Shalem Institute / Spiritual Guidance Program 2026

Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program

In-depth support for the ministry of one-on-one spiritual direction.

March 2025 – December 2026

Do you companion others on their spiritual journeys?

Program runs March 2025 – December 2026

Early Bird Deadline: November 30, 2024

Regular Deadline: January 15, 2025

APPLY NOW

Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program offers both resources and experiential support for the ministry of spiritual direction or holy listening. At the heart of this program is the radical conviction that spiritual companionship is a form of prayer and that contemplative listening comes from being grounded in one’s relationship with God.

Free Info Sessions

Join us on Zoom to discern about the rightness of this program for you. Talk with the Director and recent grads. Choose a date below to register in advance.

January 8, 2025, 12PM ET

Or listen to a recent info session

Nurturing the Call Timeline

The program includes at-home work before the first residency, between residencies and after the second residency.

Opening Session on Zoom – March 29, 2025
At-Home Work: March – July 2025
1st Residency: July 29 – August 7, 2025
Zoom Intensive: October 11, 2025
Zoom Intensive: January 17, 2026
Zoom Intensive: April 18, 2026
2nd Residency: June 16 – 25, 2026
At-Home Integrative Phase: September – December 2026
Closing Session on Zoom: January 10, 2027

Program Components

Participants do much of the course work in their own communities, coming to the Baltimore / Washington area for in-person residencies during each program.

At-home work includes:

Receiving and offering one-to-one spiritual guidance;
Mutual support and accountability with a peer group;
Reading of selected texts, including classics and specific topical material;
Zoom Intensives;
Several brief theme papers;
Periodic reports to Shalem;
Personal journal-keeping;
A personal spiritual practice;
Self-scheduled, solitary retreat days;
A 6-12-page final paper.

Residency Topics

Topical seminars (sampling follows):
- Classics of Christian spirituality
- The arts and spirituality
- Scripture and spiritual direction
- Discernment
- Group spiritual direction
- Social vision and the spiritual life
- Contemporary social contexts
- Spirituality in our time;
Practicums in prayer and spiritual discipline;
Individual interviews with staff;
Guided, silent retreat time;
Supervised peer groups, group processing, and reflection;
Participant-led morning prayer.

Our desire is to foster a community of peers within a prayerful atmosphere. Frequent sessions on prayer will explore a broad range of prayer forms and issues, both theoretically and experientially.

A Certificate of Completion is awarded upon completion of all program requirements.

RESIDENCY LOCATION

The Residencies will be held at Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center in Marriottsville, MD. You will have a private room with bathroom. The center and grounds have walking paths through woods and fields.

“I believe Shalem’s Spiritual Guidance Program sets the gold standard for Spiritual Direction training…. Shalem nurtured my connection with Spirit by encouraging me to be still, cultivate quiet, and develop trust in Spirit as the real guide.”

-Lerita Coleman Brown

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

PHILLIP STEPHENS

Phillip, program director of Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program, is an Episcopal lay-person and graduate of the 2006 Spiritual Guidance Class. In addition to being an associate of the Order of the Holy Cross, he serves as a spiritual guide and retreat facilitator. His special areas of interest are cross-cultural studies and interspirituality.

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