Upcoming Community and Formation Opportunities
The Following is a list of upcoming Community groups and Courses that the Sabbath Life will be offering this year. If you would like to get on the wait list for one or more of these opportunities, fill out this form, and you’ll be among the first to know when it’s ready to launch.
These will be available online. If enough people in the Tulsa area show interest, the offering will be in person at the Abbey of the Heights.
Community groups
GROUP SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
Group spiritual direction is a place where we listen to the needs of our soul and to the needs of others. So that you can know that you’re not alone on your journey, we want to connect you with people who share in your particular work. We would like to be able form groups for a number of types of ministry leaders, including:
solo pastors
associate pastors
student ministry leaders
music leaders
missionaries
spouses of ministry leaders
Meetings will be every other week for 6 months. Cost: $375
PUTTING INTO PRACTICE A RULE OF LIFE
Putting together and living by a rule of life is one way of practicing the intentionality of our days. This experience is for people who want to put a rule of life into practice. You’ll have the opportunity to craft your rule of life, and begin practicing it, in conversation with others, who, like you, are orienting their life around the love of God.
Meetings will be every other week for 6 months. Cost: $375
USING THE ENNEAGRAM ON YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
The Enneagram can be an invaluable tool for us as we grow in our self awareness and how we relate to God and to others. This is facilitated experience for 6–8 people is for people ready to do the inner work that learning our type invites us to. It’ll involve listening attentively to ourselves and one another. This isn’t for beginners but rather for those who want to take what they’ve learned about the Enneagram and apply it in a deeper way to their life with God.
Meetings will be every other week for 6 months. Cost: $375
DISCERNING A TRANSITION OUT OF PROFESSIONAL MINISTRY
This is for you if you work for a church, you really secretly wish you didn’t, and you feel stuck. This will be a place of mutual support and encouragement with others having a similar experience. It will be a place for discerning vocational clarity and exploring your marketable skills. Most importantly, it will be a place where you know you’re not alone.
Meetings will be once monthly. Cost: Donations accepted.
Courses
THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OF HOSPITALITY
This course will explore the historic roots of Christian hospitality. Our work at the Abbey of the Heights has been deeply formed by the theology and practice of this ancient Christian tradition. Texts will include Making Room by Christine Pohl and And You Welcomed Me by Amy Oden.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 4 months. Cost: $350
SOUL CARE FOR MINISTRY LEADERS
This course will cover rhythms and practices to empower people who do ministry to do it for the long-haul. Serving others has a cost mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Without intentionality, caregiving work can easily produce burnout. Texts will include Sacred Self Care by Chanequa Walker Barnes, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva Dawn, and Invitation to Retreat by Ruth Haley Barton.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 4 months. Cost $350
BEGINNING THE CONTEMPLATIVE JOURNEY
This course would serve as a basic introduction to the Christian contemplative tradition. We will trace the history, significant characters, and spiritual practices that inform this rich world of Christian spirituality. Our text will be Spiritual Classics edited by Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 9 months. Cost: $950
MAKING SENSE OF THE BIBLE WHEN THE WORLD IS ON FIRE
This course will explore Scripture as one coherent story from Genesis to Revelation about God the Creator. We will look at how the historic Christian tradition has handled the Bible and what lessons it has for us today. We’ll consider questions like, What is the Bible for? Who is it for? What uses of the Bible are out-of-bounds? How do we find healing when we’ve experienced the Bible used as a weapon? Texts will include The Epic of Eden by Sandra Richter, The Art of Reading Scripture edited by Ellen Davis and Richard Hays, Scripture and the Authority of God by N.T. Wright, and yes, the Bible.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 6 months. Cost: $480
ENGAGING OUR POLITICAL MOMENT
This course will be about how Christians might faithfully engage the world around us that is fraught with divisive partisanship. In other words, what is a Christian to do with “politics”? This will be a book discussion group where we put a diverse group of works in conversation with one another, and we encourage one another to discern the invitations God is opening before us each in our own communities. Texts will include Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie, Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus by Reggie Williams, Disarming Leviathan by Caleb Campbell, and On Freedom by Timothy Snyder.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 6 months. Cost: $480
THE WORLD AND WORK OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century. He was a leading voice within the Confessing Church in Germany, a resistance movement when the majority of churches in Germany succumbed to Nazi ideology. Texts will include Life Together, Cost of Discipleship, Letters and Papers from Prison, and Strange Glory by Charles Marsh.
Meetings (90 minutes) will be every other week for 6 months. Cost $480
**Need-based scholarships may be available by request.