CERTIFICATE IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

The Certificate in Spiritual Direction is a two-year, part-time program designed to form practitioners who can accompany others with wisdom, care, and spiritual discernment. Rooted in community and guided by experienced directors, this program invites participants into a journey of both personal transformation and practical skill-building.

This program is for pastors, spiritual leaders, spiritual companions, and anyone drawn to the ministry of guiding souls, whether in professional contexts or personal vocation. No prior theological education is required—only a desire to cultivate attentiveness to God’s presence, deepen your own soul care, and learn to nurture others in their spiritual journeys.

Graduates leave with the knowledge, skills, and embodied experience to offer spiritual direction with clarity, compassion, and integrity. You will be equipped to create sacred spaces for others, integrate theory and practice, and accompany individuals faithfully in their life of prayer, discernment, and spiritual growth.

The Certificate in Spiritual Direction invites participants into a deeply integrative journey of formation, combining personal growth, practical skill, and spiritual discernment. The program is organized around four interwoven themes:

1. Foundations of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

Explore the principles of Christian formation, the role of Scripture, and practices that nurture both your own soul and the lives of those you accompany. Participants learn how prayer, spiritual disciplines, and attentiveness to God’s presence shape the heart of spiritual direction.

2. Discernment and the Practice of Accompaniment
Develop skills for guiding others in spiritual discernment and direction. This theme emphasizes listening deeply, attending to the whole person, and cultivating the ability to recognize God’s movement in the lives of others.

3. Historical and Theological Perspectives
Engage with the rich heritage of prayer, formation, and spiritual direction in the Church. Study how past practices inform contemporary spiritual care, helping you situate your work within a broader, time-tested tradition.

4. Applied Spiritual Direction
Integrate theory and practice through supervised experiences, practical exercises, and reflective assignments. Participants gain confidence in creating sacred spaces for spiritual accompaniment, applying models and approaches in real-life contexts while cultivating their own ongoing formation.

Through these interconnected themes, participants emerge with both the knowledge and embodied experience to accompany others faithfully, offer thoughtful soul care, and continue growing in their own spiritual lives.

• Cohort model, with ten online courses over three years
• Fully online format, with two live class sessions per month during each semester (six classes per course)
• Formational reading and reflective assignments that invite integrated, embodied, and prayerful learning
• Monthly Soul Care Practice (optional), offering continued communal engagement and spiritual nourishment
• Individual spiritual direction sessions (approximately one per month) with one of Emmaus’ trained Spiritual Directors

Through this intentional rhythm of study, reflection, practice, and community, participants are equipped to experience transformation in their own lives while gaining practical tools to serve others in spiritual direction, ministry, and leadership.

• Application Fee: $100 (one-time, non-refundable)
• Course Fee: $950 per course
• Practicum Fee: $210
• Individual Spiritual Direction: Additional cost, varies depending on your director

Note: Thanks to the support of the Emmaus General Fund, program fees are subsidized to make this formation accessible to all who wish to deepen their spiritual life.

• Preview Event: Saturday, March 7, 2026
• Preview Event: Tuesday, May 26, 2026
• Fall 2026 Cohort Application Deadline: Friday, June 26, 2026
• Student Orientation (Fall 2026): Saturday, August 24, 2026

• Fall Semester: September—December
• Winter Semester: January—March
• Spring Semester: April—June

This course is now OPEN for registration.

Instructor: Michelle Bodle

Season: Spring

COURSE: APRIL 1 – JUNE 30, 2026

In this course, we will consider the ministry, mystery, and mission of spiritual direction. Students will engage with key dimensions of spiritual direction including the theology of spiritual direction, mission, supervision, management, and professional ethics, to integrate these learnings into a professional spiritual direction covenant that is unique to each student. Exploring these aspects of spiritual direction will equip students to become spiritual directors with the wisdom, poise, and confidence required to serve others in this vital ministry. The course includes a practicum that involves training, offering direction to others, facilitated group supervision, and individual supervision. As we practice, reflect on, and develop in the ministry of spiritual direction, students will be affirmed and inspired to embrace their vocation as spiritual directors.