We offer a variety of online and in-person workshops on spiritual formation topics. Besides Bible-centered teaching, each workshop includes time for personal reflection and conversation with other participants. Check back as new workshops are added often.
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Rick Anderson
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Steve Macchia
Jeremy Stefano
Jeremy Stefano
Jeremy Stefano
Jeremy Stefano & Matt Scott
Jeremy Stefano & Matt Scott
Susan Currie
God’s invitation for his beloved children is always for deeper intimacy. He’s the Lover of our souls and longs to be given top priority in our daily lives. But, the distractions are abundant and its often elusive to know how best to make choices that feed our longings for more of God. In this interactive online workshop, you will be introduced to sustaining practices that feed your soul. Hop off the treadmill of constant noise and activity and join us for this important conversation.
Why practice the spiritual disciplines in the first place? And, what “means of grace” are most meaningful to the committed Christian today? In this workshop we will unpack the importance of our “prayer closet” and reconsider the most basic practices that lead to spiritual renewal. Each of the three, Scripture, prayer, and reflection, have ancient and timeless roots well worth our consideration. In a retreat-like format, we will introduce them for the health and vitality of your soul.
Sabbath seems like a no-brainer. But, of all the 10 commandments, it’s the one we take for granted and rather loosely tend to ignore. God is a champion of creative work, that’s for sure. Just look around at trees, birds, oceans, and human beings to marvel at his work. But, he’s also a diligent advocate for Sabbath rest, when he and we are invited to join together in noticing, enjoying, and stewarding the life that surrounds us. Join the conversation and let’s keep Sabbath a priority.
God graciously speaks to us his beloved children. But how do we recognize the voice of Jesus apart from all the competing voices in our minds and in our lives? In this interactive online workshop, we draw insights from the Scriptures and explore principles of discernment taught by Ignatius of Loyola that will help us grow to better discern God’s will and direction in our lives.
The Enneagram is a powerful self-awareness tool that helps us explore the diverse personality traits, gifts, vices, and “deadly sins” that describe our unique selves. The Enneagram provides a helpful framework to describe how we amazingly reflect God’s image (our True-Self), as well as how our sin patterns can distort and mar that image (our False-Self). Each registrant takes an online WEPSS Enneagram assessment in advance of the workshop. With detailed and personalized results in hand, we spend the time together exploring the self-discovery insights offered by this tool.
The Scriptures are replete with examples of God’s people fulfilling their unique mission, from Noah to Ruth to David to Jesus and his disciples. Listening to God, noticing his invitations, acknowledging his presence, and attending to his voice is where it all begins. All of us abide by an unwritten rule of life, but very few are asking God to help clarify it on a regular basis. In this workshop we’ll unpack the process.
The effectiveness of leadership in every organization circles around the fruitfulness of the team. And, whenever any one person enters or exits the team, the entire team changes. At face value, teams seem relatively easy to understand, but in actuality the building, empowering, and sustaining work of a healthy team requires godly intentionality. In this workshop we’ll unpack team health from the Scriptures for today.
Today we are seeing an unprecedented dismantling of community in our churches and ministries, our personal lives and families, and especially in our wider culture. An “us/them” mentality has formed, and individuals are “self-editing” their personal lives, all to the detriment of building healthy community. It’s time to return to a grace-based, fully-present, with-and-for-one-another way of being. The biblical text is rich for our consideration and application of genuine spiritual community. Join us as we explore this important topic together.
Friendship is core to our community experience. But, creating, building, and sustaining lasting, life-giving friendships takes intentionality, grace, and lots of patience. There are so many wonderful examples of spiritual friendship in the Bible and throughout the history of the Church. Let’s explore the subject of spiritual friendship and notice together the joy of spiritual friendship for such a time as this.
The Formed by God’s Word workshops are designed with a view towards being spiritually formed by God’s Word, not merely informed. They integrate careful study of the Bible with prayerful reflection. In this workshop on the book of 1 John, we will be discussing the theme of knowing God in love. We will examine the claims that love makes and the possibility of fellowship with God and each other. Attention will also be given to the path of spiritual growth as addressed by John.
A collection of 15 Psalms bear the same title, ‘A Song of Ascents’ (Psalms 120-134). Rehearsing the journey of the Israelites to the place of worship “in the house of the LORD,” these Psalms provide opportunities for prayerful meditation on movements in the life of faith today; from individual disorientation to communal worship, from alienation to belonging, from dire affliction to deliverance, from quiet waiting to rejoicing. The Formed by the Word workshops are designed for study as well as for prayerful reflection with a view towards being formed by God’s Word, not merely informed.
The Formed by God’s Word workshops are designed with a view towards being spiritually formed by God’s Word, not merely informed. They integrate careful study of the Bible with prayerful reflection. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul exhorts his readers to adopt the same mindset as Christ. We will consider how this orientation is illustrated and exemplified in the rest of the epistle, in its theology and by the people who are named. We will also ponder the deep longings expressed by the apostle.
From the moment Christians are born of the Spirit of God, the family likeness of Jesus begins to be shaped in them. This is accomplished by the gracious and powerful working of the Holy Spirit. It is a slow, steady work of God in the heart, mind and soul of the child of God, and is the focus of Christian spiritual formation.
This workshop lays out the foundations for a biblical understanding of spiritual formation. We will also discuss how spiritual disciplines make room to notice and tend to the work of the Spirit, in order to encourage the process of becoming conformed to the likeness of Jesus.
Spiritual leaders are not determined by a personality trait as much as by their ability to pay attention. These leaders are available and disciplined enough to see and hear with their heart. This is what allows a Christian to lead in ways that are truly enriching and transformational for those they serve.
This workshop will consider how Jesus modeled attending. We will explore why listening is central for every Christian and how learning to pay attention transforms the leader and the ways they lead.
What exactly is spiritual direction? Is it trustworthy, even biblical? How is it different from other ways of experiencing spiritual companionship? And what do we mean when we say a model is “contemplative”? Join us as together we explore some of these questions, and experience a taste of contemplative listening. For those who desire an add-on of an individual spiritual direction session, an opportunity will be offered with your registration to sign up for a follow-up session with a spiritual director (1 hour), at a mutually agreed upon time the following week.