Soul Care Initiative
SAMPLE RESOURCES
The Soul Care Initiative - a cooperative effort between Denver Seminary and The Abbey Colorado - invites pastors, ministry and faith leaders to have their own souls cared for as they seek to do the good work they are called to. Through seasonal retreats and a 9-month experience called Praxis, times and spaces are held so that those offering the love of God through congregations and organizations might also behold the One beholding them...and smiling (Anthony De Mello).
Seasonal Retreats
Our Advent & Lent retreats each year invite leaders into a day of quiet to enter these holy seasons before leading congregations & organizations through them. Short teachings, extended times of solitude, one-on-one spiritual direction and good company around a meal comprise the day. The guides below are handed out as possible resources, though retreatants are encouraged to pay attention to what they need in order to rest. We remind one another that there is nothing to achieve, produce or accomplish. We find these retreats also give leaders a taste of our 9-month long offering, The Praxis (more on that below).
Quick Note: Don’t let the ‘seasonal’ nature of the retreat resources below keep you from engaging with them now. We can always give attention to our expectant longings. We can always wonder what we might need to put down, that space opens to remember who we are.
Advent 2022: The Word in the Neighborhood
Lent 2023: 40 Days of Friendship
Modern icon of Jesus & His Friends by Claudio Pastro
T H E P R A X I S
The Praxis is a 9-month guided experience for pastoral, parachurch, ministry , and faith leaders along the Front Range. Many cohort participants arrive longing for a deeper intimacy with God - a different way of being. the Praxis offers rest, refreshment, and soul care through in-person monthly retreats, individual spiritual direction, and prayer practices to encourage a deeply personal reconnection to the abundant life with God. Extravagant hospitality and communal enjoyment of time together are key components to these leaders being opened to this renewed and refreshed intimacy with the loving Trinity.
Praxis Alumni
The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard, dies young.
from “Welcome Morning” by Anne Sexton
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The first cohort of Praxis participants began in the fall of 2018. As we enter our fifth cohort of leaders from Denver & the surrounding areas in September 2023, creating opportunities for alums of the Praxis to connect is a high priority. The with God life - lived to the unforced rhythms of grace - can be difficult to integrate in a culture driven by numbers and productivity. Alumni connections are an opportunity to remember the joys of the 9-months of Praxis, and remember we are not alone.
An Examen for the Year
The prayer of examen is an encouraged daily practice during one’s time in the Praxis. This is sent out at the end of the calendar to to alums.
