Spiritual Direction for a Climate-Changed World
A gathering for spiritual directors and spiritual companions with Justin Ferko, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Perdew, and Rev. Dr. Wanda Stahl
Occurred on Tuesday, May 16, 2023
As the severe effects of climate change persist and grow, more attention is being paid to the toll these changes are taking on our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Spiritual direction and spiritual accompaniment have offered, in their long history, spaces in which to engage the great questions of one’s life, and in times of climate change those questions may be amplifying and changing in new ways.
At The BTS Center, we understand climate change to be directly rooted in spiritual crises. We offered this gathering as an imaginative space for those engaged in the work of spiritual accompaniment who are feeling the weight of these deep and difficult topics — to come together to share and to learn in community. We hoped that this gathering — with three thoughtful presenters sharing talks, as well as time for small group sharing — led to conversation and connection which nourished you and informed your work in spiritual accompaniment.
This gathering was intended for those who have some training and experience with spiritual accompaniment. We also welcomed students who are currently enrolled in a spiritual direction training program.
Meet our Presenters
Justin Ferko is a Spiritual Companion, Certified Relational Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, and professional chaplain. He is a 2022 New Contemplative with Spiritual Directors International and graduate and board member of Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development. He celebrates the giftedness of the LGBTQIA+ community and facilitates soul friendship with Mother Earth. He honors and facilitates companionees' embodied relationship with Earth and with each person's beautiful embodiment including gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation. These practices of love and intimacy with soul and spirit can be healing balm as we experience Climate Anxiety and Eco-Grief. Justin's practice of spiritual companioning is contemplative and interspiritual, drawing on Earth-honoring traditions (Celtic, Slavic), Tibetan Buddhism and the Divine Feminine from Christianity. He and his spouse Craig live on the banks of the Susquehanna River with their beloved rescue dogs Yeshe and Benny.
Rev. Dr. Stephanie Perdew is an ordained UCC minister, spiritual guide, and director of the Damascus Project online theological education initiative of the Minnesota and Wisconsin Conferences, United Church of Christ. She teaches history as an affiliate faculty member at Garrett Seminary, where she co-chairs the Indigenous Study Committee. She is a tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an educator and consultant in Native history, cultures, and land acknowledgements. Stephanie trains other spiritual guides through the Spiritual Guidance Training Program of the Siena Center of the Racine Dominicans, Racine, Wisconsin. She brings the gifts of rooted presence and intuitive listening to those who desire to explore their spiritual landscapes for the purpose of personal and interpersonal wellness and transformation. She looks forward to gathering with others who are offering spiritual direction and spiritual accompaniment in a time of climate anxiety and ecological grief.
Rev. Dr. Wanda Stahl is a spiritual guide, retreat leader, educator, and consultant who has worked in a variety of congregational, denominational, and academic settings. Most recently, she served on the faculty and as Director of Contextual Education at Boston University School of Theology where her favorite moments were engaging with students exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and vocation. Over the past two decades, Wanda has completed programs in Individual Spiritual Guidance, Contemplative Prayer Group and Retreat Leadership, and Group Spiritual Direction through the Shalem Institute in Washington DC. In 2021, she completed the year-long Seminary of the Wild EcoSpirituality Certificate, an experience which deepened her already strong connection to the Earth as a source of wisdom, guidance, and healing for navigating these challenging times. Wanda has been a follower of Jesus since she was a teenager, grounded especially in contemplative and Wesleyan streams of Christianity. While ordained in the Methodist tradition, she has guided and mentored people from a variety of faith traditions and spiritual expressions. Wanda is the mother of two young-adult daughters who are among her best teachers. She lives in Southern Maine where she is nurtured by time near the water and walks in the woods. Wanda also enjoys reading, cooking, solving puzzles of various kinds, and sitting on her deck watching the birds.
Meet our Moderator
Eileen Gebbie's professional experience includes university-level teaching, serving as staff at a community organizing alliance, running a non-profit housing organization, and serving all that is holy as the first female and first queer senior pastor at two congregations in the United Church of Christ (a non-creedal Christian denomination pushing the boundaries of radical inclusion).
"So I have spent a lot of time with people in crisis, people who are being actively oppressed, people who are curious, people who are fearful, people who are being born, people who are dying. And I have confronted a great deal of sexism and homophobia in myself and in response to my self," she writes.
Through Wisdom & Wilderness, Gebbie now works as a spiritual director, a forest therapy guide, an educator, and a contemplative practitioner at an intensive outpatient program for youth and young adults with mental health crises.
Meet our Host
Rev. Nicole Diroff is ordained in the United Church of Christ and serves as Program Director at The BTS Center, where she coordinates the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Center’s programmatic offerings. She holds expertise in facilitation, data management, and strategic planning. Nicole serves on the United Church of Christ Council for Climate Justice and is training to be a Maine Master Naturalist. She lives with her family in Scarborough, Maine.
Prior to her work with The BTS Center, Nicole served as the Associate Director at Interfaith Philadelphia, where she coordinated the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia and directed the creation and expansion of the organization’s many Dare to Understand initiatives.
Nicole is a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and Ohio Wesleyan University. When she’s not leading programs or facilitating meetings, she can be found exploring tide pools with her son, hiking with her dogs, or reading a memoir at a local coffee shop.
