The Center for Parish Development is an ecumenical, missional, research, consulting, and teaching agency founded by a consortium of mission agencies, theological seminaries, and regional church bodies.

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 carries out this mission by forming dynamic learning partnerships in which the church's life and mission are brought into conversation with theological and organizational systems research, and by sharing with others what we learn in these partnerships.

Founding - The Center was founded in 1968 by an ecumenical coalition of denominational mission boards, theological education institutions, and regional church bodies.

Governance - The Center is governed by a 12-member, 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. The current board chairperson is Rev. John Rottenburg.