Spiritual Formation and Direction Ministries

Certificate Program in Spiritual Formation & the Art of Spiritual Direction

This certificate program in Spiritual Formation and the Art of Spiritual Direction provides participants with the contemplative experiences, knowledge, and wisdom necessary to deepen their awareness of God, self, and others. A series of four residencies and two praxes form the core of this two-year training experience with faculty guidance and peer interaction between residencies using virtual formats.

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This two year course out of the Anglican Diocese in New England seeks to equip mature and skilled spiritual directors grounded in Anglican sacramental theology and the Catholic contemplative tradition. It is led by ESDA member Susan Skillen.

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Functioning much as an evangelical order, Imago Christi is an international and cross-cultural covenant community that develops spiritual formation resources and provides coaching for Christian leaders so that they may minister out of a deepening love for God and personal transformation in the image of Christ. Three-day “Spiritual Formation Discovery” events, offered throughout the world, are the primary means of introduction to the order, and are complimented by various print resources.

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The Journey is more than a two-year retreat-based training process, it is a catalyst for holistic life and leadership transformation. The Journey was created to refresh and inspire leaders who listen to God, follow Jesus' rhythms of life and lead from the overflow. We invite you to benefit from a seasoned training process that has matured for nearly 30 years.By integrating spiritual formation and leadership development, the Journey cares for leaders at every level.

Visit The Journey from the Leadership Institute

KidZ at Heart International is a global Christian community that trains, partners with, and mobilizes networks of leaders to help children fall deeply in love with Jesus. Grafted Life Ministries is partnering with KidZ in the development of formation-based church curricula for children and youth.

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By learning the lifestyle rhythms of Jesus first through our Journey process, our spiritual direction training process is unique and deeply transformative. Our formal spiritual direction training is enhanced by the student bringing into the training a lifestyle already deeply rooted in the rhythms of Jesus. In addition to training spiritual directors in a cognitive learning style, our prayerful goal is to also provide opportunities for lifestyle transformation that result in an abiding life with Jesus that flows into and empowers the ministry of the spiritual director.

Visit The Leadership Institute's School of Spiritual Direction

Leadership Transformations exists to cultivate vibrant spirituality and attentive discernment among Christian leaders and teams by offering a two-year certificate program in spiritual direction, spiritual leadership communities, soul care retreats, discernment consultation, sabbatical preparation, online surveys (church health, family health, etc.), and a myriad of online resources on spiritual formation topics.

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This cohort-style program integrates emotional and spiritual development to assist individuals to radically and holistically deepen their relationship with Christ and be inwardly conformed to His image. They offer a one-year Spiritual Formation Certificate, which can be followed by a second year Advanced Spiritual Formation Certificate or a Certificate in Spiritual Direction. Each year is comprised of 4 weekend retreats, located in Mundelein, IL.

Visit Moody's Spiritual Formation Page

Located in San Francisco, Nuos Formation provides a 2 year training program in Spiritual Direction.

This course seeks to harness both the richness of the tradition of spiritual direction as well as the contributions of object relations psychology and even more recently, interpersonal neurobiology. For this reason, the content spans the spectrum of graduate level and popular level reading, personal prayer and reflection assignments, as well as rigorous clinical practicum (second year). Nuos training meets all requirements meant for membership for ESDA.

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Transformational Listening 

Located in Boston, Transformational Listening (TL) is a unique two year training program in Christian Spiritual Direction offered by the PAX Center for Spiritual Formation. TL is made up of two distinct training programs with TL1 being a prerequisite to apply for TL2: 

• Year 1      TL1  Soul Care Companions
• Year 2      TL2  Training in Christian Spiritual Direction  

All are welcome to TL1. This is a nine month program where you will experience and grow in the art of contemplative listening. TL1 also offers you the space to discern a call as a spiritual director. 

TL2  is a ten month certificate program in the art of Christian Spiritual Direction. TL is an ecumenical program though largely made up of participants from the evangelical tradition. The training program is decidedly contemplative in its approach with holy listening being grounded in our relationship with God.

For more information about TL, please contact Rama Ziegenhals at ramapax@gmail.com.  

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