Welcome to Doxology

The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel

DOXOLOGY offers an innovative program of advanced study retreats to strengthen pastors for the task of faithfully shepherding the souls entrusted to their care. DOXOLOGY provides pastors with a unique study and renewal experience, rooted in the classic art of spiritual care and informed by the insights of contemporary Christian psychology.

The primary purpose of this organization is to provide training, mentoring and consultation services for pastors who desire to enhance their ability to help people struggling with the ever-increasing personal, family and social complexities of contemporary life. The training environment, grounded in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, ensures that pastors will be emotionally and spiritually refreshed and equipped as a result of their participation. The Center provides a safe environment for clergy to reflect on their own spiritual and emotional health and assists them to review and enhance their professional competencies and skills as servants of Christ and stewards of God's sacred mysteries. DOXOLOGY strengthens pastors so they can more faithfully pastor others.

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The Shepherd's Anthology

KATHLEEN NORRIS ON DAILY BREAD

Each day brings with it not only the necessity of eating but the renewal of our love of and in God. This may sound like a simple thing, but it is not easy to maintain faith, hope or love in the everyday. I wonder if this is because human pride, and particularly a preoccupation with intellectual, artistic or spiritual matters, can provide a convenient way to ignore our ordinary, daily, bodily needs.

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Recovering an Incarnational Vision for

Transformational Ministry
Spiritual Care and Counsel
Pastoral Peer Networks
Lay Leadership Participation
Annual Renewal and Enrichment Events
Ongoing Pastoral and Personal Consultation
Enhancing Professional Competency and
Skills
Serving and Strengthening Pastors

What Church Leaders Must Know

The DOXOLOGY program is widely appreciated because it strengthens pastors to faithfully pastor their flocks. One participant wrote: "This program has allowed so many of us to recognize the true joy, once again, in the ministry we share. I look forward to returning home recharged and refocused in His work."
DOXOLOGY is a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Pastors from other church bodies are welcome to enroll as well.
Your congregation or church-related ministry is eligible to receive a large partnership grant* that allows your pastor, one lay leader, and your pastor's wife to participate in DOXOLOGY program events at a remarkably reduced package cost.
Congregations sign a Pledge of Congregational Support (PDF file), affirming that they will grant the required release time for their pastor(s) to attend DOXOLOGY events and that they will also provide the required financial support .

DOXOLOGY invites lay leaders to participate in an essential portion of the program. Each congregation or agency may send one lay leader to attend “The Encore” at no additional cost! A church may send additional lay leaders to this or any subsequent Encore (space permitting), provided that it covers housing and meal costs for any additional attendees.

DOXOLOGY has been designed to provide the finest resources for pastors seeking advanced training in pastoral theology and spiritual care as well as training in the appropriate use of Christian psychological skill sets.

* Our thanks to the Siebert Lutheran Foundation and other funding partners whose generous support underwrites this program.

Why Doxology? Why Now?

Do we really need another parachurch organization to assist the mission and ministry of the church? Isn't it about time to quit talking about the life of the church and to start living it? That's exactly where DOXOLOGY comes in. We're not just another friendly face in cyberspace. Our mission is to offer specific and concrete help to pastors who want to get serious about the church's life and outreach in our turbulent times. Our focus is specifically on the aspect of contemporary church life that too often goes begging: the Cure of Souls.

We have assembled a first rate group of Lutheran pastors, theologians, and laity from three continents and four church bodies to advise and guide that effort (see the makeup of our Executives, Board of Directors, and Board of Advisors). We have worked hard over a number of years to develop a first rate training curriculum designed to strengthen pastors in the crucial area of counseling and spiritual care.

We are pleased that many other groups assist pastors and church leaders in developing techniques, methods, and strategies for the church's life and mission. Our goal is to address the heart of the matter: the crucial intersection between Christ, the Good Shepherd, and His sheep and lambs - including those who do not yet believe in Him. This relationship, we believe, is the hallmark of a faithful and missional church in every age.

DOXOLOGY draws on the accumulated wisdom of the centuries - the classic heritage of Cura Animarum, the cure of souls, as well as the insights of contemporary Christian Psychology. We are unapologetically Lutheran in identity and unequivocally practical in focus. Our passion is to strengthen pastors and equip them with competencies and skills to help people find spiritual health and healing in Jesus Christ through the tools He has given to His church.