The Art & Science of Vocational Discernment

Spring 2026 • $100.00

The Art & Science of Vocational Discernment course is designed for ministry leaders who accompany young adults in exploring meaning and purpose. Applications for this course will open in Spring 2026. Please sign up for our interest list here to be notified when applications become available.

Enrollment Opens in 2026

A framework for discernment in your accompaniment of emerging adults

For more than 25 years, FTE has designed and facilitated discernment experiences with young adults and those who accompany them in their vocational exploration of Christian ministry as well as in discerning a life of meaning and purpose. Over five weeks, "The Art & Science of Vocational Discernment" course will introduce practitioners to FTE's discernment framework. Through the disciplines and practices explored, you will be inspired to reflect on how these can be applied in your own diverse contexts.

For more information or questions, please email Heather B.P. Wallace, our Community Engagement Manager.

FTE Instructors for Art & Science of Vocational Discernment

Stephen Lewis is the president of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and creator and co-founder of DO GOOD X, a start-up accelerator for under-represented, faith-rooted social entrepreneurs. He has more than 25 years of experience in corporate and nonprofit leadership as an organizational change strategist and a leadership development specialist, focused on inspiring the next generation of faith-inspired leaders and entrepreneurs to live and work on purpose. Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in banking and finance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master of Divinity from Duke University. He co-authored Another Way: Living and Leading Change on Purpose (2020) and A Way Out of No Way: An Approach to Christian Innovation (2021).

Christina Repoley serves as the Vice President of Program at the Forum for Theological Exploration. She oversees all of FTE's programming including events, grants, fellowships and courses. She works to make spaces for discernment, connection, resourcing, and community building amongst various FTE constituencies. Before joining FTE, Christina founded the national organization Quaker Voluntary Service and served as its Executive Director for nearly a decade. Christina holds an MDiv from Emory University's Candler School of Theology and a BA from Guilford College. She is a recorded minister in the Friends tradition.

Course Overview

FTE’s Discernment Disciplines provide a structured approach to discernment. Similar to academic subjects like math, English, or history, these disciplines are broad categories that encompass various practices, knowledge, and techniques needed to achieve their goals.

We recognize that you are already using a range of practices, knowledge, theology, and techniques within these disciplines for your own discernment or in supporting others. This course will offer a framework and foundation to help you more effectively accompany young adults as they discern meaning and purpose.

The course modules will explore one of the six disciplines of discernment, examining:

The Who

Emerging adults and their unique needs

The What

The disciplines themselves and a deeper understanding of their nature

The Why

The importance of each discipline from the perspectives of brain and social science, especially for young adults

The How

Practical ways to engage the disciplines in practice.

A conspiratorial process of co-creation with the Eternal dependent on human choreography to bring about or materialize inspirational possibilities.

DESIGNA conspiratorial process of co-creation with the Eternal dependent on human choreography to bring about or materialize inspirational possibilities.

The shared and mutually beneficial creative work that two or more people do together to achieve a discernible goal.

COLLABORATEThe shared and mutually beneficial creative work that two or more people do together to achieve a discernible goal.

The way that we become aware within ourselves, beyond ourselves, and between each other.

PRESENCEThe way that we become aware within ourselves, beyond ourselves, and between each other.

The intangible tie between people necessary to build connections and trust, collaborate, and awaken to the transformation within, between, and beyond themselves.

BELONGINGThe intangible tie between people necessary to build connections and trust, collaborate, and awaken to the transformation within, between, and beyond themselves.

The capacity to nurture communal sense-making that calls, challenges, and affirms one’s discernment.

MEANING MAKINGThe capacity to nurture communal sense-making that calls, challenges, and affirms one’s discernment.

The ability to dream, see, create, and enact what’s discernible and potentially viable for ourselves and others in the future.

IMAGINEThe ability to dream, see, create, and enact what’s discernible and potentially viable for ourselves and others in the future.

“ With this course, you will learn a framework that is adaptable, simple and deep to accompany young adults in hearing God's voice in how they can contribute to the world in powerful, meaningful ways. In just six concepts, you can build a process to hear how God is calling you in teaching what vocational discernment is all about. ” Rev. Nicole Conard, Campus Ministry and Young Adults Coordinator in the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church/2024 Course Participant
Frequently Asked Questions

Over the course of five weeks, the Art & Science of Vocational Discernment course will introduce practitioners to FTE's discernment framework. Through the disciplines and practices explored, you will be inspired to reflect on how these can be applied in your own diverse contexts.

This course is designed for ministry leaders accompanying young adults in exploring meaning and purpose.

The course is $100.