Convocation 2021
We Are God's Soil:
Spiritual Leadership in a Climate-Changed World
Thursday, September 30 - Friday, October 1, 2021
Join us for Convocation 2021. Over the course of two days this fall, we’ll gather for online sessions, and we’ll log off for some intentional, self-guided, offline sessions, returning to digital space for continued learning and reflection. Incorporating music, the arts, and contemplative practice, Convocation 2021 will inspire and challenge us to ground our spiritual leadership in the common good and in the sacredness of our planetary home. We look forward to this blend of online and offline experiences, which will weave together to facilitate learning, nurture respite, and deepen community.
Wonder & Wander Retreat at Wells Reserve
A day-long nature retreat at Wells Reserve with Linda Littlefield Grenfell
Friday, October 15, 2021 • 10:00 am - 3:00 pm (ET)
We are partnering with Maine Master Naturalist and Registered Maine Guide, Linda Littlefield Grenfell, to guide a group of spiritual leaders* on a day of practice and play that will help us to connect with our more-than-human kin. We will gather at Wells Reserve at Laudholm for a day of imaginative encounters with what Linda calls “the real world.” We will explore our environment, engage with each other, and recall our own deeply animal nature.
If you are nearby, in Southern Maine, come and join us for the day!
Research Collaborative
The BTS Center Research Collaborative will convene a cross-sector group of leaders from organizations across northern New England to explore the question, “How would organizations act differently today if they embodied an ecological imagination?”
We believe that climate devastation is not merely a problem for scientists and activists, but a symptom of the foundational cultural and spiritual structures of our society. If systems like consumer capitalism, industrial modernity, and colonial domination are the root causes of our current crisis, then every organization has something important to offer in this moment. We are gathering organizational partners who share our hope for a new way of embodying the best version of ourselves in response to our planet’s deep need and who reflect the earth’s wisdom in their day-to-day life and work.
Introducing our new LEADERSHIP COMMONS
Welcome to The BTS Center's new Leadership Commons, a space where we are developing new content, and gathering materials adapted from past programs, to help equip faith leaders in the work of guiding communities of spiritual practice through the uncertainties of life on a changing planet. Our Director of Partnerships & Formation, Aram Mitchell, invites you to share your feedback, learnings, and success stories along the way.
Would you believe me if I told you we were the forerunners a great spiritual renewal? What if I said this renewal would change our global culture at the end of this century? That it will see the emergence of a new mysticism in contrast to technology and a strong social conscience of sustainability and justice. We are at the very beginning of this movement. We will not all live to see its first moments of birth, but we will have the joy of knowing that we were the shoulders on which others stood to make it a reality. History will show that what we did today to lift up an open-minded spirituality, welcoming to all people, made a difference. Our choice to stand together, to advocate for justice, and to heal this planet will be recognized as the breakthrough. Because we did not give up, they excelled. Would you believe me if I told you that?
— Bishop Steven Charleston, retired Bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Alaska and elder in the Choctaw Nation
