CREDO cultivates ministers' wholeness for 20 years

When the Reverend Sharon Youngs worked in Louisville for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she used her vacation time to serve on CREDO faculty. And when she left Louisville for Tennessee to pastor Oak Ridge Presbyterian Church, she built CREDO time into her terms of call. “It was the best continuing education,” she said. “Still is.”

Rev. Youngs was invited to join the CREDO faculty soon after the Board of Pensions of the PC(USA) piloted the weeklong program in November 2005. CREDO faculty, who act as an extension of Board staff, are selected for their expertise in an area of wholeness: spiritual, health (physical and emotional), financial, and vocational. 

“I did not know a lot about the program,” Rev. Youngs said of that long-ago invitation. Still, “the concept of clergy able to take a deeper dive than a weekend … seemed to be something different and new,” she said.

CREDO across the arc of ministry 

“The Board is firmly committed to CREDO as an important support for individual ministers and, by extension, congregations,” said the Reverend Lori Neff LaRue, Vice President of Education for the Board of Pensions. “As we enter the program’s third decade, with the demands of ministry increasing, we plan to expand that commitment across the arc of ministry.”

By 2027, Rev. Neff LaRue expects to offer ministers three CREDO conferences seven to 10 years apart — seamless support across the span of their career. This CREDO expansion would be built on the conferences of today: recently ordained, mid career, and late career.

“These would be the three bridges,” said the Reverend Dr. Michael Wilson, Director, Education for the Arc of Ministry. “And between the three CREDO conferences, we’ll provide other education offerings to support ministers.” 

The CREDO connection

The Episcopal Church founded CREDO three decades ago. Ten years later, the Board of Pensions licensed the program, opening a unique opportunity for PC(USA) ministers to cultivate wholeness. Today, the Board has presented more than 170 CREDO gatherings, totaling about 3,500 participants.

Guided by a team of experienced faculty in an intimate setting, up to 30 participants spend a week together, sharing knowledge, experience, and compassion, and reflecting prayerfully on wholeness. Recent CREDO gatherings have taken place at the Presbyterian Ferncliff Camp & Conference Center, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rev. Neff LaRue said the Board of Pensions has gone from being dependent on the Episcopalians to being an equal partner in the program and a meaningful contributor to CREDO curriculum, which has been tailored for Presbyterians.

Originally, Presbyterian CREDO served only ministers at the midpoint of their careers who were enrolled in the comprehensive benefits package required for installed pastors. In 2014, the program expanded to include a conference for recently ordained ministers, with two weeklong gatherings, a year apart. And in 2018, a conference was added for late-career ministers. This year, eligibility for the CREDO program was extended to any minister enrolled in the Medical Plan and/or Defined Benefit Pension Plan.

Designated CREDOs, based on participant demographics and vocational characteristics, began in 2019 with an African American CREDO. “The lived realities of CREDO participants vary greatly,” Rev. Neff LaRue said. In 2023, the Board provided CREDO for Korean ministers, and a second African American CREDO is set for Nov. 4-10, 2025.

CREDO in motion 

The Reverend Dr. Lissa Long was filling a difficult call when she received an invite to newly ordained CREDO, which includes two weeklong conferences one year apart. She would have to miss her daughter’s preschool graduation, but her husband, witnessing her energy dwindle, said simply, “You need this more than air.”

In the intimate setting with other new congregational ministers, Rev. Dr. Long relaxed. During a time of fellowship, she commented offhandedly about difficulties she was experiencing in her call. “Everyone around me stopped talking,” she said, and faculty members moved in to support her. “They were helpful in identifying what I was feeling was not normal,” Rev. Dr. Long said. Within a year, CREDO faculty had helped her exit the call “really thoughtfully.”

What Rev. Dr. Long experienced at CREDO a decade ago is not a rarity, said Rev. Youngs, the longtime faculty member. “It’s stepping back and going ahead,” she said. “People realize they have agency and a voice.”

Rev. Dr. Long, now General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia, took something else from CREDO. Her CREDO-assigned cohort today includes some of her closest friends. They’ve supported each other through five births, two weddings, a divorce, and 16 calls. “We get together every year,” she said. They wear T-shirts that read Fantastic 5, gather over Zoom at least monthly, and regularly engage in meme exchanges.

“We made a covenant to invest in each other for a year,” Rev. Dr. Long said of the 12 months between their two CREDO conferences. “We stayed friends.”

Greater need 

Today, CREDO faculty see increased anxiety and fatigue. Even among the newly ordained groups, there are concerns over “where is the Church going, the country, the world?” Rev. Youngs said. “Being with colleagues, making new friends, that helps ease their isolation.” 

For decades, the Board of Pensions has heard from ministers that CREDO is a transformative experience. Participants often ask to be able to attend more than one conference across their entire career.

“This work of heart, mind, body, and spirit is important, sacred work that has sustained countless ministries,” Rev. Neff LaRue said. “We recognize that the need for this kind of support is more important than ever before, and at every stage of a minister’s career. We are firmly committed to meeting this need.”