History and Heritage of CLI in ABCOPAD

The Lay Pastoral Institute, now known as the Church Leadership Institute, was born out of the desire that American Baptist Churches have competent lay leadership. Of special concern was that small churches have the opportunity to secure trained lay pastors. In 1987, a small committee of the Ten Mile and Monongahela Associations, in cooperation with the American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware (ABCOPAD), designed a program to meet these needs in western Pennsylvania. The initial site was at the First Baptist Church, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, where twelve persons graduated in 1990. In 1993, through the cooperative ministry of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association and ABCOPAD, in conjunction with Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, the program expanded to three instruction sites - Wesleyville, Monroeville and Waynesburg. In February, 1996, twenty-nine lay men and women completed the second cycle of the program and graduated from the three sites.

In October 1996, the Coordinating Council for the Church Leadership Institute of Northeastern Pennsylvania was formed, and began to adapt the original program from the western Pennsylvania sites to meet the needs of the north-central Pennsylvania area.

In the wake of the success of the site in Williamsport, word of the benefits of the program spread and the churches of central and southeastern Pennsylvania began to dream of a site of their own. With the help of CLI of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a new Coordinating Council was established in 2002 with classes being held at the Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Harrisburg. The site is currently looking forward to it's first graduating class of over 20 students in the Spring of 2003.