CrossRoad Fellows

This course explores how students may acquire and develop an Orthodox mindset or phronema. This is primarily accomplished through the discipline of perpetual and gradual spiritual formation/development  within an Orthodox liturgical community–the willingness to be steeped in  and formed by a Christ-centered ancient tradition. Topics include developing the habit of pursuing  wisdom through tradition, understanding the Gospel and our response, pursuing the acquisition of the mind of Christ, and critically appraising and assessing formational forces and influences.  Students will also explore the Orthodox missionary ethos as a pattern for Orthodoxy within the  United States today–the power of the Gospel to baptize culture and what that means for how an  Orthodox mindset is not simply for personal growth but essential for the life of the world.

This course is designed to equip students with essential insights, practices, and skills for cultivating self-knowledge and humility within the framework of Orthodox Christian vocation. Drawing upon the interplay between contemporary psychological research and the patristic tradition, students will engage both behavioral sciences and Orthodox theology in a complementary dialogue. Core areas of study include family systems theory, attachment science, and 12-step recovery models, each considered alongside the spiritual anthropology of the Orthodox Church. Through constructing their personal narrative, students will learn to discern the formative influences of family, relationships, and personal experience while integrating these understandings with the Church’s vision of healing and transformation. The course culminates with the development of a personal telos statement, articulating one’s life purpose in light of both psychological insight and Orthodox Christian teaching.

This course is designed to equip students with an Orthodox understanding of the  sanctification of time and life. Through lecture, readings, discussion, and reflection, students will explore how the Church, through its liturgical cycle, invites the faithful into a rhythm of continual encounter with God. The course will examine the structure of the liturgical year, including the fixed and movable cycles, with particular attention to the Twelve Great Feasts and their theological significance as windows into the life of Christ, the Theotokos, and the history of salvation. Students will consider how the Church’s cycles reveal a spiritual rhythm: fasting leads to feasting, preparation leads to celebration, and darkness leads to light. Students will examine how these realities are lived out in their particular personal and communal contexts.

Introduction to Life-Integrated Learning serves as an introduction to the pedagogical phronema and praxis at CrossRoad Institute. Life-Integrated Learning is an educational mindset and approach to learning that permeates every aspect of the program: it is the understanding that while content is an absolutely necessary piece of learning, it is not the end goal in and of itself. The end goal, or telos, is life lived as vocation—a unique and ongoing way of being in the world that is a response to Christ’s call to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the neighbor as oneself.

Parish Listening introduces students to the practices of deep, attentive, and empathetic listening within their parish or organizational context. Through guided conversations with a  diverse range of parishioners and community members, students learn to build authentic relationships, recognize the stories and experiences that shape their community, and cultivate listening as a spiritual and vocational habit. Emphasizing an Orthodox understanding of personhood, vocation, and communal life, the course equips students to design and conduct semi‐structured interviews, reflect theologically on what they hear, and begin to understand their parish through multiple lenses— historical, cultural, relational, and spiritual. By engaging their parish as a source of continuous learning, students develop the foundational skills necessary for meaningful community engagement and discernment of purpose.

Mentored Formation is the central, distinguishing element of the CrossRoad Fellow program. In this course, each student works closely with their parish priest or another approved mentor who provides individualized guidance, support, and accountability as the student integrates their academic learning into their personal, spiritual, and community life. Students bring reflections based on prompts from their online courses into conversation with their mentor. These reflections invite students to connect course concepts with their lived experience, ministry context, and developing sense of vocation. Mentors help students process insights, discern challenges, and identify concrete applications within their parish or community setting. Mentored Formation creates a sustained, one‐on‐one relationship that grounds the program’s academic work in real‐world practice. It cultivates reflective habits, deepens self‐understanding, and supports the student’s growth as a thoughtful, engaged, and spiritually rooted leader.

This course serves as a broad introduction to the Ecumenical Councils, the Fathers, the canons, the lives of the Saints, ascetic literature, and contemporary Orthodox dogmatic theology with an emphasis on how these elements combine to create a living Tradition in the Orthodox Church. Special focus is given to how to approach and be a lifelong learner from these resources.

Parish Listening introduces students to the practices of deep, attentive, and empathetic listening within their parish or organizational context. Through guided conversations with a  diverse range of parishioners and community members, students learn to build authentic relationships, recognize the stories and experiences that shape their community, and cultivate listening as a spiritual and vocational habit. Emphasizing an Orthodox understanding of personhood, vocation, and communal life, the course equips students to design and conduct semi‐structured interviews, reflect theologically on what they hear, and begin to understand their parish through multiple lenses— historical, cultural, relational, and spiritual. By engaging their parish as a source of continuous learning, students develop the foundational skills necessary for meaningful community engagement and discernment of purpose.

Mentored Formation is the central, distinguishing element of the CrossRoad Fellow program. In this course, each student works closely with their parish priest or another approved mentor who provides individualized guidance, support, and accountability as the student integrates their academic learning into their personal, spiritual, and community life. Students bring reflections based on prompts from their online courses into conversation with their mentor. These reflections invite students to connect course concepts with their lived experience, ministry context, and developing sense of vocation. Mentors help students process insights, discern challenges, and identify concrete applications within their parish or community setting. Mentored Formation creates a sustained, one‐on‐one relationship that grounds the program’s academic work in real‐world practice. It cultivates reflective habits, deepens self‐understanding, and supports the student’s growth as a thoughtful, engaged, and spiritually rooted leader.

Mentored Formation is the central, distinguishing element of the CrossRoad Fellow program. In this course, each student works closely with their parish priest or another approved mentor who provides individualized guidance, support, and accountability as the student integrates their academic learning into their personal, spiritual, and community life. Students bring reflections based on prompts from their online courses into conversation with their mentor. These reflections invite students to connect course concepts with their lived experience, ministry context, and developing sense of vocation. Mentors help students process insights, discern challenges, and identify concrete applications within their parish or community setting. Mentored Formation creates a sustained, one‐on‐one relationship that grounds the program’s academic work in real‐world practice. It cultivates reflective habits, deepens self‐understanding, and supports the student’s growth as a thoughtful, engaged, and spiritually rooted leader.

The purpose of the CrossRoad Institute Practicum is to provide students with real-world learning experiences that will foster practical ministry wisdom with strong theological moorings. The practicum is an extended (typically year-long) integrated project synthesizing the student’s theological, relational, and leadership learning in service of a ministry in the context of the student’s home parish or organization. The project will be designed in collaboration with the student’s Practicum Advisor and approved by the Director of Learning Initiatives. Students are  responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating their projects.

This course is designed to equip students with a framework for reading Scripture as Orthodox Christians. Fundamental to this framework are knowledge of the scriptural story and an understanding of how this story—depicted iconographically, enacted liturgically, and  embodied in the saints—is meant to form the faithful today. The Scriptures are diverse, containing Law, Prophets, Writings, Gospels, and Epistles. Yet because these specific collections ultimately cohere in Christ, students in this course will learn to read all parts of Scripture holistically, with a view to the themes, figures, and movements that bear witness to Christ, the Church, and the dynamics of the spiritual life. In doing so, they will also appreciate how intensive reading and study of Scripture informs and transforms the experience of hearing Scripture within the life of the Orthodox Church.

This course explores how Orthodox Christian communities came to the U.S. through immigration, how their faith and culture shaped their identities, the challenges they faced, and the pastoral realities of parishes, both in the past and to the present day. Students will familiarize themselves with the dynamics of immigration and assimilation, including analyzing the interplay between ethnicity, language, jurisdictional divisions, and modern pastoral concerns such as intermarriage, generational decline, and religious conversion. Students will engage primary sources, secondary scholarship, and oral histories to connect past and present.

This course is designed to equip students with a framework for Youth Ministry within an Eastern Orthodox parish in North America. Fundamental to this is a refarming of the idea that our youth are the future of the church. Students will engage with modern scholarship (both Orthodox and non-Orthodox), as well as patristic texts that will place Youth Ministry within the proper context of Orthodox liturgical worship. Students will be challenged to apply this understanding to the life of their particular parish, and to identify and understand their own role within that application.

Skills for Parish Education and Administration equips students with the practical competencies needed to support the daily functioning, ministry coordination, and educational life of their parish or organization. The course introduces foundational principles of project management, program administration, and organizational workflow, with attention to the digital tools and software applications commonly used in parish settings. Students will analyze the administrative structure of their own parish to understand how decisions are made, how communication flows, and how ministries are supported.

Leadership is one of the most studied of human traits. In an increasingly competitive world, leadership is sought out as an indicator of success.  Yet, despite the countless books and podcasts on the topic of leadership, leadership is not well understood as a habit that can be formed.  This course introduces foundational models of leadership through an Orthodox Christian lens, integrating theological reflection with practical skill-building. Students will explore frameworks for servant leadership, discernment, and collaborative ministry, while cultivating personal habits that support spiritual maturity, emotional resilience, and effective engagement in parish life. Classical and contemporary theories and styles of leadership and their application to professional, global, and personal settings will be explored.  Emphasis will be placed on developing habits for leadership with reference to rhythms of prayer, self-awareness, and community accountability as essential elements of sustainable lay leadership.