All events are in Arizona timezone unless otherwise stated.
Be/Still
Location: Canaan in the Desert – 9849 N 40th St, Phoenix, AZ 85028 in the chapel
Time: 6:30pm
Cost: No cost
Let us know you’re coming November 23, 2021 by REGISTERING HERE.
UPCOMING times for Be/Still
December – NO be/Still
Blue Christmas
Cost: free
Presented by our friends at Venture1:9
Leadership: Spiritual Practices for Vigor and Vitality
January 19, 2022 // 10:00am
Our leadership flows, not from giftedness and skills, but from a heart nurtured by intimacy with God.
Like Martha in the Gospel of Luke, leaders often find themselves worn out, distracted, and overwhelmed as they rely on their own giftedness, strengths, and skills. But the model of Jesus shows that our leadership BEST flows from a heart that is FIRST nurtured by intimacy with God.
How do we avoid the trap of ONLY relying on our own giftedness?
How can we REORIENT with practices that keep spiritual vitality alive in our lives?
What are the misconceptions that we’ve allowed to OCCUPY space in our heads and hearts?
What are the practical ways of deepening, guarding, and growing our practice of spiritual disciplines?
Presented by our friends at ESDA
Where Prayer Meets Action:
A Discernment Model for Boards and Leadership Teams
January 31, 2022 // 9a-3p
What it means to be a discerning team and why it is important to your mission
Understanding six impediments that keep us from practicing spiritual discernment
A process for team engagement that integrates best spiritual practices with best business practices
Practical tools for growing your “with God” work-style
The Contemplative Way
SFSAZ Annual Conference 2022
The Contemplative Way… the 2022 SFSAZ Annual Conference. We will explore the invitation and elements of living contemplatively as well as looking at the contemplative way applies to various roles and life situations such as: leadership, shepherding, marriage, friendship, etc.. Click here for a complete description. Registration is OPEN!
Uncommon Grace: How God Shapes our Souls
February 24, 2022 // 9a-3p
Join us for a soul care day exploring God’s Uncommon Grace: How God Shapes our Souls. The day will be an exploration and experience around the shaping of:
· Joy in Loss
· Hope in Despair
· Trust in Uncertainty
· Forgiveness in Hurt
MSW Ministries in partnership with the Spiritual Formation Society of Arizona presents:
Conversations with Ellen Kogstad
March 12, 2022 9a -3p
Conversation 1: Punctuation Marks in Spiritual Direction
As spiritual directors we are witnesses to the movement of the Spirit in the lives of our directees. We listen to the joys (!), the declarations (.), the season of grief or crisis (!), the musings that call for more attention(…). Also, we listen with awareness to the prompting inside ourselves that beg to be heard — later in supervision. Each direction session is layered with meaning, history and potentially confusion. Attending to the mix will serve our directees well and bring depth to our skills as directors.
Conversation 2: Celtic Christianity – Carrying Blessing for Life Transformation
Peace, blessing, inclusion, Trinity, the Big Book, liminal space, poetry are distinctives of the Celtic branch of the Christian family tree. The Celts–both historically and in the present-day Iona community–“carry blessing” into the world. We will reflect on the transformative impact of this unique spirituality and end with composing blessings to take and share with friends and enemies, family and strangers.
Cost: $20 (Lunch and materials provided)
Location: 
8445 E. Hartford Dr., Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Ellen Kogstad is a spiritual director and trainer of spiritual directors. She co-founded the C. John Weborg Center for Spiritual Direction at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. She recently retired after 19 years at the seminary and was honored a Doctor of Divinity for her ministry. In addition to a private practice of spiritual direction, Ellen continues to serve as Director of Spiritual Formation at New Moms, a ministry she founded in 1983 for young mothers and their children. She is available to the 55+ team members as a spiritual director. She is married with a grown son.
Retreat
Desert Contemplation: an introduction
March 25-27, 2022
This retreat introduces a specifically Christian way of contemplation rooted in Jesus, the desert fathers, and church mothers, which is characterized by a peaceful, quiet, still awareness of God’s presence.
In addition to several opportunities to be led in the practice, historical, psychological, biblical, and practical teachings will be shared.
Soul Care for Counselors and Therapists
Meeting Quarterly in 2022 – More information to come
Other Offerings
Renew
Renew: individual private retreats designed by our SFSAZ team to fit who you are and where you in your life with God. Retreats include accommodations and meals at a retreat center as well as time with a Spiritual Director and Pastoral Counselor to help process all that you are experiencing as you spend time with God. Retreats can be anywhere from 2-5 days. Let us know and we can consult with you in designing a retreat. Great for times of discernment, transition, and/or simply needing the space to reflect and be renewed in your life with God and the ministry to which He has called you.
Email connect@sfsaz.org for more information.
FORMATIO: the art of caring for souls
A two-year cohort journey in learning the art of soul care. Based around six retreats, participants will learn to more fully care for their own soul as well as coaching others in the ways and rhythms of Jesus. The art of caring for souls is companioning someone in their journey of experiencing God in awakening to the love of God, growing awareness of self and God, increasing attentiveness to His presence and voice, and abiding in/with God. This invites a lifestyle of intentional practices and rhythms that form us in the image of Christ. Some of those practices include: silence and solitude, prayer and listening, and discernment and detachment in the context of Scripture and community. Click here for more program information.