About CIPS

Christians In Public Service was founded in 2013 in Dallas, Texas, by public servants for public servants.

We began with a simple conviction: people who carry public responsibility need more than knowledge and leadership skills. They need character, wisdom, sound judgment, maturity, and the ability to remain grounded when leadership becomes difficult.

CIPS is rooted in the teachings of Jesus and committed to helping leaders grow in character, wisdom, maturity, and courage for public life.

Public life tests people.

Leadership brings pressure, scrutiny, disagreement, disappointment, competing interests, difficult decisions, and sometimes the temptation to become harder, angrier, more defensive, or more interested in winning than serving.

That is why our work increasingly centers on leadership formation.

Leadership development focuses primarily on what leaders know and can do. Leadership formation reaches deeper. It addresses the human element of leadership: character, judgment, temperament, maturity, use of power, treatment of others, and who we become while carrying responsibility.

We believe those things matter because leadership is experienced by people.

CIPS also helps citizens better understand government, public leadership, and their own role in civic life. Through teaching, writing, civic education, events, and conversation, we create opportunities for people to think more deeply about how we lead, serve, disagree, make decisions, and live together. 

We do not believe people must agree on everything to treat one another with dignity. Nor do we believe conviction requires contempt.

One of the questions that continues to shape our work is:

How do we live well together?

That question matters in government. It matters in communities. It matters in churches. And it matters anywhere people with different experiences, beliefs, interests, and opinions must share responsibility for what happens next.

CIPS welcomes people of goodwill who are willing to think seriously about character, leadership, citizenship, and the responsibilities we owe one another.

At its heart, this work is about helping people carry influence and responsibility without losing the qualities that make good leadership possible in the first place.

 Character. Authenticity. Wisdom.