A way of understanding the primary task of a parish church is as the facilitation of a cycle moving between renewal in baptismal identity and purpose and apostolate in family, workplace, and civic life.

For more on the Renewal - Apostolate Cycle get the one page Core Frameworks resource and purchase Fill All Things: The Dynamics of Spirituality in the Parish Church, Ascension Press, late 2007

Oscillation Theory -- Bruce Reed's theory on the dynamics of dependence

  Baptismal Renewal Resources

Spiritual Formation

Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation

Center for Spiritual Development - At the Cathedral in Portland, Oregon

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd - A new way of Christian education that presents the realities of the Christian faith to the youngest members of the Church. Assumes that young children have religious potential; that they are capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. 

Godly Play Resources - Based on the work of Maria Montessori (a tradition that honors the child's natural sense of the sacred and seeks to provide a richly structured environment in which the religious potential of a child may freely develop); Jerome Berryman developed a comprehensive religious education curriculum 

Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development - To help any persons, families, or pastors deepen their Christian faith, intersecting with concerns of daily life and work; committed to integrating Evangelical and Reformed emphases—grace, scripture, providence, service, vocation—with the heritage of Catholic, Anglican, Quaker, and Orthodox spirituality

Kyrie Centering Prayer Index - Introduction material

World Community for Christian Meditation - "to communicate and nurture meditation as passed on through the teaching of John Main in the Christian tradition, in the spirit of serving the unity of all." ; local meditation groups; link with the monastic tradition, particularly the Benedictine, is highly valued.

Spirituality & Health - From Trinity, Wall Street

Stages of Faith

Stages of Faith, James Fowler From Joann Wolski Conn (ed.), Women’s Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development. (Paulist, 1986), pp. 226-232.

Interview with James Fowler by Harold Kent Straughn

John Westerhoff's Model

Adult Faith Development: Current Thinking by Kathryn A. Wing

Faith Development Theory Revisited: A Religious Styles Perspective by Heinz Streib

Faith Development Theories 

 Interview of Robert Coles

Retreat Houses 

-- some retreat houses also offer spiritual direction and programs on spiritual formation

The Community of St. John Baptist - Mendham, New Jersey

Order of Julian of Norwich - Waukesha, Wisconsin

Holy Cross Monastery - West Park, New York

The Order of St. Helena - Vails Gate, NY

Mount Calvary - Santa Barbara, California

St. Gregory's Abbey - Three Rivers, MI

Incarnation Priory - Berkeley, California

Society of St. Margaret - Boston

St. Mary's Retreat House - Santa Barbara, California

Emmaus House - Wheeling, West Virginia

The Society of Saint John the Evangelist - Cambridge, MA

Episcopal Conference Centers

Prayer On-Line

The Daily Office   -  Episcopal

Daily Readings - From the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); a set of readings from the Old Testament, Epistles, and Gospels that changes from day to day.

Taize

Orthodox Prayers

Daily Torah Lectures

Oremus - A form of the Episcopal Daily Office

Liturgy of the Hours -  Roman Catholic

Lectio Divina - The Contemplative Prayer Online Magazine

      Apostolate Resources

Civic Life

Public Religion in America Today - Martin E. Marty and Edith L. Blumhofer on the Public Religion Project. "The Public Religion Project is about one thing: within the limits of its resources, to help American religion "go public" more than it has. The corollary of this single purpose is that the Project help define the concept of "public religion" and interpret its evidences in the life of citizens."

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life - The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs

Institute for the Study of Civic Values - Institute has conducted programs aimed at applying America's civic values to contemporary issues;  helped thousands of people and grassroots organizations gain the knowledge and skills needed for effective participation in the community and politics.

Aspen Institute - A forum that convenes leaders from diverse disciplines to address critical issues that confront societies, organizations, and individuals. Utilizing the rigorous discipline of informed dialogue and inquiry, the Institute's seminar and policy programs enhance the participants' ability to think clearly about such issues, mindful of the primacy of the moral perspective and the importance of differing viewpoints.

We Shall Overcome - Historic places related to the modern civil rights movement, a travel itinerary

The Center for Living Democracy - Inspires and prepares people to make democracy a rewarding, practical, everyday approach to solving society's problems

Highlander Research & Education Center - aims to overcome poverty, bigotry and economic injustice in Appalachia and the South.  Our strategy for doing so is based on a simple philosophy:   we believe that true social change goes beyond dealing with the symptoms of inequality and gets to root causes.  Getting at the roots of injustice requires building grassroots movements for change led by those most affected by oppression.  Since 1932, the Highlander Center has been on the cutting edge of Appalachian and Southern struggles for justice.  Highlander provides tools for building organizations capable of leading movements

Center for Democracy and Citizenship - A research center

Civic Practices Network - A collaborative and nonpartisan project bringing together organizations and perspectives within the new citizenship movement;  we have a common faith that we can revitalize our democracy to tackle the complex problems of the 21st century if we can broadly exchange and continually refine the civic wisdom of what works and what empowers citizens to work together; schooling for active citizenship

The Foundation for Community Encouragement - A non-profit, educational foundation, teaches the principles and values of community to individuals, groups and organizations; Scott Peck is a founder

International Association for Public Participation - To promote the values and best practices associated with involving the public in government and industry decisions which affect their lives

Southern Poverty Law Center - Combats hate, intolerance and discrimination through education and litigation 

Religion and Civic Culture On-Line - is for lay people, clergy, and others who are working together, building city neighborhoods in California. 
Appalshop - a media arts and cultural center which produces and presents work that celebrates the culture and voices the concerns of people living in the Appalachian Mountains.
Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR) - a multi-racial organization that advances the vision of a democratic, diverse and just society free of racism and bigotry by helping communities combat groups, movements and government practices that promote hatred and bigotry.
Farmworkers Self- Help
Institute for People's Education and Action (IPEA) - a grass-roots association of North American folk schools, popular education centers, community and academic institutions, resource organizations, and individuals.
Grassroots Leadership - a statewide community organizing effort that works with established and emerging community-organizing groups to provide them technical assistance and training, and the support they need to coalesce around issues in their own communities.
Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) - an ecumenical and interfaith organization in Birmingham, Alabama, with a thirty-year history of direct services and community organizing which carries out a faith-based response to poverty by meeting people's emergency needs while also pursuing social and economic justice for all people.
Institute for Southern Studies - a resource for grassroots activists, community leaders, scholars, policy makers and all individuals and organizations working to bring lasting social and economic change to the region.
Project South - a community-based membership institute that develops and conducts popular political and economic education and action research for organizing and liberation.
Regional Economic Justice Network (REJN) - functions as a training ground, think tank, resource agency and vehicle for strategic action and advocacy for economic and environmental justice.
Solutions of Concern to Knoxvillians - a grassroots social justice organization that seeks to unite diverse people, regardless of their age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, income, or background, to work for changes on issues of common concern.
South Carolina United Action (SCUA) - a community organizing group that spends much of its effort fighting police and community injustice by organizing residents to learn of and then fight for their rights.
Southern Regional Council (SRC) - working to promote racial justice, protect democratic rights and broaden civic participation in the Southern United States.
Southern Rural Development Initiative (SRDI) - a collaborative of 34 organizations working together to increase the flow of development capital to the South's poorest rural communities.
United for a Fair Economy (UFE) - a “movement support” organization that provides media capacity, face-to-face economic literacy education, and training resources to organizations and individuals who work to address the widening income and asset gap in our country.

@GRASS-ROOTS.ORG -  stories of the most innovative grassroots programs in the United States and the local heroes who've found effective ways to build their communities, fix what's broken and make them better. We hope you'll be inspired, and then we hope you'll decide to roll up your sleeves and get involved in your own community

Workplace

Business for Social Responsibility - Companies seeking to sustain their commercial success in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities and the environment; to create value for investors, customers, employees, local communities and other stakeholders. 

The White Dog Cafe - Judy Wicks' Philadelphia restaurant; contemporary American cuisine and social responsibility

Mad Gab's - "Great Products Made by Nice People"

Centre for Spirituality at Work - To transform the experience and outcomes of work

New Academy of Business - An educational organization offering degree programs; set up to bring together the best in values-led business practice with progressive management thinking. Their aim is to broaden the view of what is involved in management and encourage a wider perspective that puts human and environmental values alongside profit as equal measures of success. 

Spirituality At Work - A community of professionals concerned with exploring the practical, living connections between our spirituality and our daily work: with finding the links between who we are, what we do, and what we believe.

Cornell: School of Industrial and Labor Relations - The nation’s first college devoted to improving labor-management relations

Flexible Workplace   -  Resources on creating flexibility in the workplace

Family Life

The Religion, Culture, and Family Project - Seeks to address the contemporary situation of American families from a range of theological, historical, legal, biblical, and cultural perspectives

Fighting in Marriage - by Gray Temple

The Committee on Family Ministries and Human Sexuality - Committee of National Council of Churches

Simplifying and Balancing Life Resources

The Center for a New American Dream - is a not-for-profit membership-based organization that helps individuals and institutions reduce and shift consumption to enhance our quality of life and protect the environment

Alternatives - is a non-profit organization that equips people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly. Started in 1973 as a protest against the commercialization of Christmas, our focus is on encouraging celebrations that reflect conscientious ways of living

The "In-Common" Christian Action of Parish

The National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED) --Services the community development industry through public policy research and education, special projects, newsletters, publications, trainings, conferences, and specialized technical assistance. Works with faith based systems.

Grace Institute - A project of Grace Memorial Church, Portland, OR - to discover and integrate the Christian faith into the diverse challenges and changes facing Northeast Portland and beyond: to become a voice and force in the spiritual formation of what is happening around us.
 

General Resources

Center for Baptismal Living - reclaiming the centrality of Baptism 

EFM - Education for Ministry - A 4 year program of theological education-at-a-distance of the School of Theology of the University of the South.  It covers the basics of a theological education in the Old and New Testaments, church history, liturgy, and theology. Students meet regularly, usually once a week, in seminars under the guidance of trained mentors.