Start SINGing: Spirituality in Nature Group Leaders’ Training

As we hike through the forest, walk on the beach, or sit beside a stream, the world around us echoes with sacred resonance. We know that time in nature can offer some of our most moving and meaningful spiritual experiences. Spirituality in Nature Groups (SINGs) allow us to incorporate these moving encounters into our regular faith practice. Forming a SING is a wonderful way to creatively engage spiritual formation, build community, reawaken wonder and connection with local ecosystems, and renew commitment to creation justice.

This special edition of the SING Leaders’ Training will be led by Payton Hoegh, Program Director of The Center for Spirituality in Nature, and Avery Davis Lamb, Co-Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries. This specially curated program will introduce and explore SINGs as a way to newly engage ancient Christian traditions and will offer a detailed, structured and accessible look at how one can launch a Spirituality In Nature Group (SING) with their church community, Creation Care ministry, or "Green Team."

Drawing from the Start SINGing workbook, a resource originally written in consultation with a United Methodist congregation, this webinar will:

• Examine "spirituality in nature's" rich history in the Christian tradition
• Introduce nature-attuned spiritual practice
• Offer the opportunity to sample spiritual practices that can be engaged in community
• Cover the logistics of forming and guiding a local SING community
• Discuss options for curriculum and itinerary
• Explore community-building techniques for cultivating rich, diverse SING groups
• Answer frequently asked questions
• Share experiences from SING leaders

Following the webinar, you’ll be invited into continued relationship with the wider network of SING communities now active in over 20 states. You’ll also receive access to additional community-building opportunities, training and resources, organized and curated by The Center for Spirituality in Nature's Spiritual Communities program.

MATERIALS

Alongside this training, we encourage prospective SING Leaders to purchase our books, Start SINGing: How to Form Your Own Spirituality in Nature Group and Inside Out: Practices for Going Deeper in Nature. They offer a 10-month curriculum, community-building and leadership tips, as well as more than 50 practices for engaging spirituality in nature. These books will be discounted for three weeks leading up to our training. Registrants will be sent a notification when that discount becomes available.

WHO SHOULD JOIN THIS TRAINING?

We are committed to sharing opportunities and tools for spiritual deepening with all, ensuring inclusion remains at the heart of what we do. Our aim is that all will find their place in nature and reap the benefits of this practice. Our Spirituality in Nature Group Leaders’ Training is designed for those who:

• Find inspiration, healing, and spiritual resonance in nature
• Believe in the importance of active, loving, reciprocal relationship with all of creation
• Want to explore and faithfully engage the spiritual heart of creation care efforts
• Are seeking to engage vibrant, diverse, creative communities
• Want to create affirming space for spiritual formation and practice in the created world

Join us! Start SINGing and reconnect with the spiritual gifts and wisdom of nature!

NOTE: We will record the call so that if you cannot attend you will have the opportunity to watch it later. We also plan to offer another training next fall.

**We do not want to preclude anyone from taking the workshop due to cost. Please contact us if you are in need of a scholarship.