Christian Formation

Since 1928, clergy, professional educators, and counless volunteers have come to Kanuga to share the best formation practices, be inspired by great speakers and rekindled for ministry. This conference offers the opportunity to explore how we form faith in an ecosystem of intergenerational relationships and faith experiences at church, home and through missional formation work to the unaffiliated.

Conference Staff

Since 2013, the Rev Jay Sidebotham has served as Director of RenewalWorks, a ministry of Forward Movement. RenewalWorks seeks to build cultures of discipleship in Episcopal congregations, with a singular focus on spiritual growth among congregants. He also serves as Associate Rector at St. James, Wilmington, N.C. Previously, Jay served as rector in Illinois and North Carolina. He served as Vicar of St. Bartholomew’s in Manhattan, and as Associate Rector at St. Columba’s in Washington D.C. and St. Martin’s, Rhode Island. A graduate of Trinity College, Hartford and Union Seminary, New York, he was ordained to the diaconate in 1989 and to the priesthood in 1990. Prior to seminary study, he worked in New York in animation, illustration and advertising. He appreciates the opportunity to produce cartoons for the wider church, describing the joys and challenges of parish ministry.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers serves as the Presiding Bishop’s Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Creation, helping Episcopalians to follow Jesus and grow loving, liberating and life-giving relationships with God, each other and the earth. The author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation and The Episcopal Way (with Eric Law), Canon Spellers has directed mission and evangelism work at General Theological Seminary and in the Diocese of Long Island; founded The Crossing, a ground-breaking church within St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston; and led numerous renewal efforts in the Episcopal Church and beyond. She has earned masters degrees from both Harvard Divinity School and Episcopal Divinity School, and was granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the General Theological Seminary. A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, Canon Spellers makes her home today in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.

Dent Davidson is the Director of Emerging Liturgy and Music at St. Bart’s Church in New York City.  Before coming to New York in 2019, he served in several parishes, two cathedrals and a diocesan staff: each position focused on vitality in worship.  He has traveled extensively as a workshop clinician & consultant in music and worship, and also serves as Chaplain and Musician to the House of Bishops. A professional church musician since his teens, his primary work is to unite voices in song with joy and passion.  Having earned a degree in Composition and Vocal Jazz, Dent enjoys widening the scope and variety of music sung and heard in worship, and spends much of his time composing/arranging and searching for new resources.  His goal:  To touch hearts by embracing the beauty of the Anglican Choral Tradition AND expanding it.  (In other words:  a Church that swings!)

Cookie Cantwell, The Province IV Youth Ministries Coordinator, has been the St James Parish Youth Ministries Coordinator in Wilmington, NC for 26 years where she has led mission experiences to Glory Ridge in the North Carolina mountains, to The Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and to rural areas of Alaska. As the Province IV Youth Ministries Coordinator, our PIV young people returned to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for 5 years to help with Hurricane Katrina Relief and to Quito, Equator help and to nurture strong relationships. She is currently serving on The Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society Youth Advisory Council and on the General Convention Task Force on Safe Church Training & the Prevention Sexual Misconduct. She has served as an advisor to our General Convention Official Youth Presence and has watched these young people grow in knowledge, understanding, grace and love. Kanuga has been an important part of her spiritual journey as she coordinated Winterlight, the Adults Who work with Youth Conference, Youth Ministries Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Taize, France and she has served on the Kanuga Program Board. Cookie’s desire to accompany young people and adults on their journeys of faith is deeply rooted in her own spiritual practices and by the people who journey with her. She loves to hike in our National Parks and also along Wrightsville Beach, NC. She enjoys reading, needlepointing, snow skiing and traveling.