St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” We are in a spiritual hunger for a deep intimacy with God. We hunger for living a life closer to Jesus, demonstrating his life and his teachings through meaningful relationships. We hunger for the Spirit to show us that we are indeed a part of the peaceable community of God. This deep intimacy is possible when we see our relationship with God and others as a daily, organic process rooted in the transforming power of Jesus to grow us as vital, energetic disciples. “Until Christ is formed in you,” scripture declares! (Galatians 4:19) This is what formation in Jesus is all about!
Christian spiritual formation is the life-long process of being formed into the image of Jesus Christ through the work of God’s Spirit. This is a daily pilgrimage characterized by God’s love, grace and mercy.
This life-journey inspires our vision which springs forth from Isaiah 58:11, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring, whose waters never fail.” Our mission is to provide the necessary resources and tools so that we can create the space for God’s Spirit to bring about renewal and transformation—not only to individuals, but to churches, to communities, and ultimately to the whole world.
The root meaning of the word “wellspring” is the never-ending source from where life comes. Jesus is the wellspring of our life. Our life with and in Jesus is not an abstract philosophy or some esoteric experience, but it is the lived everyday encounter with God in the Spirit.
We believe God’s transforming power in Jesus is given to every Christian. The transformed life, however, does not happen by accident or chance. It has to be taught. It has to be nurtured. It has to be practiced. Our vision is to foster transformation by carefully teaching and nurturing a vibrant Christian spirituality for growing a passionate and active faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe the Holy Spirit is moving, shaking, challenging the 21st century church to grow and expand... beyond its boundaries, beyond the divisions, beyond its institutions. The Spirit is bringing Christians together from all traditions—Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox—to discover once again that Jesus is real and has the power to save, deliver, change... We all want to become more Christ-like in who we are and what we do as individuals, as well as communities. God is inviting us to discover the riches of Christian faith and life as we deepen our understanding and appreciation of our whole heritage.
Wellspring is dedicated to teach, to inspire, to challenge, and to nurture all who want to delve into the profoundly rich and diverse Christian spirituality.
Our tools for teaching and nurture are the spiritual disciplines which have been lived and practiced throughout Church history. Spiritual disciplines are life habits gifted to us by God to grow us into fruit-bearing disciples. Disciplines help us hallow time and space. They are life patterns to guide us into a prayerful journey of nurturing a deeper, more conscious relationship with Jesus Christ. The spiritual disciplines invite us to develop a rhythm of life so that we may intentionally seek all things Christ. They help us surrender to God and follow our desire to the Trinity. The journey in and with the Trinity is a life-long journey of small steps. It is lived in the valleys and through the mountains. It takes us to the desert where we only find a mirage. When we think all hope is lost we come across the gushing rivers. The spiritual disciplines take one into the midst of the community of faith as they are intimately woven into fabric of communion of the Kingdom of God. They continually bring us back to share our stories with one another and take part in our common Story as the people of God.
Wellspring focuses on eleven spiritual disciplines. They are ancient practices for the 21st century church. We believe they are wholistic. While, they are not distinctively separated from one another they help to make us whole as we move and have our being in God.
- Unceasing Prayer
- Reading and Meditating on the Scripture
- Fasting
- Sabbath Keeping
- Worship
- Hospitality
- Tithing
- Intercession
- Spiritual Direction
- Tending the Body
- Creativity
We offer, sponsor, support a variety of activities, events, workshops, retreats as well as training to help teach and nurture each spiritual discipline:
- Publications of inspiration, insight and spiritual development
- Transformational Spiritual Direction for Individuals and Groups
- Wellspring Webblog
- Spiritual formation training for individuals and groups
- Christian Spirituality training workshops
- Reading and studying the Bible individually as well as in small groups
- Prayer workshops
- Retreats based on the themes of the Christian year
- Labyrinth workshops with the Wellspring Portable Labyrinth
- And the list continues...
Wellspring provides resources, studies, articles, journals, bibliography of books, and other materials on Christian spirituality. The portable Wellspring labyrinth may be checked out for use in churches, conferences, retreats etc. Please call us to reserve your time.
Wellspring is ecumenical, open to all traditions of the Christian faith.
