Our Mission and Vision

Shalem's mission is to nurture contemplative living and leadership.

These following core values undergird our understanding of what it means to be contemplative—prayerfully attentive and responsive to God's presence and guidance:

Awareness that God is intimately present within us and among us

• We trust that God is immediately present, and lovingly, liberatingly active and responsive in our lives. This Presence is always available to guide us toward being our deepest, truest selves in God.

Reverence for the mystery of God’s presence

• We share and interpret our experience of God's immanent presence primarily through the wisdom of Christian contemplative tradition, and we are enriched by the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred traditions.

Desire for spiritual discernment in all things

• Because we see God as the one true guide for both individuals and groups, we believe that the best orientation in life should always be toward God. In all things, we seek to be intentionally open to God in each moment as the Spirit guides and co-creates through us.

Radical willingness to trust God

• We pray to trust God at work in our own lives and in the lives of others — individuals, organizations and nations — even when all seems obscure to us and we do not comprehend the path ahead.

Respect for the unique spiritual path of each individual

• Because God works uniquely in and through each of us, we offer a wide variety of contemplative practices and teachings that address the three classical expressions of spiritual life: knowing, acting and feeling.

Recognition that contemplative living and leadership require spiritual support

• We understand that a contemplative orientation towards life requires the support of spiritual practices and spiritual community. We especially value the power of shared silence, the encouragement of attentiveness to God, and the mutual support provided by spiritual community. We commit to the integrity and faithfulness of our spiritual lives as individuals and in community.

Commitment to action in the world arising from a contemplative orientation toward life

• We believe a contemplative orientation not only draws us to our deepest, truest self in God but also shapes both an individual's and a community's way of being in, listening to, and caring for the world.
  
  

Shalem's Vision

Grounded in our understanding of God’s desire for peace, wholeness and well-being, we envision a world transformed by contemplative living and leadership in which all people honor one another and creation, recognize their unity and interconnectedness, and courageously seek to live out of this reality.