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Center for Spiritual Renewal

The Center for Spiritual Renewal is the soul care ministry arm of the Institute for Spiritual Formation. The primary mission of the center is to offer the ministry of spiritual direction to the Biola community. Our vision is to serve the kingdom of God by enhancing the capacity of the body of Christ to experience and offer soul care ministries, with spiritual direction as our chief focus.

Learn More About Spiritual Direction

About the Center for Spiritual Renewal

The Center for Spiritual Renewal (CSR) is deeply integrated with the academic training and needs of students at the Institute for Spiritual Formation (ISF). For over 10 years, Dr. Betsy Barber and Dr. Judy TenElshof have been training graduate students in ISF’s M.A. in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care and M.Div. concentration in Spiritual Formation programs to offer the ministry of soul care through spiritual direction.

As part of their training, these student spiritual directors meet with Biola undergraduate students who have applied for spiritual direction. Over the years, students have graduated from this training program and been retained as staff spiritual directors. These 70+ staff spiritual directors:

  • Are members of professional spiritual director associations
  • Carry liability insurance
  • Attend regular confidential supervision groups
  • Attend regular professional development offerings through the CSR

The spiritual directors offer spiritual direction to:

In recent years our student and staff spiritual directors have offered spiritual direction to an average of nearly 700 individuals a semester on Biola’s campus. This number continues to grow as spiritual direction becomes well known and increasingly sought after by the Biola community and known in the larger Evangelical Christian community. At this time we are not able to offer spiritual direction on campus to people who are not current students, staff or faculty (with rare exceptions as advertised to eligible groups or individuals), but many of our spiritual directors also offer spiritual direction in off-campus contexts. And so we are happy to serve as a referral resource for those looking for a spiritual director.

Faculty & Staff / Contact

Faculty

Staff

Chris Baker

CSR Assistant Director

  • M.Div. Talbot School of Theology
  • B.A. Calvin College

Chris was trained in spiritual direction at ISF, completing his M.Div. with an emphasis in Spiritual Formation & Soul Care in 2011. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the CSR and also supervises the staff spiritual directors. Chris has led cohort groups for Talbot's Spiritual Formation Core Program and also does adjunct teaching for ISF, including a new elective, "Spiritual Formation & Soul Care in the Church." He is a member of the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association.

Email: christopher.j.baker@biola.edu

Our Spiritual Directors

Since the CSR is a training program for spiritual directors, there are both student directors and staff directors. During the fall semester, there are usually about 30 student spiritual directors taking their 3rd of 4 practicum training classes. During the spring semester, there are about 60 student directors altogether – 30 in the final practicum class and 30 in the 1st pre-practicum class. These spiritual directors are under the direct supervision and training of two of the ISF Faculty, Dr. Betsy Barber (Psy.D.) and Dr. Judy TenElshof (Ph.D). As students of Talbot, they subscribe to Biola’s doctrinal statement.

Students who have completed their practicum sequence may be invited to become CSR staff spiritual directors (whether they have completed their full degree or not). These spiritual directors are professionals, having membership in a professional spiritual director association, subscribing to a professional code of ethics, and carrying full liability coverage. As CSR staff spiritual directors they are required to support Biola’s doctrinal statement and work under the supervision of the CSR Director and Assistant Director. As of 2012, there are approximately 70 staff spiritual directors.

Learn More About Spiritual Direction

Other CSR Ministries

If you are interested in having one of our faculty or staff speak to you or your group about spiritual direction, spiritual formation, or soul care ministries, feel free to contact us.

Our CSR Staff Spiritual Directors are not only trained to offer one on one or group spiritual direction, but also to lead and facilitate retreats. The CSR is able to offer assistance in planning and providing retreats in any of the following ways:

  • Biola Residence Halls

    Designing and helping facilitate (including speaking) short retreats for Biola undergrads in the residence halls. Interested Residence Life staff can contact the CSR Assistant Director to find out more about this process. In the past we have had our staff spiritual directors design a variety of retreats, covering topics such as: Advent, Easter, body image, sexuality, community, forgiveness, various experiences of prayer.

  • Biola Staff

    Some departments at Biola might find it profitable to offer a half-day retreat (lengths of retreats could be shorter or longer) for their team in order to give them an experience of soul care and spiritual renewal. The CSR is open to discussing possibilities and working together to design a retreat experience that suits the needs of any interested department.

  • Retreats for Individuals

    Any interested person who is a current student, staff, or faculty member at Biola can use the CSR as a resource for planning a personal retreat. Our staff spiritual directors can meet with you beforehand to plan a retreat experience that may be suitable for you, and then meet with you afterwards to talk through the retreat experience itself.

  • Retreat Site Referrals

    The CSR keeps a list of possible retreat sites (mainly for small, private retreats – we don’t currently keep a listing of locations for large groups) that may be useful for those trying to determine a suitable location for an individual or small group retreat. These referrals are offered as a courtesy and do not indicate Biola’s endorsement of any of these retreat sites. To inquire about these listings, please contact the CSR Assistant Director.