Novitiates
A one-year guided discernment process for those leaders seeking ordination with Street Psalms. Our ordained community has shared commitment to seeing and celebrating good news in hard places through a calling to free up others to love and serve.
The Street Psalms Order is a sodal community in mission that serves local faith communities and community-based organizations of all kinds who seek the common good of their city. Ordained members of our community include nurses, teachers, non-profit leaders, pastors/clergy, and more; however, we do not ordain leaders to pastor local churches. 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 2026-27 cohort will be announced in early 2026.
KEY ELEMENTS
All Novitiates will participate in the following activities:
Discernment: Meet monthly with your discernment coach/mentor (Street Psalms will connect you to someone currently Ordained). Your coach/mentor will also help guide the process of developing a Rule of Life based on the Incarnational Framework. If you discern that ordination with Street Psalms is a good next step, you will need to complete an additional application and interview to be eligible for ordination once you complete the Novitiate process.
Curriculum: We have developed a suite of resources ordered around five separate but highly interrelated areas that point toward how to pursue the common good of the city to which you belong. We suggest reading the corresponding chapter first, then attending the connected workshop, and then completing the online course for each topic area. These resources include:
- The See.Do.Be.Free. book, which is our primary text of the Street Psalms Seminary.
- Five core workshops, which can be taken in any order and are 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 Model: 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.
- Five online courses, which are asynchronous and can be completed in any order. Set up an account to save your progress and keep track of your course completion.
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 of the offerings of the Seminary are designed for those who are embedded within a local community where they can work out the implications of the conversation over the long haul. Street Psalms’ role is to jump start a conversation that gets worked out in the context of the participant. A community in mission in Nairobi operates differently from a community in mission in Manila or Denver. Those who are not embedded in a local community where they can work out the practical implications of this conversation over time will lack the main ingredient necessary to make the content come alive.
2026-27 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 2026 (date TBD): Applications open for Novitiate Track.
- Spring 2026 (date TBD): Application deadline.
- Summer 2026: Interview with Street Psalms team.
- Summer 2026 (date TBD): Official notice sent with next steps if accepted.
- Fall 2026 (date TBD): Novitiate year begins; start meeting monthly with coach/mentor.
- Workshops: Dates TBA.
- Spring 2027 (date TBD): If pursuing ordination, complete application by this date.
- Late Spring 2027 (date TBD): Novitiate year ends.
- October 2027: 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.