Novitiates
A one-year guided discernment process for those leaders seeking ordination with Street Psalms.
Street Psalms is an order that frees leaders from all walks of life to create cities of peace for all people. We are not a clerical order that ordains leaders to pastor local churches. Rather, we are a sodal community that ordains leaders to free others to love and serve. What animates our common call is our shared charism of seeing and celebrating good news in hard places. Ordained members of the community collectively nurture and steward this gift for the sake of the city and the most vulnerable. See the full list of Ordained leaders >
Those that are interested in discerning ordination with Street Psalms are invited to participate as a Novitiate, a one-year guided process. Novitiates participate in the rhythms hosted by the Seminary as well as vocational discernment with a current member of the Street Psalms Ordained community.
Application Information
Applications are currently closed. Details for the 2027-28 cohort will be announced in early 2027. In the meantime, join our ongoing community rhythms >
KEY ELEMENTS
All Novitiates will participate in the following discernment activities:
Declare Intent: Confirm your interest in becoming a Novitiate by completing an interest form (link coming soon!).
Discernment Questions: Meet monthly with your discernment coach/mentor (Street Psalms will connect you to someone currently Ordained). Your coach/mentor will explore three vocational questions that help you discern a sense of fit with the Street Psalms community.
Core Conversation: Each novitiate must complete a series of five workshops that feature Street Psalms’ call to free leaders to love and serve in the shape of what we call a “Community in Mission.” Novitiates will be exposed to ways of seeing, doing, and being that free us to love and serve as a Community in Mission (CiM) in light of a God in whom there is no violence. This includes:
- Read the See.Do.Be.Free. book, which is our primary text of the Street Psalms Seminary.
- Attend the five core workshops, offered annually live and online to connect the community to one another:
- Becoming a Community in Mission: Outlines the kind of community Jesus breathed into existence – one that is capable of both individual and systemic transformation.
- Incarnational Hermeneutic: Helps a community in mission read and interpret Scripture with Easter eyes, and engage reality with the “intelligence of the victim.”
- Incarnational Method: Examine how Jesus inducted his disciples into their shared humanity, and what that means for the task of formation common to a community in mission.
- Incarnational Design: A co-creative process that invites us to participate in the ongoing act of Creation, essential for a community in mission to be an agent of innovation in the world.
- Incarnational Framework: We allow Jesus’ way of seeing, doing and being (and how it frees him to love and serve) to examine our own lives and the community in mission we serve.
Community Rhythms: Street Psalms offers ongoing rhythms, including daily prayer, weekly lectionary reflections, and a monthly Commons service. Our global community is an important part of the experience, and we highly encourage participation in any rhythms offered.
Contextualization: All novitiates are expected to be currently serving in a local ministry context with the full support of that local community where they are working out the practical implications of Street Psalms' call and gift.
Application: Upon completing the one-year novitiate process, if you discern that ordination with Street Psalms is a good next step, you will need to complete an application and interview to be eligible for ordination.
2027-28 Schedule
Applications for the Novitiate process are open annually each spring. The Novitiate commitment lasts from fall through spring, ending with an application process to pursue ordination with Street Psalms.
- Spring 2027 (date TBD): Applications open for Novitiate Track.
- Spring 2027 (date TBD): Application deadline.
- Summer 2027: Interview with Street Psalms team.
- Summer 2027 (date TBD): Official notice sent with next steps if accepted.
- Fall 2027 (date TBD): Novitiate year begins; start meeting monthly with coach/mentor.
- Workshops: Dates TBA.
- Spring 2028 (date TBD): If pursuing ordination, complete application by this date.
- Late Spring 2028 (date TBD): Novitiate year ends.
- October 2028: Ordination ceremony for those who apply for and are approved for ordination.
FAQs
You will be well-suited to join the Novitiate process if you have a vocation of formation, and wish to discern ordination with Street Psalms.
There is no cost to participate in any of our offering. All curriculum, content, and community rhythms are free and open to all who wish to participate. We encourage all participants to make a donation to give back to the community as they are able.
The Novitiate process will take one year. You will meet monthly with a discernment coach/mentor, attend our workshop offerings, and engage in the ongoing community rhythms. We anticipate you should plan to commit a few hours each week.
Once you complete the year of discernment, you will be eligible to apply to become Ordained with Street Psalms. This process includes an application, references, and one-hour interview. Ordination ceremonies take place virtually every Fall. (For example, if you are in the Novitiate track for the 2025-26 cohort, you would be eligible for ordination in Fall 2026.)
Please send any questions to our team: contact@streetpsalms.org.