Come as you are.

Encounter the Holy.

Be renewed.

brazil

Amazon
Rainforest

Yellowstone National Park is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot.

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Yellowstone
National Park

United States

Maldives
Vacation

Maldives

02

Maldives

Maldives
Vacation

Yellowstone National Park is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot.

Get Started

Amazon
Rainforest

Brazil

Yellowstone
National Park

United States

03

Come As You Are
Encounter the holy
Be renewed

Welcome

We are so glad you stopped by. We invite you to explore our website and see what you may be drawn to. 

Reflections

Here, in this space, discover the wonder of the depth of God’s love for you, in all the beauty that makes you you, for you are God’s beloved.

 

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News

Next cohort to our Spiritual Direction Training Programs is September 2025. If you are feeling drawn into being trained as a Spiritual Director, contact us at [email protected] to learn more.

 

 

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Join Us On The Journey

We are not a church or an institution.

We are people who have encountered God’s welcome and are being made whole through God’s expansive love.  We create space just as God has created space for us. If you desire to know God’s radical welcome or to join us on a journey toward wholeness, you are so welcome here. You are invited to Come As You Are, Encounter the Holy, Be Renewed. 

We believe everyone is created in the image of God. We embrace the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity and its expression, religious background, age, range of abilities, racial and cultural identity or background, and educational and socioeconomic status.

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A JCOC Board Announcement

With deep gratitude we announce that after many years of faithful service, Eva will be retiring from her role as Executive Director this spring.

From those initial gatherings 10 years ago, Eva has embodied the spirit and values of the Journey Center of Chicago—the Way of Hospitality, Silence, Contemplation, Discernment, Mission, and Love. She has been a steady, compassionate presence, listening deeply, welcoming warmly, and leading us with courage and care. Through her vision and heart, the Journey Center of Chicago has become a place of healing, renewal, and spiritual connection for so many.

We are so grateful to Eva for listening to that nudging of the Spirit many years ago and having the faith to move from vision to reality. It has been our privilege to be on this journey with Eva  learning from her wisdom and compassion every step of the way. We will miss Eva’s leadership and guidance dearly, but we know her spirit, vision, and legacy are woven into the very fabric of who we are as an organization. Click here to read Eva’s letter.

In the coming weeks, the Board of Directors will share more about the exciting future ahead for the Journey Center. As we move forward together, we hold fast to the values that brought us here under Eva’s leadership.

Please join us in giving God thanks for Eva as we celebrate her leadership of the Journey Center of Chicago! 

With love and deep appreciation,

Board of Directors
The Journey Center of Chicago

Events

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We are a part of an Association of Journey Centers, a growing, vibrant movement of God’s Spirit inviting people to encounter the Holy.

Thank you!

”Thank you so much to you and to the group who guides the Journey Center!
The learning and experiences through your workshops keep on quietly blessing me with hope and peace.”

Love and Acceptance

“You show love & acceptance without judgment, so I wanted to share this with you and say thank you for all you have done
and continue to do in my life and so many others. “

Just as we are

“I’m thrilled to know that there are places like Journey Center where people can come to be received and loved by God just as we are and a place where we can learn and join the sacred journey together.”

The Spirit was present

“What a wonderful, insightful and sacred time Journey Center of Chicago provided  at the Contemplative Retreat. Through prayer, dialogue and spiritual exercises the movement of the Spirit was present. Thank you for fostering a safe and holy space. Peace be with you.”

A gift

“You and the a Journey Center are a gift to hurting people! Thank you so much for being available to me!”

Newsletter




Keep up-to-date on Journey Center of Chicago news and events. Join us as we encounter the Holy and experience renewal! 

On Our Racial Justice Journey

A Statement from our former Board Chair, Rev. Jolene Bergstrom-Carlson

God accepts us where we are and invites us to become more…
Jesus’ essence was one of welcome and radical hospitality.

Over 400 years ago, our country didn’t show the essence of Jesus and brought people from Africa to be sold as slaves. African American people have been enslaved in many ways ever since. The visible murder of George Floyd has awakened a too often dormant demand to face the raw truth that the crimes of injustice are happening throughout this country every minute of every day.

It is in this horrific truth, that the Journey Center invites you to travel inside yourself and into the history of both white and black experiences that have perpetuated the pain and have been recipients of the pain of injustices. We offer this with deep humility aware of the limitations each of us has, but we come with hearts open and eager to name truth and be in an authentic and safe community to learn, confront, lament and grow.

Isaiah 62:10
“Go through, go through the gates,
Prepare the way for the people:
Build up, build up the highway,
Clear it of stones,
Lift up an ensign over the peoples.”

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