A Three-Day Retreat & Year-Long Community of Practice
for Northeast Congregations
for Northeast Congregations
Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World is an immersive, year-long journey of group-based spiritual discernment and courageous experimentation. Designed for congregations ready to meet this moment with faith and imagination, Claiming Your Call invites faith communities to listen deeply for their collective calling in a climate-changed world — and to respond together.
What does climate-changed mean?
A climate-changed world is one where our planet’s margins of distress are thin. Climate change impacts human conflict, food systems, the migration of humans and other species, natural disasters, and more.
Claiming Your Call is an invitation to place-based justice work for a climate-changed world.
A climate-changed world is one where our planet’s margins of distress are thin. Climate change impacts human conflict, food systems, the migration of humans and other species, natural disasters, and more.
Claiming Your Call is an invitation to place-based justice work for a climate-changed world.
About the Program:
Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World is an immersive, year-long journey of group-based spiritual discernment and courageous experimentation.
Designed for congregations ready to meet this moment with faith and imagination, Claiming Your Call invites faith communities to listen deeply for their collective calling in a climate-changed world — and to respond together.
Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World is an immersive, year-long journey of group-based spiritual discernment and courageous experimentation.
Designed for congregations ready to meet this moment with faith and imagination, Claiming Your Call invites faith communities to listen deeply for their collective calling in a climate-changed world — and to respond together.
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Application Deadline:
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The Heart of the Program
Claiming Your Call is designed for congregations listening deeply for their collective calling in a climate-changed world. Throughout the year, each congregation will be accompanied by one of four experienced guides. At the heart of the program is a three-day retreat centered on congregational discernment in a climate-changed world. In cross-congregational discernment groups, participants will engage:
Claiming Your Call is not about quick fixes for our church buildings or grounds. It is about faithful presence, honest discernment, and learning how our congregations are called to embody hope, justice, and resilience—together—in a world that is changing before our eyes. |
About the Year-Long Community of Practice
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Team Composition
We’re seeking 12 New England congregations to participate in this year-long transformative experience, each bringing a team of four leaders. From April 2026 through May 2027, congregational teams will form a community of practice grounded in shared inquiry and real-world application. Each team should include the congregation’s pastor or functional equivalent. Congregations are encouraged to consider diversity in age, identities, background, and professional interest when forming their teams. The ideal team will be intergenerational. Congregations that participated in the 2024-2025 cohort may choose to apply again. These congregations must assemble teams with laypeople who did not previously participate. |
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What to Expect
The program consists of pre-retreat preparation, a transformative retreat experience, and post-retreat experimentation—supported by structured meet-ups to share reflections, learning, and mutual encouragement. Participating congregations will:
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Cost
We offer a sliding-scale program fee of $250 – $2,500 per congregation based on congregational budget. This fee covers both the in-person retreat (lodging, meals, and presenters) and the year-long program, including the ongoing guidance and support of a professional guide. Payments can be made in two installments: April 2026 and January 2027. The actual expense per congregation is estimated at $4,500. The BTS Center is investing deeply in this program because we believe this work within congregations is essential. We invite congregations to invest alongside us, contributing according to their capacity as shared commitment to the program’s impact. (There is no fee to apply for Claiming Your Call.) |
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Your congregation may benefit from thinking creatively about responding to the program fee. Here are some ideas:
- Invite four individuals to sponsor the team at a set amount each, framing it as a concrete way to support leadership, spiritual formation, and mission.
- Seek grants or program support from denominational offices, judicatories, or mission funds.
- Allocate a portion of an adult education or formation budget.
- Receive a special offering tied to a worship service or retreat.
- Partner with a local grant-making institution or engage a legacy fund within the congregation
We would be glad to think with you about approaches that fit your context and make participation possible.
About the Retreat
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Claiming Your Call will begin with a three-day retreat at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park in Maine. In the company of this coastal boreal-deciduous forest, congregational teams will engage in deep conversation with theologians, scientists, and indigenous scholars about what a spiritually-grounded, justice-seeking response to climate change could look like for their churches. This retreat will serve as the foundation for congregations’ subsequent “small experiments with vocational intent” in the context of a supportive community of practice. Schoodic Institute Named one of the top venues for nature lovers in the country, the Schoodic Institute is located in Acadia National Park and is Acadia’s primary partner in science and education. Located on the rugged Maine coastland, surrounded by thousands of acres of evergreen forests, the park hosts conferences, retreats, and workshops for groups from around the world. Participants traveling from further away may choose to stay independently at the Schoodic Institute before or after the retreat. Read about Schoodic Institute’s support and commitment to Wabanaki communities on their website. |
Application Process
1. Bring this opportunity to your pastor or, if needed, Church Council or other leadership board.
2. Begin to form a team of four individuals who might participate in the year-long program.
3. Meet with potential team members to review application questions.
4. Obtain a letter of support from a member of your local community beyond your congregation.
5. One person from your congregation completes the application.
1. Bring this opportunity to your pastor or, if needed, Church Council or other leadership board.
2. Begin to form a team of four individuals who might participate in the year-long program.
3. Meet with potential team members to review application questions.
4. Obtain a letter of support from a member of your local community beyond your congregation.
5. One person from your congregation completes the application.
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For more information about this program, contact
Derrick Weston at [email protected]. |
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