Two-Year Academy

Nourish your spiritual life. Find community. Ground yourself in God.

What is the Two-Year Academy?

Our flagship spiritual formation program, the Two-Year Academy invites participants to meet in residence (in the same location) for five days every three months for a total of 40 days in residence over the course of two years.

An experience of disciplined Christian community emphasizing holistic spirituality—nurturing body, mind, and spirit—the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation is ecumenical in nature and held together by spiritual rhythms of study and prayer, silence and liturgy, solitude and relationship, rest and play. Two-Year participants rediscover Christianity’s rich spiritual heritage through worship, learning, and fellowship. In covenant community and in personal reflection, participants find time and space to discern direction, make covenants, and practice commitments.

Two-Year Academy Brochure

Who is the Two-Year Academy for?

The Two-Year Academy is for all who hunger for deep spiritual experience. Both clergy and lay persons from all denominations join us from around the world each year.

What does the Two-Year Academy cost?

Registration fees vary depending on the cost of the retreat center and the geographical location of the Two-Year Academy. Registration fees include room, board, tuition, and fees. Books and travel for each week of the Two-Year are an additional cost.

What will you learn at a Two-Year Academy?

Two-Year Academy Curriculum

Who will you learn from?

Academy for Spiritual Formation Faculty

"The Academy for Spiritual Formation is the finest and most comprehensive, ecumenical non-degree program in spiritual formation in this country."
Rev. Marjorie J. Thompson, Teacher, retreat leader, and author of SoulFeast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life
"The Academy experience is one of sacred time and sacred space with a sacred process of coming to self, others, and God."
Luther Smith, Professor Emeritus of Church and Community, Emory University
"The Academy is a beautiful example of the reconfiguring of Protestantism. It's the kind of thing I would hope to see happening more."
Phyllis Tickle, Founding editor of the Religion Department of Publishers Weekly and a leading authority on religion in America.
"The Academy gets to the heart of the church."
Rev. Trevor Hudson, South African pastor, Upper Room Books author, and international retreat leader.
"The Academy has been a gift of time and space to learn how to be sustainable in ministry. There I could drink deeply from the well and be filled and discover once again that God's grace is sufficient."
CINDY GREGORSON, Participant
"Jesus saved my life, but The Academy saved my ministry."
Ruben Ortiz, Pastor
"The Academy for Spiritual Formation gave me the space, the time, the support, and the model I needed to learn again that God loves me deeply. This is my true story, and The Academy helped me discover it."
Kristen Vincent, Upper Room Books author and Academy alum
"The Academy provides one of the most holistic programs of spiritual nurture available today."
Robert Mulholland, Seminary professor and author of Shaped by the Word
"The Academy offers a structured, supportive community in which Christians can learn Christian history as a resource for their own spiritual growth in the love of God and neighbor, take risks spiritually, and find the courage to submit to God for healing the very parts of themselves they most reject. I am committed to support it."
Roberta Bondi, Seminary faculty and author of To Love as God Loves and Wild Things