Relational Spiritual Formation
Most would agree that a mature relationship with God is essential to serving fruitfully as a minister of the Good News. Yet, many cross-cultural workers struggle. The difficulties and busyness of ministry, as well as challenging cross-cultural circumstances often pull us away from the practices, and away from the One, that sustain us. While Scripture teaches that God is actively engaged in shaping us and drawing us into deeper intimacy, it also clearly communicates this is not meant to be a solitary process.
Deepen is designed to cultivate, among cross-cultural workers, the capacity and skills to come alongside and spiritually nurture one another in partnership with God. It is experiential training for those who desire personal, transformational growth and intimate relationship with the Lord as the foundation for ministering to others.
Deepen is a two-year course of study designed for individuals who desire to grow in their own spiritual lives as well as to cultivate the spiritual lives of others in a cross-cultural setting. Grounded in multiple streams of Christian spirituality, the course offers a balanced learning environment blending spiritual formation with skills development through experiential, developmental and group activities. Deepen I and II include three residencies in Málaga, Spain, online small and large group meetings, other online components, and prescribed reading and reflections.
Deepen I- Personal Formation and Spiritual Companionship
Deepen I will focus primarily on personal spiritual formation as well mutual spiritual companionship to be practiced in personal relationships and through peer group direction. It can be taken as a stand-alone course, or as discernment of gifting/calling to the ministry of spiritual direction and preparation for Deepen II.
Topics include:
God in Our Stories
Prayer
Consolation and Desolation
Developmental Spirituality
Growth in Internal Freedom
Crossing Cultures: Deepening through Disorientation
Discernment
Theology of Suffering
Making Space for Another Through Listening
Mutual Spiritual Companionship for Cross-cultural Workers
Spiritual Disciplines
Developing a Rule of Life
Deepen II – Spiritual Direction
“Spiritual direction is a prayer process in which a person seeking help in cultivating a deeper relationship with God meets with another for prayer and conversation that is focused on increasing awareness of God in the midst of life experiences and facilitating surrender to God’s will.” (David Benner, Sacred Companions)
Open to those who have completed Deepen I and have evidenced a giftedness or calling to spiritual direction. Drawing from various streams of Christian Spirituality, participants will both train in and practice the art of spiritual direction, while continuing to attend to their own growth and relationship with God.
Topics include:
Spiritual Direction 101
Techniques of Spiritual Direction
Spiritual Health and Vitality for the Director
Year-long Supervised Practicum
Discernment
Cross-cultural issues in spiritual direction
Streams of Christianity/Spirituality
History of Christian Spirituality
Developmental Spirituality and Prayer
Spiritual Temperaments
Psychological Issues in Spiritual Direction/When to Refer
Supervision
Retreat direction
Deepen I 2024/2025
Residency in Malaga, Spain, October 13-20, 2024
Deepen I is currently full, though additional spaces may become available; please click on the button below to submit an application for our waiting list.
Online Residency and Distance Portion Cost
Cost: $20.00 Application Fee; $1550, ($200 required to hold place upon acceptance of application, remainder due in 3 installments) . Includes residency, food, lodging and participation in 10 month distance portion from November 2024 -October 2025. Transportation to Malaga, receiving personal spiritual direction by an outside director and required readings will be your responsibility.
Novo staff—please inquire regarding scholarship opportunities
Recommended Prerequisites
Spiritually and emotionally mature
Cross-cultural worker
Minimum 5 years ministry experience
Requirements
Attendance at the residency
Monthly group direction via Zoom (10 months)
Receive personal spiritual direction (monthly-cost not included in fees)
Complete all reflections and prescribed readings
Complete video learning segments
Quarterly (3) live online content presentations and discussions
Actively participate monthly in online discussion forum
Selection Process
Students will be selected through an application process. Year one of the course is open to cross-cultural workers who have good maturity and self-awareness, as well as an interest in spiritual companionship. The course is designed to facilitate their growth and beginning abilities in mutual spiritual companionship. It will also be used to discern gifting/calling to spiritual direction (year two). Review of applications will begin in March 2024, with initial acceptances in early April. Applications received after that time will be reviewed, with acceptance as space is available.
Deepen II 2023/2024
Final Residency in Malaga, Spain, September 29-October 6, 2024
By invitation only. Students must have successfully completed Deepen I and a discernment process to continue with Deepen II. This residency will enrich and set the stage for practicing the art of spiritual direction, the essence of Deepen II.
Costs
Cost: $1100 Registration Fee, ($550 deposit required by July 1, 2024, remainder due Sept 15, 2023). Includes residency, food and lodging. Transportation to Malaga will be your responsibility.
Novo staff—please inquire regarding scholarship opportunities
How To Register (by invitation only)
STEP 1
Registration and Payment
Once you have received an invitation to attend, complete the online Registration and Payment process.
STEP 2
Book Flights or Transportation
Once you’ve been invited, you have registered and received receipt of payment for the event, you may proceed with booking your flights for the event.
Please plan to arrive, if possible, by 1:00 pm (Spain time) at the latest at AGP (Malaga International Airport) on the first day of the event.
You may plan your departing flight anytime after 10:00 am on the final day of the event. Shuttles to/from the airport and event site will be provided free of charge by the Deepen Team on the first day and final day of the event (Departures from Malaga airport earlier than 10:00 am will incur extra transportation expense).
Upon completion of both Deepen I and Deepen II, students who have fulfilled all requirements will receive a certificate of completion.
While participating in Deepen, participants will be eligible to become an Educational Companion in the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association.
After successful completion of Deepen II, participants will be eligible to apply for a full membership to the ESDA and will have fulfilled the qualifications to be considered as a spiritual director.
Please see the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association Website.
Debbie Schuster, Director
A trained, practicing spiritual director for 20 years, Debbie previously served as adjunct faculty and staff at Talbot School of Theology and the Institute for Spiritual Formation. Currently residing in Málaga, Spain, she is part of the SentWell multi-disciplinary member care team, providing services for cross-cultural workers serving around the world. Debbie is also completing her PhD in Intercultural Studies, with specific application to the spiritual lives of cross-cultural workers. Her favorite past-time is connecting online with her children and grandchildren, whom she misses terribly.
Annie Erickson, Associate Director
Annie’s calling is to pour into those who are pouring into others. She is passionate about providing member care to those in full-time ministry. Annie trained in spiritual direction at the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg and is also a pastoral counselor. After living in South Africa for 13 years, she recently relocated to Kansas City in the U.S. Although Stateside, Annie serves missionaries and church leaders all over the world. Annie and her husband Dan have three adult children.
Ardath Smith
Ardath’s calling is to support cross-cultural workers in their relationships with Christ. She provides spiritual direction and pastoral care and has traveled extensively to visit workers in their ministry locations. She has an M.A. in Spiritual Formation and Direction from Talbot Seminary’s Institute for Spiritual Formation, an M.Div. from Nashotah House Theological Seminary, and is an ordained Anglican priest. She lives in western Pennsylvania with the other members of HIneni House, a community devoted to the Lord in worship and prayer, serving those serving God.
Nadine Gascho
Nadine is called to come alongside cross-cultural workers in their journeys with God, particularly through the ministry of spiritual direction. She is passionate about providing opportunities for them to deeply encounter the Lord and His love, thus enabling them to minister from a place of spiritual health and vitality. Nadine received her MA in Spiritual Formation from Carey Theological College, Vancouver, Canada, and her training in Spiritual Direction through Soul Stream, Canada. After growing up overseas and then working cross-culturally as a single adult, she now lives in Canada with her husband (having stepped into a ready-made family of adult children and grand-children). As a life-long learner, she enjoys relating with others through ethnic foods, books, and cozy coffee shops. She most deeply connects with God through Scripture, being out in nature (often with her camera), in silence, and through corporate worship.
Miranda Heathcote
Miranda loves to journey with people through their experiences of encountering and being formed by the Spirit of God in the context of their real lives. She has a special focus on accompanying those who work in challenging contexts in North Africa and the Middle East. Miranda is passionate about the way creativity and art-processing can help us connect with interior realities we find it hard to articulate. She also values our embodied experiences and what they might have to teach or reveal to us. Miranda received her MA in Christian Formation & Discipleship from the University of the Nations, and her training in Spiritual Direction through Deepen. She lives close to Malaga, Spain, with her husband Tim, with whom she has two daughters.
Erin Walker
Erin loves equipping, encouraging and empowering people wherever they are in their relationships with Jesus. Seeing God bring healing as people encounter Him is her passion. She has a Masters in Counseling and received her Spiritual Direction training through Manresa and the Milltown Institute in Dublin. Having been part of cross-cultural work for many years, Erin has recently moved to her birth country of Canada with her husband and two sons
Jenny Walley
Originally from the US, Jenny trained as a spiritual director at the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. Upon graduating she entered into full-time cross-cultural work in Glasgow where she met her husband John. Jenny parents their lively son and twin daughters, but is also in demand as a retreat leader, speaker and spiritual director. Jenny teaches on creativity and developing a rule of life for Deepen.
Contributing Staff
Anne-Marie Paulin-Campbell
Dr Annemarie Paulin-Campbell currently heads up the Jesuit Institute School of Spirituality (JISS) in Johannesburg. She has studied and worked in the area of Christian Spirituality for the past 16 years doing spiritual direction and retreat work, and training spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition. Her particular focus is the training and supervision of spiritual directors and retreat givers. A related area of interest is in the interface between Christian Spirituality and Psychology. Anne-Marie is teaching on the intersection of psychology and spiritual direction.
Larry Warner
Larry is the founder and executive director of “b”, which journeys with pastors, seminarians, church staffs, ministry leaders, churches and individuals who yearn for greater intimacy with God by designing and providing spiritual formation experiences which unleash and cultivate holistic development. “b” was founded in 2005. Larry is the author of several books, including Discernment, God’s Will & Living Jesus: Christian Discernment as a Way of Life and Journey with Jesus: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Larry teaches a unit on discernment for Deepen.