CERTIFICATE IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION

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The Journey of Grace

How has a deeper relationship with God impacted your life?

For many of us, transformation & healing in our spiritual lives has occurred when we discover new ways to relate with God & not just learn more about God. Over the past decade & beyond, we have seen spiritual formation ministries play an integral role in this healing & growth. It is for this reason that PAX developed a program in spiritual formation called The Journey of Grace.

The Journey of Grace is a certificate program in spiritual formation where we will dive deeper into the dynamics of Christian spirituality & its relational foundation of love with God & one another. You will be nourished in your own relationship with God through experiential practices; &, equipped to create & lead spiritual formation offerings in your communities, church, &/or organization. It is structured around monthly community life as together we continue the journey of grace in our lives with God.

If you have experienced the gift of spiritual formation ministries in your own life & are now wanting to explore further & feel confident in guiding others into a relational space with God & one another, then we have created this course for you.

Those Joining This Program Come:

  • Wanting to feel confident in their own voice & experiences of God as they hold relational space for others.

  • Wondering how to implement spiritual formation into an existing ministry they are developing or are already a part of (gap year, community living space, college ministry, etc.).

  • As spiritual directors, seeking to learn & grow in the implementation of other types of spiritual formation offerings to compliment their training in spiritual direction.

  • Looking to learn more about the dynamics of the Holy Spirit & a daily walk with God.

What Topics Will We Cover?

The Journey of Grace will offer an experiential learning environment through which we will pursue ongoing knowledge in the field of spiritual formation & contemplative practices. We will seek to pay attention to our own journeys of grace with God while continuing to learn how to provide these practices & spaces of grace for others. Topics will include but are not limited to:

  • Contemplatives in Action

  • The Role of Shame

  • Discernment

  • Race & Spiritual Formation

  • Sabbath

  • The Incarnational Life

  • "The PAX certificate course in Christian Spiritual Formation proved to be life-giving & life-changing. The assigned readings, our discussions, & the discipline of creating teaching templates brought greater clarity to my own life calling. We were given helpful tools, & coached in using them wisely. The devotional nature of each class also reminded us of our deepest calling, to love God whole-heartedly, to love ourselves correctly, & to love our neighbors with compassion. I'm glad to recommend this class."

    JEANINE

  • "Participating in this course through PAX has transformed my life with God. He has led me through low-tide times, he has guided me through difficult topics, & he has helped me to become a receiver of his love. From those experiences of being led, guided & helped, I am now full & eager to see how God will use me to lead & guide others in their own journeys, & in what beautiful & unexpected ways he will use me to help others know God’s love in deeper ways. "

    JENNIFER DRUMMOND

  • "I...was incredibly blessed by the teaching, readings, time in small groups & especially by putting into practice what we were learning by creating teaching templates to use in various settings. Every month I looked forward to Rama teaching us & giving us specific spiritual practices for that respective month. These practices provided me with new ways of relating to God...I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to grow in their understanding of spiritual formation & how to facilitate groups for others wanting to experience God through Christian spiritual formation practices."

    KRIS

Program Requirements

  • Saturday monthly meetings from 9:30am to 12:30pm EST

  • Monthly reading & community blog reflections

  • Monthly spiritual practice & prayer journal

  • Three individual spiritual direction sessions

  • Create teaching templates on spiritual practices

Certificate of Completion

Upon satisfactory completion of the course requirements, participants will receive a certificate of completion of PAX Spiritual Formation: The Journey of Grace 

Location & Dates

Please note, this cohort is now full and registration is closed for this year. We encourage you to join our email list to get to know us and be the first to know when next year’s dates become available!

2024 Cohort Dates

This program will be offered over 9-months as an online community via zoom on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 9:30am-12:30pm EST. We will begin Oct. 12th, 2024 & finish June 14th, 2025. 

Tuition & Fees

The tuition for this second year of the training is $1375. A fee of $250 is due upon acceptance with 9 monthly payments of $125 required thereafter. (Books are not included in the fee)

If you need to withdraw your registration for the course for any reason, your registration fee is refundable up until 4 weeks before your program begins, after that it will be counted as a tax-deductible donation towards PAX programs.

Fees are to be made payable to PAX & sent to the attention of Rama Ziegenhals, PO Box 93, Essex, MA 01929.

Application Process & Prerequisites

  • Completion of PAX’s TL1 Soul Care Companions program OR a training program in spiritual direction. We will also consider similar introductory programs in spiritual formation.

  • Completed registration form

  • An interview with the Program Director, Rama Ziegenhals

Current participants can access the blog here.