The Spiritual Formation Course

An Invitation to Grow Deeper from September 2017 ….

Discover ancient resources that have sustained Christians across the world over the past 2000 years

Richard Foster wrote in his book “Celebration of Discipline” – “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

If you are looking for ways to grow deeper in God, this course could be the next step for you.

Ready to find out more?

All interested are welcome to get a free taste of the course (no commitment to sign up) in the:

• afternoon (1 – 3pm) of Tuesday 20th June 2017 at St Michael’s Centre, Budbrooke
• evening (7:30pm-9:30pm) of Tuesday 20th June 2017 at st John the Baptist Church, Berkswell

If you would like further information about this course, please email us at passionatespirituality@live.co.uk

To register for the taster session please contact Zoe Bell at St John the Baptist Parish Office: bellzoe@hotmail.co.uk

To register for the course, please complete the 2017 SF Course Application Form.

Programme Dates for 2017/2018

We run both an afternoon and an evening course, fortnightly over three terms.

The cost of the course is £40 a term, Cheques payable to St John Baptist PCC Berkswell.

 

Term 1  ::  FOUNDATIONS

• Sept 7 Spiritual Formation and hearing God through scripture
• Sept 21 Spiritual Formation and listening
• Oct 5 Spiritual Formation and images of God
• Oct 19 Spiritual Formation and encountering God in daily life
• Nov 2 Spiritual Formation and flowing with God
• Nov 16 Spiritual Formation and identity

Term 2  ::   DEVELOPING

• Jan 18 Spiritual Formation and the mindful Christian
• Feb 1 Spiritual Formation and ways of seeing – Christian iconography
• Feb15 Spiritual Formation and literature
• Mar 1 Spiritual Formation and music
• Mar 15 Spiritual Formation and the labyrinth
• April 5 Spiritual Formation and story telling

Term 3  ::  MATURING

• May 3 Spiritual Formation and English mystics
• May 17 Spiritual Formation and Meister Eckhart
• June 7 Spiritual Formation and Spanish mystics
• June 21 Spiritual Formation and Thomas Merton
• July 5 Spiritual Formation and Brother Roger, Taize Community
• July 19 Spiritual Formation and new monasticism.

 

Format of the course

Each session of the course is structured as follows:

• Stilling Exercise (15 min)
• Key Input from our main speaker (40 min)
• Small-Group Discussion (40 min) Exploring ways to integrate learning into our everyday lives.
• Closing Prayer (10 min)

Plus notes on each topic, booklists and questions for reflection.

We also offer an extensive lending library on each subject covered.

Finally we offer a Saturday morning each term to participants on a related topic.

 Why do we need this course?

A great deal has been said and written in recent years about the health, hope and future of the church in our land. The key ingredient in the nature and character of Christianity in the coming years as the quality of our work in spiritual formation.

The question is how to we in our consumerist, work driven, volatile world, form a stable, healthy, growing Christians. People who know God deeply, themselves deeply and love others deeply.

One key is to create space to hear from God, invest more deeply in God and provide space where people can mature their intellectual, emotional and spiritual selves more authentically.

The Spiritual Formation course is a place to feed the mind, heart and soul that enables all of us to live more Christ-centred lives. It has the potential to encourage people to know God, know themselves and their calling more clearly.

Our Commitment to Growth

As a diocese we are committed to growing healthy churches whose hallmarks are:

• Transformational Worship
• Making new Disciples
• Community Building

Over the last few years we have pioneered the eight qualities of healthy church development one of which is Passionate Spirituality. It has been revealing to discover that consistently in the research carried out amongst local churches across the diocese that Passionate Spirituality has regularly been revealed as the key factor limiting our growth.

The Spiritual Formation course might be a resource that helps raise the spiritual temperature of your local church. It gives ideas, tools and resources that can deepen the spirituality of your local church.

Spiritual Formation & Spiritual Direction

The Spiritual Formation course is open to anyone seeking a deeper experience of the Christian life.

The course is also a foundation year for of the Art of Spiritual Direction course, a year long programme which trains people in:

• Listening Skills,
• Prayer Guiding,
• The necessary resources to accompany others seeking to deepen and develop their Christian lives.