senior, solo, and associate pastors leading a local congregation
- Church planters and ministry staff who want to lead healthier
- Lay leaders, elders, and deacons carrying pastoral responsibility
- Any leader facing conflict, burnout, or the weight of caring for people
Format & schedule
- Flexible units designed around a working ministry schedule
- Small, supportive peer groups for real feedback
- Virtual cohorts with rolling enrollment
- Start when the next cohort opens
See upcoming cohort start dates on the Training & Events page.
How it works
Your path to certification
Four straightforward steps from application to leading your congregation from a deeper place.
Apply
Submit the student application for the next available cohort.
Enroll
Reserve your place and complete onboarding for your unit.
Train
Bring real ministry into supervised practice and structured learning.
Lead
Earn certification and lead your people with new depth and steadiness.
Apply
Submit your application today
Choose the track that fits where you are, whether you’re beginning your CPE journey or training toward supervision.
Student CPE Application
For pastors and leaders beginning or continuing their Clinical Pastoral Education.
Apply as a StudentSupervisory Candidate Application
For experienced chaplains training to supervise and lead CPE programs of their own.
Apply as a SupervisorAnswer the call
Lead your people from a deeper place
You pour yourself out for your congregation every week. This is the training that pours back into you.