Retreats and Workshops

Faith Nostbakken

I am an experienced retreat facilitator and spiritual educator. As an ordained Lutheran deacon, I have served my own church, as well as other denominations, and ecumenical gatherings, offering hour-long, day-long, weekend, or week-long seminars, retreats, education events, and study conferences. As a spiritual director and trained supervisor for spiritual directors, I have prepared and presented two-day and week-long sessions for those training to be spiritual directors. As an academic, I have taught or co-taught university and seminary students and adults interested in continuing education and faith formation.

While I am always open to new invitations, I have prepared and facilitated events that include the following topics.

Retreats and Workshops

Exploring many ways of prayer: e.g. praying with imagination; with Scripture, for example, with the Psalms, Gospel texts, or the Lord’s Prayer; using mandalas, engaging in body prayer, and more

Discerning prayerful decisions in major life transitions and in daily life

Drawing on the metaphor of pilgrimage as a way to deepen our journey with God

Exploring who we have been, are, and are becoming in light of the question, “What might happen if we each started to see our lives as a story of (many) callings?”

Engaging Scripture and sharing experiences to discover, deepen, and embrace the sacredness of one’s own life story as it has been lived and continues to unfold

Taking time to prayerfully rebalance one’s life—from work to spiritual practices to relationships—to be more fully alive to what is and to what might be

Drawing on the various practices of prayer introduced by Ignatius of Loyola in the movements of his Spiritual Exercises and engaging in prayer through various media, such as Gospel texts, music, art, and journaling

Learning about and from the story and teaching of Ignatius of Loyola how prayer, involving head, heart, and body, draws us closer to God and engages in divinely inspired discernment in daily life

Reflecting on different kinds of human brokenness, using Scripture passages and personal stories, being open to how sharing our experiences can reshape our stories of brokenness through redemptive threads of God’s grace

Entering into our experiences of grief with guided reflection offering a way to navigate a healing path

Exploring how to wake up, slow down, and attend to the wonder and gift of God’s sacred presence right here, right now, where we work, rest, and play

Inviting and engaging core human questions, “Who am I? Why am I here?”

Exploring what it means to be human in the image of God, considering three human profiles: the transcendent self, the narrative self, and the embodied self, noting connections between them to understand and know ourselves more fully.

Considering how we read the sacred text of Scripture and how we recognize it as a living word that continues to speak to us today, with time for group and individual reflection, as well as engagement with the “sacred texts” of other media such as art and music

Learning how we can better listen to one another, honoring and respecting each other’s stories, as a trust, a skill, and a privilege

Introducing the ministry of spiritual direction and the role of a spiritual director, describing the benefits of being in a regular or short-term relationship with a spiritual director/companion

  1. Costs vary depending on what is expected for input, content, and time commitment. For example, a half-day workshop may be $200-$800, depending on amount of content and interaction expected, and with some consideration for the size of the group.
  2. Similarly, the cost of a weekend retreat may range from $750 to $2500, depending on the number of contact hours, whether Friday evening or Sunday afternoon is included, and with some consideration for the size of the group.
  3. Retreats longer than a weekend can be prorated based on costs suggested for shorter programs, with some consideration for the size of the group and the benefits associated for both the presenter and the participants of a longer format to engage and reflect more deeply on a theme together.

After retiring from an active ordained ministry of over 43 years, I was struggling to find my purpose in life. I attended a retreat on “Meanings and Callings: The Threads of Our Stories” led by Faith Nostbakken. Through her gentle guidance, deep insights, and personal stories, I discovered that I was “still on God’s call list.” As a result of attending this retreat I have embarked on a course to become a spiritual director.

Lee Woolery

Faith’s openness, teaching, gentle guidance, and compassionate experience were a precious gift.

Retreat respondent

Faith draws on a vast amount of knowledge from her reading and experience, which enriches her work.

Sharon

Thorough, prepared, flexible, creative, engaging … these are some of the words that describe Faith as a facilitator. She researches her topic, knows her audience, listens to expectations, shares ideas and collaborates as necessary to execute.  Participants leave satisfied, informed and invited to live fully the story that is their lives.

Providence Renewal Centre
  • Faith is a wonderful and inspiring speaker
  • A wonderful storyteller, and draws from her her many and varied life stories
  • in her presentations one quickly feels that this is a person I would like to know more
  • able to share deep thoughts, and yet humorous and engaging
Joe Stolee