Centre For Christian Spirituality

The course entitled, Caring for Souls: Foundations for Spiritual Direction, is a two-year formational process designed to assist persons in understanding the art and practice of spiritual direction. This program will introduce the participants to the nature of the ministry and allow for personal discernment with regard to personal vocational participation in spiritual direction. Upon completion of the program, Rocky Mountain College provide a certificate of spiritual direction to the ‘graduating’ students.

The program will provide a prayerful environment to foster the development of contemplative listening, as well as develop an authentic Christian spirituality.

 

The goals of the course are to equip spiritual leaders to:

» deepen their own experience of contemplative prayer and integrate contemplation and prayer into their experience of the Christian life.

» develop their ability to companion others on the spiritual journey.

» think biblically and theologically about the nature of spiritual formation and how this is integrated into their own personal story.

» to value the contribution of Christian women and men in various times and places in Christian history and the diverse ways that they experienced God and the manner in which they expressed this relationship with God.

» experience a prayerful and respectful learning environment in which students can develop their ability and capacity for contemplative listening and spiritual discernment.

The structure of this program is influenced by two underlying principles – firstly, that spiritual formation concerns itself with the inner working of the Holy Spirit shaping the soul to reflect the character of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the inner transformational process equips the Christian to exhibit an outward expression of compassion and love to the community and culture around them.

The structure of the two-year program is:

Year One - 2011

Dates: Every Monday evening at RMC (Rocky Mountain College campus) chapel, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, January 17 to May 16; (break over the summer) September 12 to December 4.

Includes: 4 retreat weekends, each retreat will begin on a Friday evening and finish after dinner on Saturday. Location and dates to be determined.

Students will be required to be receiving spiritual direction, and will also be assigned advisors from the program to meet with on a regular basis.

Students will be required to attend evening sessions, complete required reading assignments, write three research/reflective papers on topics relating to current lecture series and participate in peer group sessions.

Total hours of instruction for Year 1 = 107 hours.

Fees for Year One: $1800.00

Payment Schedule is - $900.00 due October 21, 2010

$900.00 due August 1, 2011

Class participants will be required to prepare an application to the program, and to Rocky Mountain College. Application fees to the program are $75.00 (non-refundable) and the application fee to RMC is $50.00 (non-refundable).

Part of the application process will include an interview with the director of the program.

Year Two - 2012

Format of class instruction is identical to Year One.

Dates: Every Monday evening at RMC (Rocky Mountain College campus) chapel, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, January 16 to May 14; (break over the summer) September 17 to December 3, 2012

Total Hours of Instruction for Year Two = 107 hours.

Fees for Year Two: $1900.00

Payment Schedule is - $950.00 due October 22, 2011

$950.00 due August 1, 2012

Further comments:

At the end of the first section of Year One (end of May 2011), the instructors will meet with each student to determine their suitability to continue in the program. The first section (January 2011 to May 2011) will focus primarily on prayer, spiritual discernment, recognizing God in the biblical story and in their own story, and the foundation of spiritual direction.

For further information regarding the spiritual direction program, please contact Joyce Peasgood at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 403.284.5100, ext. 237.