Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

Spiritual formation requires intentionality, especially at the programmatic level. This article explores insights gained from a novel experiment in theological education where spiritual formation played a central role in shaping all aspects of a seminary’s structures and curriculum. Seminary of the East offered a unique glimpse into how an institution’s vision for spiritual formation can determine all dynamics including campus infrastructure, enrollment goals, faculty rank, in order to better support spiritual formation. Practitioners and administrators can gain insights from the lessons learned by a small seminary’s continually improving efforts at modeling and teaching spiritual formation.

Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS), a graduate school in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, is undergoing significant self-examination and adjustment in response to changes and challenges in ecclesial and higher education cultures. This article gives readers a glimpse into NTS’s process for the teaching and practice of spiritual formation—something integral to its heritage and history, intentionally engaged curricularly and relationally, yet in need of assessment and revitalization due to increased diversification and fragmentation of learning platforms and contexts. The school’s ecclesial and institutional roots are reviewed, the contextual development of intentional spiritual formation programming described, important shifts and challenges in the educational and formational landscapes prompting new initiatives noted, a preliminary plan for assessment and evaluation of spiritual formation curriculum and programming outlined, and questions raised to focus the horizons for the continuation of the processes. Readers are invited to join the conversation and provide feedback and input for NTS moving forward.

This article is an account of the teaching and practice of a course on Christian spirituality and ministry at Trinity Theological College in Singapore. It introduces the design of the course, discuss its theological foundations and practicums, and explains how it is delivered and assessed. The course adopts a historical-theological approach to the introduction of Christian spirituality and traces its development from the early church until the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. It introduces spiritual exercises from each epoch of the Christian tradition and engages the student in their practice through week-long practicums. An important feature lies in the immediacy of feedback given to the student after they submit a reflection on their practicums. The course has been taught as a three-credit hour, sixteen-week semester-long course each academic year for the past three years. The students come from a broad range of nationalities and cultural contexts, as well as from different stages of life and denominational backgrounds. The course contributes to an overall emphasis on Christian spiritual formation at the college.

In 2004, a group of American women were challenged by the vision of designing spiritual formation curricula for women in China who were serving as leaders in their churches. This article describes the highly relational context from which the curricula came, and the premises that informed the design of the curricula based on two series of five retreats each held within fifteen months. In addition, the methods by which the curricula are regularly evaluated in order to meet the current needs of the women in China are described. The results have been ongoing use of the curricula since 2007 with documented positive effect upon the women of China, samples of which are included in the article. The curricula will continue to be in use in China and in other Asian nations as opportunity presents itself.

The following article outlines spiritual formation as it occurs at His Mansion Ministries, a communal ministry centered on Jesus Christ that focuses on helping men and women struggling with life-controlling behaviors and attitudes. Spiritual formation is argued to be a beautiful movement from self to other, a movement that is rooted in a conversion of the self to God. This movement is displayed in the community of His Mansion and the relationships therein. This spiritual movement is also seen in the work and learning that is accomplished at His Mansion. The experience of relationships, work, and learning in the world is typically oriented around the self. At His Mansion Ministries, we believe that spiritual formation happens as a person, in submission to God and his love, moving from being oriented around the self to being aware of and acting for the good of others.

Diverse possibilities for using Group Spiritual Direction, as taught by Rose Mary Dougherty at Shalem Institute, illustrate ways in which advanced spiritual practices can be introduced to spiritual seekers at many different levels. Group Spiritual Direction can be a core growth process for spiritual directors, clergy, and seekers of deep spiritual community. However, in somewhat modified format, this gem of a spiritual process can offer depth community to church groups, enhance retreats, connect leadership groups in community, provide a depth-formation process for mentor groups, and even be used in family settings with young and old.

Classical Christian education has ancient roots in the Christian church. In recent days, Christians have attempted to recover this classical tradition. Many cite the intellectual rigor vis-à-vis public schools as the reason for choosing classical Christian education. However, intellectual rigor is only one part of the classical tradition. More importantly, classical Christian education seeks to develop morally upright Christians. This education forms the character of Christians so that they may live faithfully in the world. This article describes how classical Christian education works at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, KY. Specifically, the implementation of the classical curriculum in middle school Latin and Greek courses is addressed with an eye toward spiritual/moral formation.

Religiously affiliated colleges and universities typically take spiritual formation and soul care very seriously and are usually intentional about the spiritual and religious development of not only their students but of their faculty and staff as well. The religious tradition, size of the campus community, financial and other resources, along with the will of senior administrators, donors, trustees, and the general university community all determine how these interests and agendas are nurtured and developed as well as the kinds of programing offered. The purpose of this article is to highlight the strategies to support and nurture spiritual formation and soul care at Santa Clara University, a Catholic and Jesuit university in the heart of Silicon Valley, with elements of this care found at most, if not all, Jesuit higher education institutions throughout the nation and world. At Santa Clara, the Ignatian Center is the primary, although not the only, home for these spiritual formation and soul care offerings and will be highlighted here.

This article describes the spiritual formation training program for counseling students at Richmont Graduate University, an evangelical institution providing Master’s-level instruction for counselors and ministers. This model of spiritual formation has a dual foundation which includes the centrality of love to the Christian life and the importance of attachment to the development of persons. The training is intentionally designed to invite students to pursue a more secure attachment to God, healthier relationships with others, and a more grace-based self-awareness. Integrative and clinical instruction, and experiences that foster establishment of secure attachment are described. Co-curricular efforts in research and student advisement focus on grace and wellness, as well as opportunities for service, and these serve to further contribute to a supportive environment for spiritual formation.

This article examines a model of formation within higher education that is committed to educationally based spiritual formation, desiring to see students formed as people who love God and neighbor, devoting their lives to redemptive labor in the world. Deeply influenced by the evolving relationship between the department, the institution, and the broader evangelical culture, the Christian Formation and Ministry department of Wheaton College seeks to equip students with the theological and theoretical foundation, the personal maturity of character and faith, and the practical ministry skills necessary to lead and participate in the formational and caring mission of the church in the world. Wheaton College’s unique approach to teaching spiritual formation and soul care in both their undergraduate and graduate programs is examined through a historical context of the department, a liberal arts and learning-centered approach to education that includes biblical foundations, philosophical framework, pedagogy, and teaching curriculum and assessment.

At its inception, the training model in the Graduate School of Clinical Psychology (GSCP) at George Fox University was informed by the approach inaugurated at Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology in the 1960s. In the original model, training in Christian religion/spirituality and theology accompanied training in professional psychology. In the interim, our culture, psychological knowledge, perceived psychological needs, and training programs have changed greatly. Here we report changes in religion/spirituality (R/S) training and integration over the last two decades. We describe our current spiritual formation structure and process, and program evaluation efforts. Over the past several years the GSCP has shifted from relying mainly on a cognitive approach involving Bible and theology courses (theoretical-conceptual integration) toward a more personal-experiential approach that includes team teaching of the theology and religion courses, an individualized spiritual direction experience spread over two years, and more intentional integration of R/S and spiritual formation components throughout the program. We anticipate this may be an ongoing area for further development in coming years as we seek to meet the needs of a changing student body with greater R/S diversity and largely postmodern worldviews.