Do you companion others on their spiritual journeys?
Do others see your spiritual commitment and your gift of spiritual companioning?
Do you desire support and enrichment for this ministry?

If your answers are yes, perhaps the Spirit is calling you to Nurture your Call with Shalem’s Spiritual Guidance Program. Apply now!

Join a free conference call to discern with Director Liz Ward and graduates of the Spiritual Guidance Program about the rightness of this program for you.
Sign up for a call on Tuesday, October 29, 12-1pm. A recording of the call will be made available to participants the same day.

Here is the link for your convenience:
https://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/7R7X44PFNDCIL7LW

Timeline & Components

Accepting Applications Now

Program Dates
(The program includes at-home work before the first residency, between residencies and after the second residency.)

At-Home Work: March-June 2020
1st Residency: July 28-August 6, 2020
At-Home Work: Sept 2020-June 2021
2nd Residency: June 22-July 1, 2021
At-Home Integrative Phase: Sept-Dec 2021

Program Components
At-Home Work & Two Residencies

Participants do much of the program work in their own communities, coming to the Baltimore/Washington area for residencies twice during each program.

At-home work includes:

• • Receiving and offering one-to-one spiritual guidance;
  • Mutual support and accountability with a self-established peer group;
  • Reading of selected texts, including classics and specific topical material;
  • Several brief theme papers;
  • Periodic reports to Shalem;
  • Personal journal-keeping;
  • A personal spiritual practice;
  • Self-scheduled, solitary retreat days;
  • A 6-12-page final paper.

Residencies include:

• • Topical seminars (sampling follows):
    – Classics of Christian spirituality
    – The arts and spirituality
    – Scripture and spiritual direction
    – Discernment
    – Group spiritual direction
    – Social vision and the spiritual life
    – Contemporary social contexts
    – Spirituality in our time;
  • Practicums in prayer and spiritual discipline;
  • Individual interviews with staff;
  • Guided, silent retreat time;
  • Supervised peer groups, group processing, and reflection;
  • Participant-led morning and evening prayer.

Our desire is to foster a community of peers within a prayerful atmosphere. Frequent sessions on prayer will expose a broad range of prayer forms and issues, both theoretically and experientially.

A Certificate of Completion is awarded upon completion of all program requirements.

Liz Ward
Liz, Director of the Program, is an Episcopal layperson and a graduate of the 1994 Spiritual Guidance Program Class. She is an experienced spiritual guide and retreat leader and has mentored local churches in communal discernment for many years. She also serves as a spiritual director at Virginia Theological Seminary and as an elected member of the Commission on Ministry and a discernment facilitator for the Diocese of Virginia.