“When I began dreaming about a Center for Spiritual Formation at NTS three years ago, I had no idea that I was entering a story that had been taking shape for most of my life.”
An Old Dream
This year has seen the fulfillment of a decades-long dream for Dr. Morris Weigelt, NTS professor emeritus. Finding the healing gift of spiritual formation after his own mental health crisis, Dr. Weigelt began leading spiritual formation workshops for his students at NTS in 1983. Later joined by Dr. Dee Freeborn, he worked diligently to build opportunities for students not only to receive academic education, but inner formation into life with God. These spiritual formation offerings gave space to name wounds, doubts, and fears – and experience the riches of God’s healing and sanctifying love in deeply personal ways.
Eventually spiritual formation became an integrated part of the NTS curriculum, and in 1993 Drs. Freeborn and Weigelt began dreaming about a Center for Spiritual Formation. Their vision was recounted in an article in The Seminary Tower from fall 1993:
“The mission of the NTS Center for Spiritual Formation will be to serve the church by defining and promoting Christian spirituality in the Wesleyan mode. Its purpose [would] be to enable servant leaders of the church to become maturing persons of spiritual integrity and holy character, understand the principles and practices of spiritual development so that they may practice pastoral care in terms of a spiritual formation model, and identify and implement strategies for individual and corporate spiritual growth within the Body of Christ.” (The Seminary Tower, Vol. 49, No. 1, p. 2)
The Center for Spiritual Formation did not come into being when Dr. Weigelt thought it would. But all dreams that start in the mind of God will find their way to reality some day! A participant of Dr. Weigelt’s spiritual formation workshop himself, Dr. Doug Hardy has continued Dr. Weigelt’s work of spiritual formation in the classroom for the last 23 years, and he has carried the dream to serve the broader church.
A Not-So-New Dream
When I began dreaming about a Center for Spiritual Formation at NTS in 2022, I had no idea that I was entering a story that had been taking shape for most of my life. My own introduction to spiritual formation began in college at MVNU, due in part to the influence of Dr. Freeborn and Dr. Weigelt throughout Nazarene higher education. From there I continued to explore and be moved by the saints and spiritual writers who gave witness to a deep, secure, inner life with God. Throughout my twenty years of pastoral ministry, I have looked for ways to model and invite people into this way of knowing and being known by God.
But my own journey deepened further when I began meeting with a spiritual director and practicing regular times of solitude and silence. My spiritual director has modeled the gentle, invitational voice of the Spirit for me, helping me to listen deeply to the movements of God within my own heart. I have found freedom and peace in slowing down with God and letting go of my agenda for my own transformation.
Much like Dr. Weigelt and Dr. Hardy, I have been eager to share with others what has been so life-changing for me. After completing training as a spiritual director in May of 2022, I began offering spiritual direction and formational webinars for other pastors through Praxis at NTS. The dream of a Center for Spiritual Formation began to grow in me as I saw firsthand the exhaustion and isolation of my fellow colleagues in ministry and witnessed the transformative work of the Spirit inviting us all to go deeper and travel lighter with Jesus.
The Dream Comes to Life
The Center for Spiritual Formation at NTS is now not only a dream, but a reality! There are many dreams still to be put into action, but we celebrate the good work we’ve been able to do in a small amount of time:
- Gathered a relational network and referral directory of spiritual directors in the Church of the Nazarene, and broader Wesleyan-Holiness denominations (link to directory request)
- Organized free spiritual direction sessions for clergy at multiple denominational events
- Offered online formational webinars and in-person retreats for more than 500 clergy across USA/Canada (link to next Easy Yoke session)
- Developed a year-long Formation Cohort as the first of a two-year spiritual direction training, launching in January 2026 (link to certificate overview)
I am so grateful for the investment of Nazarene Theological Seminary in this ongoing work of spiritual formation in the life of pastors and congregations. But we cannot do this work alone. It requires intentional investment to make quality resources available and financially accessible to our pastors. And there are many dreams yet to be realized, such as:
- Spiritual formation offerings in Spanish
- Spiritual friendship formation cohorts for pastors
- Podcast for guided prayer practices
- Scholarships for the Formation Year cohort and spiritual direction
- Coaching and consulting for congregations in spiritual formation
- More in-person workshops and retreats for clergy across the US
- Resourcing for ministry leaders taking sabbaticals or transitioning into retirement
Will You Dream with Us?
As you prayerfully consider your gift to support the Center for Spiritual Formation, I invite you to dream with us about what is ahead.
How could we see a reduction in burn out if our pastors learned the gift of doing life and ministry with Jesus instead of trying hard to do things for Jesus?
What would our congregations look like if they embraced the slow rhythms of Jesus’s Easy Yoke?
What might happen if we became more acquainted with the non-anxious presence of the Spirit, and learned how to offer non-anxious presence in our very anxious world?
I love the dream that God has been dreaming, and I am so excited that I get to be a part of it. I hope you will join me!
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Michaele LaVigne
Director of the Center for Spiritual Formation
