Servant Leadership School

We believe the best context for developing servant leaders is one which emphasizes both an inner journey of contemplations, prayer, and study, and an outward expression of that journey in service to the world. Servant leaders are people who commit themselves to:

Being transformed toward the image of Christ through spiritual disciplines such as centering prayer and Scripture study
Living into the truths that God loves us unconditionally as we are and that we were created to love others as compassionately as God loves them
Participating in an authentic, accountable community
Building relationships and solidarity with people who are poor, outcast, or marginalized
Discerning and responding to God’s call to servant ministry
Transforming the world through courageous and sacrificial living in the manner and spirit of Jesus

Our goal has been to provide education for transformation., and our participants tell us we’ve succeeded. One wrote, In many ways, this has changed my life. I am much more aware of the injustices occurring all around me…(and) a real need to do something about (them). This is one of the best things I have ever done.

The fruits of our participants’ experience in the School are many – the birth of new ministries such as Samaritan House, which provides recuperative care for homeless people discharged from the hospital… changes in vocational emphasis and direction…increased volunteer service in ministries within congregations and in the community…deepened commitment to personal prayer life…experiences of building authentic relationships across socio-economic and ethnic lines….new understandings of the Biblical vision of abundance, community, love, and justice.

The Spiritual Formation Program

This intensive nine-month training cultivates two inter-related dynamics: a prayerful inward journey with God, self, and others; and a committed outward journey of service, especially to society’s poor and excluded members. Participants meet together for seminars one weekend a month to explore the core themes of the curriculum through seminars and small group sharing. They will also gather in small groups each week throughout the nine months to share one-page papers based on the weekly readings, to pray for one another, and to build a compassionate community. Participants are given training and encouraged to practice the daily disciplines of prayer, reflection, and meditative Scripture-reading which help ground our lives in God’s love.

Living as God's Beloved in a Hurting World

An eight-session introduction to Servant Leadership. Servant leaders are people committed to the process of being transformed toward the image of Christ through:
• the practice of daily spiritual disciplines,
• commitment to a Christ-centered community,
• building relationships with people who are on the margins of society, and
• a willingness to help heal the world through courageous and sacrificial engagement.Using readings such as Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved and Killian Noe’s Finding Our Way Home, written personal reflections, and small group discussion, course participants will explore the dynamics of cultivating both the inner journey of spiritual formation and the outward journey responding to God’s call to service as Christ’s hands and feet in the world.

Short-Term Courses

Not everyone has the ability to commit to a rigorous nine-month course of study, so the Servant Leadership School also offers courses on the core themes that run for several weeks. These courses will allow for a longer focus on the topic for those interested in a deeper immersion into one of the core curriculum areas following the Spiritual Formation Program or for those simply with an interest in the topic. There are no prerequisites for these courses.

For more information and a list of current courses,

contact Program Director Paul Hanneman or call 704-926-0612.