Gateways to God 2022-2023

Thursday, February 10, 2022 12:00 AM

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Training in Missional Spiritual Direction
 

Missional Spiritual Direction training equips us to listen and co-discern how God is present and incarnate. HOW God’s love shows up in the flesh – in the hands and feet of our lives – matters: within the multi-contextual and multi-cultural life of the church, neighborhood and world.

At Rolling Ridge, we define Spiritual Direction as the art and skill of spiritual companionship, paying loving attention to God’s presence and invitations within the everyday events and rhythms of our lives.

We understand missional as living and listening deep into Spirit and wide into my world. 

Our focus on missional spiritual direction equips people to listen deeply for the movement of God in their context so to make a difference in the world whether one-on-one or in groups.

Course Offerings:
•    Introduction to Spiritual Guidance
•    Journey of the Soul and Listening as an Act of Justice
•    Learning to Listen in Painful and Anxious Places
•    Discernment in the Journey: Joining Contemplation and Action
•    Discernment with Communities: Incarnational Soul Tending
•    Missional Imagination of the Spiritual Director in Context

What to Expect:
 
  • Taking time for personal reflection, solitude and the experience of Christian spiritual practices
  • Connecting in a learning community of peers, lay and clergy
  • Receiving spiritual direction for yourself throughout the entire course. 
  • Participating in group instruction and small group practice and reflection
  • Engaging in reading and home-based experiential learning in preparation for each retreat
  • Reflecting your learning through writing or other expressive means
  • Receiving guidance in discerning gifts and calling toward a spiritual direction practice
  • Offering supervised spiritual guidance to another during the course.


Course Requirements:
Although there are no specific educational requirements for this training, those who apply should have an active spiritual life, a deep love for all God’s people, strength in purposeful listening, embrace diversity, be in spiritual direction, and have personal time needed for the six retreats and course expectations.  Note:  Rolling Ridge’s “Way Of The Heart” program provides an excellent foundation for “Gateways to God.”

Retreat Schedule:
#1 – February 11-14, 2022 
#2 – May 9-12, 2022
#3 – September 19-22, 2022
#4 – January 20-23, 2023
#5 – May 15-18, 2023
#6 – September 18-21, 2023

Applications are received until January 10, 2022 (or until class fills).  Apply early as space is limited. Acceptance is on a rolling basis.  You will be notified by the Gateways Director of your acceptance. 

Course Fee = $4,600 includes course tuition and accommodations (note: books, travel, personal spiritual direction fees,  and other incidentals are not included)

Payments:  Half of the total course fee is due one month after acceptance into the program with the balance due by Retreat #1.  Due to the nature of this course, there are no refunds after the start of the course.
  • Limited scholarships are available.  Contact Gateways Director for details.  
  • CEUs available
  • UMC clergy are eligible for MEF grants.   
  • Boston University School of Theology has a process to provide credits from this program toward Certification in Spiritual Formation in the United Methodist Church.
For more information, contact Gateways Director, Beth Garnaas-Holmes at GatewaystoGod@rollingridge.org 
 

About the leader(s)

Beth Garnaas-Holmes

Beth Garnaas-Holmes is a United Methodist pastor, having served congregations in Montana and New Hampshire.  Her training in spiritual direction was through the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and the Mercy Center (Colorado).  She listens to others both as a spiritual director and a piano teacher, and works with the Gateways to God program as the program director and as a small group supervisor.
 
 

Gayle Kerr

Gayle Kerr has been involved in Spiritual Direction and Retreat Ministry since 1990.  She is a graduate of Trenton (NJ) State College and Chestnut Hill College (PA) and holds degrees in education and Holistic Spirituality and Certificates in Spiritual Direction and the Supervision of Spiritual Directors.
 She has worked as a teacher, a Director of Christian Education and as a Spiritual Director at the Middleton Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, PA.  From 2000-2007 she worked at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ with a team of Spiritual Directors who were invited to help create a program for Spiritual Formation at the Seminary. 
 Gayle and her husband moved to Cape Cod in 2007 where she continues to provide individual and group Spiritual Direction as well as Retreat Leadership from her home on the Cape as well as from the Shepherd of the Valley United Methodist Church  in Hope, RI. She also teaches classes in Spiritual Gifts at the RISEM District Lay Academy of the New England Conference of the UMC.   She is a member of the Northside UMC in Brewster, MA  where she serves in various capacities.
 

John Kiemele

John Kiemele is a wellbeing educator and spiritual director who currently companions individuals, teaches various seminars and lifestyle classes, leads contemplative retreats, and also serves as Program Director at Rolling Ridge Retreat Center.  With a focus on contemplative soul care, John gratefully walks alongside individuals, small groups, classrooms and congregations.  Recognizing how intentional pausing and listening unlocks life, John strives to engage the whole person – body, mind, soul – in the lifelong process of living well.  John received his PhD in education/spirituality from Talbot School of Theology, with post-doctoral emphases in Spiritual Direction, Mindful Self-Compassion, the Enneagram Spectrum, and Wellness Coaching.

Barbara Lemmel

Rev. Barbara Lemmel is an elder in the New England Conference of the UMC.  Beginning in 2003, she developed and directs Tending the Fire, helping clergy, laity, and judicatory staff to develop wise, resilient leadership in their professional and personal settings.  A PCC-certified Leadership Coach, Barbara coordinates the New England Parish Consultants, offering programming, restructuring and spiritual guidance to churches and pastors.  She trained with Wendy Miller as a Spiritual Director and works with clergy and laity in the New England area.  Barbara has pastored congregations in Vermont and upstate New York. She lives in Essex Center, Vermont with her husband, Rev. Mitchell Hay.

Heidi Miller

With more than 20 years in academic and non-profit settings, Heidi A Miller, Ph.D. currently serves as Director and Assistant Professor of the Master’s in Practical Theology at Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, NC. Her areas of teaching, research, and writing focus on transformative leadership, spirituality, transition and trauma, justice, and worship. Heidi designs and facilitates curriculum in spiritual direction and soul tending in one-on-one, small group, community, congregational, and organizational contexts.
 

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