Instructor
Dr. Jana Koh
Resilience Circle
Resilience Training for Pastors and Church Leaders
OnlineStart Date: January 6, 2027
End Date: April 28, 2027
Time: 12PM-2PM (PT)
All LevelsDay of Week: Wednesday
Capacity: 10 Seats
Topic: Leadership Development
8 Sessions
Early Bird Member Price: $436.59
Early Bird Non-Member Price: $485.10
Number of CEUs Available: 16
Online All Levels8 Sessions
Topic: Leadership Development
Start Date: January 6, 2027
End Date: April 28, 2027
Time: 12PM-2PM (PT)
Day of Week: Wednesday
Capacity: 10 Seats
Early Bird Member Price: $436.59
Early Bird Non-Member Price: $485.10
Number of CEUs Available: 16
Resilience Circle: Resilience Training for Pastors and Church Leaders
Build the capacity to keep leading without losing yourself in the process.
You are often the person other people turn to when something is difficult.
Conflict. Grief. Change. A crisis in someone’s life. A strained relationship. A decision no one wants to make.
Over time, carrying those responsibilities can change the way you respond to stress, relate to other people, and even relate to yourself.
Resilience Circle is a four-month cohort for pastors, ministry leaders, nonprofit leaders, and spiritual directors who want to strengthen their capacity to stay present, connected, and grounded through the realities of leadership.
This is not another course about pushing through.
It is a space to notice what is happening in you, practice different ways of responding, and build habits that can support you long after the cohort ends.
Resilience Is More Than Endurance
Resilience is not simply the ability to withstand more stress.
It includes knowing what happens inside you when pressure rises. Recognizing the patterns you fall into during conflict. Learning how to respond to yourself with greater compassion. Building relationships where vulnerability, listening, and honest feedback are possible.
It also means developing the ability to experience difficulty without allowing that difficulty to define everything around you.
Resilience can grow.
And like most meaningful change, it grows through practice.
What Happens in a Resilience Circle?
Across eight sessions, you will engage a combination of content, personal reflection, sharing, and facilitated discussion.
Meeting twice each month gives you time between sessions to notice what is happening in your own life and leadership, practice what you are learning, and return to the group with new questions and experiences.
The goal is not simply to understand resilience intellectually.
It is to begin experiencing and practicing it differently.
What You Can Gain
Resilience Circle can help you:
- Recognize how you respond to stress and conflict
- Develop greater self-awareness and self-compassion
- Stay more present when emotions or tension rise
- Build supportive relationships through listening, vulnerability, and honest feedback
- Find meaning in experiences of suffering, disappointment, or failure
- Engage people across theological, political, cultural, and other differences with greater curiosity and compassion
- Develop practices that support more sustainable leadership
This Course Is for You If…
You are carrying more emotional weight than people around you may realize.
You find yourself reacting more quickly, withdrawing more often, or feeling less like yourself under stress.
You are navigating conflict or change and want to respond differently than you have in the past.
You care deeply about the people you lead, but you also recognize that caring for others does not automatically make you resilient.
Or you simply want to become more aware of the patterns shaping the way you lead and relate.
Resilience Circle is designed for clergy, ministry leaders, nonprofit leaders, spiritual directors, and others whose work asks them to remain present to people in complex situations.
Why Learn Resilience in Community?
Information alone rarely changes the way we respond when we are under pressure.
That is why Resilience Circle is built around a small cohort rather than simply delivering content.
Together, participants practice listening, reflection, vulnerability, and connection in a “safe enough” space where people can bring different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds into the room.
Those differences are part of the work.
By learning to stay present to ourselves and to one another, we increase our capacity to lead with greater compassion when relationships become difficult.
Eight Sessions. Four Months. Meaningful Practice Over Time.
Resilience does not develop in a single workshop.
The four-month structure gives you time to practice, notice what changes, encounter challenges, and return to the Circle to continue learning.
You do not need to become unaffected by stress or conflict.
You can become better able to recognize what is happening, remain connected to yourself and others, and choose how you want to respond.
Enroll in the Class
Instructor
Dr. Jana Koh
FAQS ↓
Why should I become a member?
Members get to register for classes early – a full week before they open to the general public! Plus, members receive a 10% discount on all events and classes and access to value-add content in their inboxes throughout the year. To become a member, you can sign up here, or purchase a membership when you buy your class.
What kind of help in payment is available?
We offer discounts of up to 50% to clergy, staff, and lay ministry leaders of our official partners, which includes the Olympia Presbytery, the Northwest Coast Presbytery, and the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Partnerships have no financial cost, and are available with (a) regional or national denominations), (b) multi-site churches, or ( c) large nonprofit organizations. If you would like to encourage your organization to become a partner, please email your regional leader to let them know! You can even introduce them to us by cc’ing transforming@theseattleschool.edu, and we’ll put them in touch with the right person for next steps.
Early bird discounts are available during the first week of registration.
Becoming a member costs offers 10% on all classes and events for a full year. Often, just one class is enough to make the membership cost worth it.
If you pastor with a denomination, you may have resources for professional development. Check with your regional supervisor for more information on funds available.
What are the community guidelines?
Please see the full community guidelines on this page. If an instance of community guidelines are violated and cannot be resolved within the class, participants may let us know by emailing us transforming@theseattleschool.edu and we will direct you to The Seattle School’s incident report form.
What happens if my class is cancelled?
If the Center cancels an offering for any reason, all participants will receive a full refund of registration fees.
If a program is rescheduled, participants may choose to transfer their registration to the new date or receive a full refund.
How do I request a refund?
Refunds are available according to the following schedule:
- 60+ days before the program start date: 75% refund
- 30–59 days before the program start date: 50% refund
- Less than 30 days before the program start date: no refund
If you need to cancel your registration, please email transforming@theseattleschool.edu and include your name and the course title.
If the Center cancels a program, all participants will receive a full refund of registration fees. If a program is rescheduled, participants may choose to transfer their registration to the new date or receive a full refund.
How do I contact technical support?
Technology should not be the hardest part of your learning experience. If you encounter errors in the catalog, problems with payment, or difficulty accessing course materials, please let us know. You can find the technical support form here. We try to respond within 48 hours (business days only).