The mission of the Center is to discover how the church in general and the local church in particular can learn to discern and participate in God’s mission more faithfully and effectively, and to provide counsel and resources to facilitate that transformational process.
The Center for Parish Development is an ecumenical not-for-profit organization, a mission agency with a deep commitment to the practical workings out of a missional ecclesiology for the life of the church today. The Center forms dynamic learning partnerships with those who bring gifts and concerns for the transformation of the church into a missional way.
The Center was founded in 1968 by an ecumenical coalition of denominational mission boards, theological education institutions, and regional church bodies.
Currently, the Center is governed by an ecumenical board of directors. Board members themselves–both clergy and lay– are persons committed to the vision of the missional church and are persons of demonstrated wisdom and insight.