The School of the Spirit Ministry
The School of the Spirit Ministry (SotS) is dedicated to helping all who wish to be more faithful listeners and responders to the inward work of Christ. Website: schoolofthespirit.org.
- The School of the Spirit Ministry October 2024
Participating in God’s Power is a year-long program designed to help its participants open deeply and powerfully to the Source, learn how to access clear guidance, encounter and work through internal resistance to faithfully following the direction of the Spirit, and connect this grounding in Quaker practice to their actions in the world. The second cohort will gather for residencies this August and October.
The nine-month Faithful Meetings program brings opportunities to Friends communities for spiritual and emotional intimacy grounded in Quaker faith and practices. Live Oak Meeting in Houston, Tex., completed the program in June. Chattanooga (Tenn.) Meeting held their closing retreat was in September. Facilitator Mary Linda McKinney has space on her calendar for new Friends communities to enroll.
Contemplative retreats are continuing in-person, including gatherings in Racine, Wis., this past April and one scheduled for May 2025.
Friends can apply for a new spiritual formation program that begins in May 2025. The 2025-26 cohort will explore how “God’s Promise Fulfilled” rejects and redeems the damaging logic of our culture’s addiction to domination, injustice, and exploitation. Two day-long previews of the program in November and January will be offered in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., respectively.
Continue reading → - The School of the Spirit Ministry October 2022
The Faithful Meetings program provides Quaker meetings, churches, and worship groups with opportunities to explore the question of what it means to be a community of Friends today.
Over the course of nine months, through in-person and online engagements, Friends will be given openings to examine many aspects of Quaker faith and practices together. Through worship, worship sharing, activities, and discussions, Friends will ponder their spiritual experiences, struggles, and beliefs with one another. Each meeting community will be invited to co-create a space where spiritual and emotional intimacy can thrive, where differences are welcome as a broader spectrum of Light, and where unity is experienced not as conformity but as a communal connection with the “more.” It is in this space that Friends may learn to trust themselves, trust one another, and most importantly, trust the Divine to know and guide them.
Learn more: The School of the Spirit Ministry
Continue reading → - School of the Spirit April 2022
School of the Spirit asks Friends what they long for in their Friends community. The School’s new program, Faithful Meetings, will provide meetings with opportunities to explore this and other questions about what it means to be a community of Friends today. Over the course of nine months, through in-person and online engagements, Friends meetings will be given openings to examine many aspects of Quaker faith and practices. In worship, worship sharing, activities, and discussions, Friends will ponder their spiritual experiences, struggles, and beliefs with one another. Each meeting community will be invited to co-create a space where spiritual and emotional intimacy can thrive, where differences are welcome as a broader spectrum of Light, and where unity is experienced not as conformity but as a communal connection with the “more” that is beyond limited human understanding. It is in this intimate space that Friends may learn to trust themselves; trust one another; and most importantly, trust the Divine to know and guide them.
Learn more: The School of the Spirit Ministry
Continue reading → - The School of the Spirit Ministry April 2021
The Contemplative Retreats Committee of School of the Spirit continues to discern how to provide opportunities for contemplative practice in the manner of Friends during this time of physical distancing. Two contemplative retreats were held via Zoom over the past year and a third will occur April 9–10.
The newest program, Participating in God’s Power, has completed the teaching portion of its first iteration with a weekend Zoom retreat in January. Teachers Angela York Crane and Christopher Sammond and participants express gratitude for a deep, profound experience.
After a year of prayerful discernment, School of the Spirit feels called to move forward with a new program, Faithful Meetings, which will provide Friends communities an opportunity for learning and growth in corporate and individual Quaker faith and spiritual practices.
School of the Spirit is in the process of building a more robust version of Spiritual Renewal Retreats and is considering a redesign of the Spiritual Nurturer program. The organization’s monthly enewsletter, SnapShots, provides updates on the latest developments; a subscription link is on the website.
Learn more: The School of the Spirit Ministry
Continue reading → - The School of the Spirit Ministry October 2020
The School of the Spirit offers weekend-length contemplative retreats that include guidance from experienced leaders and extended periods of time together in silence. In recent years, retreats have been held in New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, and the program has been expanding to Michigan and Virginia.
A November 2019 retreat took place at the Weber Retreat and Conference Center in Adrian, Mich.; in January, Friends gathered for the annual Powell House retreat in New York; and a February retreat was held at Holy Cross Abbey outside Berryville, Va.
Because of COVID-19, 2020’s contemplative retreats have been postponed. School of the Spirit began offering one-day e-retreats via Zoom. Similar to in-person retreats, they include time for individual silent practices and periods of worship sharing. A Friend observed that “virtual” is not an accurate word since they have found they bring real connection—with Spirit and with other retreatants. A weekly midday Monday meeting for worship is also offered via Zoom.
The eleventh class of On Being a Spiritual Nurturer was able to gather for its final residency in November, “opening to the work of the inner teacher and to hearing God’s invitation to co-creation.” The course Participating in God’s Power, led by Christopher Sammond and Angela York Crane, has continued through Zoom, and will continue to identify and work with blocks to full obedience to God’s call.
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