About Us > Our Vision

Jesus, through His Spirit, is at work in the church. At ECSW we have been praying for several years for discernment about how we can use our training to participate in what He is doing to bring about spiritual growth. We sense God directing us in some initial ways. We have launched a 20/20 Vision Campaign that allows donors to join us at all levels of giving.

Our vision involves three areas of active pursuit:

  • To meet twice per year with our advisory council.

    As explained in our values statement, ECSW maintains an advisory council which provides discernment through prayer and inter-disciplinary dialog. We have been meeting with our council since the inception of ECSW to discuss issues of spiritual growth and spiritual theology.

    These council meetings give us regular opportunities to evaluate the accuracy of our position and the clarity of our statements concerning our spiritual theology. The council also provides valuable insight into how God is working and how ECSW can best partner with churches in the area of spiritual formation.


  • To connect churches with trained specialists.

    Just as business management, health care or pastoring are best conducted by people with specialized training, so spiritual formation is greatly enhanced through education and experience by those who desire to help others appreciate and holistically implement a relational theology.

    Ideally, we dream of every community having the resource of local and trained individuals to dialog and discern with in regard to spiritual growth in their local body. To that end we are creating a network of spiritual formation partners who are trained, experienced specialists, prepared to work with churches in their local area. By bringing discernment, wisdom, knowledge, practice, personal experience and a heart for churches to the table, ECSW's partners will be a resource when churches are looking for capable support.

    In addition, ECSW has created the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association (ESDA) which draws together a national network of trained spiritual companions who are theologically and ethically sound to serve as additional resources for churches and our spiritual formation partners.


  • To develop a 3 year spiritual formation curriculum.

    Though our network of specialists have been trained in spiritual formation, their training came through seminary and graduate studies. A great need now exists to articulate a clear understanding of relational theology and the relational process in a way that churches can appreciate and digest. To that end, we are developing a biblically-based educational tool which can be taught by our local spiritual formation partners in a church setting.

    This tool will help churches grow deeper in their knowledge of how God invites believers and the church body to participate with Him in relationship. This "curriculum" will highlight not only what can be scripturally observed about God's move toward us but also what Scripture says about the obstacles we face in our own hearts to the process. We anticipate churches using this tool while they simultaneously work with one of our local partners in implementing experiential elements of the relational process.

    **Semester One, of the anticipated six semesters, is currently in its test phase throughout North America.