Competency-Based Theological
Education (CBTE): a Community of Practice to gather in January to chart next chapter
By Ruth McGillivray
Theological educators exploring, building, or refining competency-based education programs will want to save the date: January 24–27, 2027. That’s when the CBTE Community of
Practice returns to the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ, for its next full gathering. Organized by the CBTE Community of Practice Lead Team, the event is generously subsidized by
Northwest Seminary's Lilly Endowment-funded PROPEL project.
For those less familiar with the term, competency-based theological education reorients program design and student progression around demonstrated ministry competencies rather than completed
coursework. Students develop and prove mastery in context, under a team of mentors, on a pace suited to their own formation. It's a substantial departure from the credit-hour model, and a
growing number of ATS-accredited schools are asking hard, practical questions about what it would take to adopt it.
That's exactly the kind of question for which this gathering is built. Rather than a conventional conference of back-to-back presentations, the CBTE gathering is designed around relationship
building and shared problem solving: plenary sessions to introduce ideas, small-group discussions where everyone in the room wrestles with the same question, and an open "unconference" block
each afternoon where the agenda is set by participants themselves. It's an intentionally unhurried format, with real space for rest and reflection built into a retreat-like setting.
Two milestones will anchor this year's program. On Monday, the community will get its first look at a shared CBTE competency framework for 21st-century pastoral leadership, the product of a
review of more than 20 existing denominational and institutional frameworks, developed with broad advisor and focus-group input. Rather than simply presenting a finished product, the session
will walk participants through how the framework was built and the decisions behind it, allowing schools to see where their own tradition and context fit. On Tuesday, attention turns to the
CBTE movement itself: an emerging articulation of the shared values and language that unite CBTE programs, what "competency-based," "holistic," and "contextual" actually mean in practice, and
what distinguishes a CBTE program from one that simply borrows the label.
An optional CBTE 101 orientation on Sunday afternoon offers newcomers a primer on terminology and history before the main program begins, so no one needs prior CBTE experience to get real
value from the week.
Participants from the CBTE 2025 gathering consistently pointed to the same things when asked what stood out: a genuine sense of community and camaraderie, rare space for open dialogue across
institutions, and exposure to how CBTE is being implemented differently across traditions and contexts. Several described it as one of the more generative professional gatherings they'd
attended, informal enough for candid conversation, substantive enough to bring real ideas home.
Registration is $250 per person, covering all sessions. On-site accommodation at the Franciscan Renewal Center is $350 per person for all three nights, including meals from Sunday dinner
through Wednesday breakfast; rooms can be shared to reduce costs, and additional guest meal packages are available. The venue holds just more than 100 people, and there are onsite
accommodations available for 60–70. The registration deadline is January 4, 2027, but last year's gathering sold out within weeks. Early registration is worth planning if your schedule
allows it, especially if you wish to stay on site.
Full details, including the developing schedule, are available at cbte.ca.
Ruth McGillivray is PROPEL director
and executive vice president at Northwest
College & Seminary in Langley, British Columbia.
