Emmaus Certificate in Formational Leadership

Equipping Spiritual Leaders to serve from the depths of a listening heart...

The Emmaus Certificate in Formational Leadership is a two-year program for leaders who desire ever-deepening attentiveness to the presence of God, and to God’s promptings within and around them. This formative training is for those who appreciate they need to be more attuned to God, to their own souls, and to the people they seek to serve.

Given responsibility to lead a nation, Solomon was invited by God in a dream to ask for one thing. He asked, literally, for a hearing or listening heart, translated as an “understanding” heart. 1 Kings 3:9 (NASB). Being in possession of a listening heart is a singular gift for those who serve in the Kingdom of God.

Our Emmaus program is designed with an emphasis on equipping spiritual leaders to listen, and consequently, to be agents of increasing transformation in their own leadership contexts.

Each retreat provides a spiritually enriching environment for ongoing encouragement and growth in the spiritual life, in discernment and renewal. It is our hope that by engaging with one another in unhurried, reflective and contemplative ways, we will develop a lifestyle of spiritual formation that will impact both our personal walk of intimacy with Christ and inform our influence as leaders in our ministry contexts.

The Certificate program includes:

Six thematic retreats over a two-year period
Spiritually formative leadership curricula
Community-based learning and interaction
One-on-one mentoring and spiritual companioning
Reading and reflection assignments

See the full Certificate in Formational Leadership requirements here.

And We Will Foster a Lifestyle of Formation, Discernment and Renewal

What each of the six retreats will include:

A listening community of sacred companions
State of soul sharing that serves as our re-introduction to one another each retreat
Scripture, prayer and reflective disciplines
Developing a personal Rule of Life as a foundation for discipleship that is empowered by the Holy Spirit
Worship times as a community
Spacious times of silence and solitude for prayer, Scripture reading, personal reflection, a walk in the woods or perhaps a nap
Spiritual direction opportunities
Teaching on spiritual formation and leadership topics relevant to the retreat theme

What you will experience at Emmaus:

Contemplative practices to deepen and enrich your soul
Community listening to enhance listening skills and an awareness of your true self in Christ
Collegial learning that will impact your leadership perspectives

What you will gain at Emmaus:

Confidence as a spiritual leader, following the example of Jesus
Courage to lead as a change agent, practicing ways to humbly and graciously serve others in transformations of their own
Conviction to lead as a discernment-based decision-maker

What Leadership Transformations faculty will provide at Emmaus:

Hospitality and facilitation for six retreats over a two-year period
Training, teaching, worship times, practical resources, and a contemplative community in which you will be equipped to grow in formational leadership
Mentoring and spiritual companionship between each retreat as you explore ways to apply what you’re learning in your ministry setting

Continuing Education for Christian Leaders:

Emmaus offers a robust non-degree continuing education opportunity for pastors, chaplains, ministry leaders and all those in vocational ministry settings. Participants will receive encouragement in their personal and spiritual growth, leadership development, instruction in spiritual formation and soul care, as well as experiential training in skills related to listening and discernment, decision making and companioning others. Each participant will be required to create a Ministry Application Plan (MAP) which involves exploring tangible ways of bringing the benefits of the Emmaus program into their own ministry settings.

Receive Academic Credit:

If you are currently matriculated in an accredited college, university, or seminary, the requirements of Selah’s Certificate Program in Spiritual Direction and Emmaus’ Certificate in Formational Leadership may suffice as “Independent Study” courses for your degree program. LTI team members are available to serve as advocates as you complete necessary paperwork at your academic institution.

“Take care how you listen.”
Words of Jesus to his disciples from Luke 8

Application Process & Tuition

Fill out and submit the online application along with a $50 application fee.

Tuition: $4,900 for the RETREAT BASED two-year certification program, and $2,700 for the ONLINE two-year certification program. $250 non-refundable deposit is required upon acceptance to either program. A monthly payment plan is available as well as limited scholarship aid. Contact Jeremy Stefano at Jeremy@ltinc.org.

Cost includes materials and instruction, plus personal mentoring, as well as overnight lodging and meals if in the retreat setting. Each participant is responsible to acquire approximately six books per year.

Retreat Locations & Dates

EMMAUS - ONLINE

EMMAUS - MA

EMMAUS - ONLINE

EMMAUS - MA

Emmaus Faculty

Emmaus Cohorts

Emmaus 1 (SLC): 2007-2008

Emmaus 2 (SLC): 2008-2009

Emmaus 3 (SLC): 2009-2010

Emmaus 4 (SLC): 2010-2011

Emmaus 5 (SLC): 2011-2012

Emmaus 14 (Online): 2020-2022

What Others Are Saying

Every part of the Emmaus experience--the reflection papers, the rule of life, the mentor conversations, and more--proved not just valuable to me in my spiritual leadership journey, but transformative. These “assignments” catalyzed the spiritual growth I was experiencing, helped me learn a vocabulary of the soul I previously lacked, and have remained practically valuable to me in life and ministry following completion of the program.

In 2018 four members of the staff leadership team from our GA church enrolled in Emmaus together. My desire as lead pastor was to place our team in an environment that would shape and deepen each of us as spiritual leaders. The experience was so rich for our team! Our shared desire was to reproduce what we experienced with our church family. Emmaus played a pivitol role in equipping us with a vision for sustaining authentic spiritual formation in our ministry context.

"The yearly rhythm and format of Emmaus recalibrated my soul toward God, fueled my desire to pursue God and heightened my awareness of God. Emmaus has equipped me to experience more of the fullness and variety that God offers to all who earnestly seek Him. The expertise of the faculty and the experience of the Emmaus program have enabled me to discover and connect with my God, myself and my Emmaus community in levels of awareness and relationship that I truly believe would not have been attainable in other settings. I have laughed and cried more passionately in this safe place than anywhere else, as together we have plumbed the depths and mined the sacred treasures of honesty and vulnerability toward spiritual formation. Emmaus has been nothing short of transformational for me and I will never be the same."

"The spiritual friendships I've formed though my involvement with Emmaus have been places of real encouragement—not only for me personally but also as a reminder for what God is doing in the hearts of other church leaders. One specific way that this community has encouraged me is by reminding me (and softly exhorting me!) to honestly and faithfully lean into who God is calling me to be, which has freed me up to more fully do what God is asking me to do. Words like freedom, grace, wisdom, rest, authenticity, and joy come to mind as I reflect back upon my experience with

"The most important task of spiritual leadership is hearing Jesus. Without his voice, our congregations are only hearing our voices. And that's not saying much. Discerning the voice of Jesus amidst the wordiness of our world is rarely a solitary act. It takes others. But not just any group of people—or even any Christian group of people for that matter—but a listening, unhurried, transforming community. Through LTI's Emmaus Spiritual Leadership Community, I received the gift of being surrounded with trusted voices that enabled me to hear the most trusted Voice when I needed to hear it most. These voices helped silence the blather of fear, so my wife and I could respond fearlessly to the Voice of Love. Our family, our future, our ministry will never be the same."