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The CLP of Central Pennsylvania seeks to identify and empower early-career pastors who already have established exceptional records as leaders in their congregations and communities. The CLP connects these talented, community-minded local pastors with each other and with leaders from other sectors of society, such as government, business, health care, education, media, and the arts.

The Clergy Leadership Program is organized around three specific goals:

• To enhance pastors' capacities in their dual roles as congregational and community leaders
• To help non-clerical community leaders see pastors as professional peers and potential allies in their efforts to improve life in the region; and
• To create spaces where pastoral leaders can interact with each other and with a variety of local leaders in government, social service, education, business, and the arts so that natural networks of connection and cooperation can be formed and deepened that will ultimately benefit the regional as a whole.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment, the Clergy Leadership Program (CLP) was launched in Central Pennsylvania in 2015. The CLP is part of a larger national initiative (coordinated through Wabash College in Indiana) that seeks to identify and nurture a new generation of pastoral leaders across the country. The Central Pennsylvania program is hosted by Messiah College, located in Mechanicsburg, PA, just a few miles south of the state capital of Harrisburg.