Built for Real Life
Your days are full. But when is the time to pursue God’s Kingdom if not now? The Colson Fellows Program was designed for men and women with busy, complex lives. This unique program combines spiritual formation and worldview development through a combination of reading, online learning and monthly meetings with your peers to provide an intense and rewarding experience.
The Course
of Study
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Weekly Self-Study
The base of the Colson Fellows Program is structured, online self-study through carefully curated and thought-provoking reading assignments. You’ll discuss what you’ve studied in regular monthly meetings with fellow students, and Cohort leaders. You’ll further enhance your biblical knowledge and understanding through focused daily devotionals and discipleship activities.
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Regular Webinar Gatherings
You will participate in online webinars with Christians who are at the forefront of cultural engagement. Twice each month, leading practitioners, authors, scholars, and opinion leaders will bring you thought-provoking lectures and discussions that will help you become a stronger leader for Christ. These regular gatherings will connect you with Colson Fellows-in-training from across the United States, and around the world.
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Monthly Cohort Meetings
Each month, Colson Fellows-in-Training gather either in their Regional or Online Cohorts. This unique feature offers fellowship with like-minded Christ followers and opportunity for learners to wrestle with some of the most challenging issues facing Christians today.
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Curated Readings
Participants will read 10-12 books over the course of the program. Each year the reading list is carefully reviewed and updated to capture some of the more pressing issues of the cultural moment.
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Teaching Practicum
While participants are encouraged to apply what they are learning throughout the program, the Teaching Practicum provides a focused opportunity to lead others through a six-week Christian worldview overview in a real community setting. Rather than demonstrating mastery of content, this practicum emphasizes faithful presence, relational leadership, and the translation of conviction into practice. Participants are supported and encouraged as they learn to guide thoughtful discussion and cultivate formative conversations rooted in the Christian worldview.
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Personal Mission Plan
During the final quarter of the program, with support from their Cohort leadership, Colson Fellows-in-Training will develop a “Personal Mission Plan.” Participants will receive guidance in the discovery of their unique giftedness and calling, consider their particular sphere of influence, and draft a plan that helps them live out their faith in this cultural moment with clarity, confidence and courage.
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The Colson Center National Conference
In May of 2026, students can choose to attend The Colson Center National Conference, our annual event, featuring world-class speakers and the national commissioning ceremony.
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Commissioning
Upon completion of the program, students don’t graduate, they are commissioned as Colson Fellows, further equipped for service in God’s kingdom. Each Regional Cohort may host its own commissioning ceremony, however many students from both Regional and Online Cohorts choose to attend the national commissioning ceremony at The Colson Center National Conference, our culminating event of the year, which features a stunning line-up of renowned speakers.
Phase One
Truth — Seeing Reality as It Truly Is
Truth is not merely information to be mastered, but reality rightly understood. The Colson Fellows Program begins by grounding participants in the true story of the world as revealed in Scripture—from creation to new creation. By learning to identify and evaluate competing worldviews, participants gain clarity about how beliefs shape culture, character, and conduct. This phase forms the intellectual foundation necessary to discern what is true, good, and beautiful in a world shaped by false and fragmented stories.
August
The Christian Story as the True Story of Reality
September
Competing Worldviews and the Nature of Truth
October
The Gospel of the Kingdom and the Scope of Redemption
Phase Two
Hope — Living Within God’s Redemptive Story
Christian hope is not optimism about circumstances but confidence in God’s redemptive reign. In a cultural moment marked by anxiety, division, and disillusionment, the Colson Fellows Program re-centers participants in the hope secured by Christ’s resurrection and the promise of God’s coming Kingdom. By engaging the brokenness of the world honestly and the gospel faithfully, participants learn to interpret cultural challenges through the lens of restoration rather than despair, cultivating clarity, confidence, and courage to live faithfully in this cultural moment.
November
Christ is risen and Christ is Lord.
December
Christ is making all things new—and this moment matters.
Phase Three
Identity — Becoming Who We Are in Christ
Our understanding of who we are shapes how we live. The Colson Fellows Program helps participants recover a biblically grounded vision of identity rooted in creation, redeemed in Christ, and sustained by grace. In contrast to the shifting identities offered by contemporary culture, this phase forms a stable sense of self anchored in our calling as image-bearers and citizens of God’s Kingdom. Participants grow in self-knowledge, humility, and confidence as they learn to live from their identity in Christ rather than striving to construct one of their own.
January
The Imago Dei and the Meaning of Being Human
February
Identity, Embodiment, and Cultural Flashpoints
Phase Four
Calling — Living Faithfully in Every Sphere of Life
Calling is the lived expression of truth, hope, and identity. The Colson Fellows Program equips participants to discern how God is inviting them to faithfully steward their gifts, influence, and responsibilities in the world. Whether through vocation, ministry, family, church, or community, participants are formed to see their lives as instruments of God’s renewing work. This phase culminates in the development of a Personal Mission Plan, translating conviction into faithful action for the good of others and the glory of God.
March
Living Faithfully Under Christ's Lordship
April
Discernment, Mission, and Faithful Presence
May
Commissioned to Serve
The Colson Center National Conference
June
Join a global network: The Association of Colson Fellows.
“The Colson Fellows program was a tremendous blessing in my spiritual, personal, and professional development.”
– D. Michael Lindsay, President, Taylor University
“The Colson Fellows program was a tremendous blessing in my spiritual, personal, and professional development.”
– Dr. Michael Lindsay, President, Gordon College
Is the Colson Fellows Program for you?
