Certificate in Contemplative Spiritual Direction Application 

Applications Due: May 1, 2025

Course Description:  

This application is for Cohort V of the Certificate in Contemplative Spiritual Direction program, a two-year formation and training program for persons who discern a call to the ministry of spiritual direction. Applicants will be notified of the status of their application within two months of completing their submission.

To complete the application, you will need to submit the following.

  • One current reference, including name, phone number, and email address.
  • A PDF or Word document of your responses to the short essay questions, found below.
  • A non-refundable application fee of $75.

Contact:

For any questions, please contact lifelonglearning@ctsnet.edu.

 

Application Requirements

Reference

Your reference should be a current spiritual director or a faith community leader (pastor, elder, someone who can attest to your understanding of, and relationship to, the church). That person must fill out the online reference form found at this link. Please share this information and link directly with your reference.

Short Essay Questions

Please respond thoughtfully and completely to each of the following prompts before starting the application form. Save all your responses as a single PDF or Word document of no more than five pages. You will be asked to upload that file on the application form.

  1. Tell us about your inner life, spiritual practices, and the relationships that sustain you.
  2. How or why do you feel called to the ministry of spiritual direction, and what has led you to this sense of call? What important life experiences can you elaborate on behind your sense of call to spiritual direction?
  3. Describe your experience of giving and receiving spiritual direction. What in this experience supports your desire to learn more about spiritual direction? Any psychological counseling received or given that has contributed to your insight into human nature? What communal support are you receiving to undertake this training?
  4. What attracts you to this program? What specifically do you need from our program?
  5. Provide your plans for program requirements in one page. This includes details on
  • Plans for receiving spiritual direction for yourself, and the length of time you have been in spiritual direction.
  • Plans for offering direction to at least two individuals, and the length of time you have been directing. (Please note that while we expect you to direct two individuals throughout the program, they need not be the same two people for the program's duration. Ideally, they are people you have been seeing or would be directing whether or not you are in the program.)
  • Plans for how, with whom, and where you anticipate applying or using what you learn in this program.