Urban CPE maintains that being part of the healing of today’s hurts is not only the fabric of one’s faith and call to ministry but also an expansion in the understanding of God and God’s mission beyond church walls. It holds that the call of one into ministry includes helping to create a more just world where there is space that is inclusive, safe, offers dignity and respect, and empowerment toward that which is good and loving. 

Urban CPE focuses on the care of persons in their social realities, seeing, listening and caring with the often unseen, silenced and uncared for in today’s world. Students listen to the crises of violence, poverty, oppression, loneliness, isolation, homelessness in addition to the pains of massive grief and loss among people today.
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Growth in hearing the person and assessing the needs and appropriate caring responses to the crises requires understanding the dynamics and causes of the crises, of how one (as a developing caring person) enters into and impacts the world. Growth involves development and integration of a life-giving spirituality and requires the knowledge, practice and maturation of skills that create spaces for healing. The specific curriculum components and syllabi of Urban CPE provide the opportunity that enhances such pastoral growth and maturity.