Dates
- November 6, 2021
- January 29, 2022
- March 19, 2022
- November 19, 2022
- January 28, 2023
- March 25, 2023
Our Teachers
25 March, 2023
Your Story Matters — Leslie Leyland Fields
Leslie is the multi-awarding author of 12 books including Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing and Living the Truth of Your Life, Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt and the Seas (which won Christianity Today’s Book Award in Christian Living), Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers. Her books have been translated into nine languages.Leslie holds three graduate degrees and has taught at universities, conferences, retreats, and churches around the world on matters of discipleship, forgiveness, peacemaking and spiritual autobiography. She also teaches online “Your Story Matters” memoir classes to writers in many countries, training leaders to teach Your Story Matters groups in cancer centers, rehab facilities, senior centers, prisons, churches and neighborhoods. She and her husband Duncan raised six kids on Kodiak Island, Alaska, where they have worked in commercial salmon fishing for 45+ years. When she isn’t writing or teaching, she’s out kayaking and enjoying the Alaskan wilderness, especially whales and sea otters whose existence proves the love of God!
25 March, 2023
Spiritual Discipleship/Mentoring — Pierre Ledent — Protestant Army Chaplain
Born in 1964 in Chalôns-sur-Marne, Pierre grew up in the Gers. After graduating from high school, he joined the army as a non-commissioned officer. After 5 1/2 years, called by the Lord to be a pastor, he studied theology in Aix-en-Provence at the Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée. In 1996, he became pastor in a parish in the Cevennes. Then in 2002, he joined the Protestant Army Chaplaincy serving successively 2 years in the Foreign Legion, 4 years in French Polynesia, 9 years in Isère and since 2017 in Clermont-Ferrand. He has experienced several missions accompanying troops in external operations. Despite the fact that he no longer has a parish in charge, he supports the churches that call upon him.
In the last two years, Pierre has been ill and has had three cancers. In spite of his health difficulties, he kept his spirits up and witnessed to the love and faithfulness of Jesus. By the grace of the Lord, he is currently in remission.
He is married to Lilia, an American, and they have 4 bilingual children. They live in Clermont-Ferrand. He likes to do puzzles (from 2000 to 6000 pieces) and play chess. Always in a good mood, what he enjoys most is spending time with his family, making pastoral visits and sharing the Word of God. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
25 March, 2023
Spiritual Discipleship/Mentoring — Elspeth Burrell
Elspeth was born and grew up in Scotland, the youngest of four children, her Dad a Church of Scotland minister. She committed her life to Jesus in 1970 and went on to study Modern Languages at Glasgow University, moving to France in 1975 after her marriage to Keith who was working in Paris. They loved being part of St Michael’s Church, where they enjoyed wonderful biblical teaching and fellowship with Christians from all over the world. In 1989, they moved to Lyon with their four children, and Elspeth became an English teacher. The family joined the TCL (Trinity Church Lyon) family there, and Elspeth has been involved in leading worship, children’s and women’s ministry, and most recently, preaching. Since her retirement, she has trained as a hospital chaplain and as a spiritual accompanier. She loves singing, baking cakes, playing word games, and spending time with her five amazing grandchildren.
28 January, 2023
Evangelisation — Carole Chomel
Carole has been teaching mathematics to teenagers for over 25 years. At the same time, God has given her the immense grace of allowing her to work especially among young people: 20 years in the animation and direction of summer camps, mainly for teenagers, 7 years with students in Lyon with Agape-campus, and 2 years as mentor to a class of 10 young evangelists (R2E). For the past 8 years, she has been involved in discipleship with young women. She has been involved for a year in a church plant in Croix-Rousse.
She enjoys reading, hiking, running, spending quality time with friends, practising hospitality and seeing people discover Jesus!
28 January, 2023
Healthy People Helping — Kim Platt
Raised in a Christian home on a farm in Washington state, Kim wanted to do something for God besides teach Sunday school—the only thing women in her church seemed to be able to do. She loved history and wanted to travel and the Lord took these heart desires and opened up opportunities. Those open doors included smuggling bibles in Eastern Europe and living in Austria and Czechia before moving to the UK in 1998. After struggling with depression and a marriage in crisis, the Lord shaped their hurts into a calling to help others living cross culturally. Since 2004 Kim and her husband have been debriefing cross-cultural workers from their home in North Wales. She also serves as a Member care Specialist with One Collective and listens to workers serving around the world.
She was invited to provide listening services for the first Lifesprings retreat in Lyon. Over the years she’s served in many different roles and helped with 3 LSM courses and numerous retreats. She’s on the teaching team at her local church and preaches regularly. A breast cancer diagnosis in 2017 sharpened her view on life. So, after 30+ years of marriage, and life in 4 countries she’s still that farm girl who smuggled bibles, found Jesus faithful, had 4 kids in 3 different countries, and survived cancer to play with her 3 grandchildren.
19 November, 2022
How to Read and Study the Bible — Brother John of Taizé
Born in Philadelphia (USA) in 1950, Brother John joined the Taizé Community in France in 1974. He spends much of his time in Taizé helping the young people and adults who take part in the international meetings there to learn how to read the Bible as a source of meaning for their own life. In the 1980s he was part of a small group of Taizé brothers who were living in Hell’s Kitchen on the West Side of Manhattan. He continues to travel, especially in the United States and Italy for meetings and retreats. Brother John has written a dozen books on Biblical topics discussed in the meetings at Taizé; they have been translated into many different languages. Among them are Friends in Christ: Reimagining the Christian Church in an Age of Globalization (2012); The Wrath of a Loving God: Unraveling a Biblical Conundrum (2019), and Metanoia: The Shape of the Christian Life (2021).
19 November 2022
Conflict Transformation — Theresa Anderson
Theresa Anderson grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and 16 years ago traded them for the French Alps. These days, she has a hard time imagining a life anywhere else, and loves being able to use her master in Christian Outdoor & Experiential Ministry working at Champfleuri retreat centre. Theresa was introduced to Lifesprings shortly after arriving in France, participating in the Lifesprings School of Ministry in Grenoble in 2009-2011. She caught the LSM vision and has since coordinated a school in French and leads the Lifesprings Facilitator team, helping other women step into leading LSMs in their own city/country. Theresa loves helping people see how God uses their life experiences & relationships as a “classroom” to help them learn and grow. Favourite activities include family time, meaningful conversations (while walking or over a cup of coffee), gardening & cooking, and downhill skiing.
19 March, 2022
Serving God Through Leadership — Janice Gutierre
Janice is a California native with a heart for the world, and a theologian who is seminary trained with an emphasis in spiritual formation. She has over 30 years of ministry leadership experience, and specialises in cross-cultural leadership training for international women to impact their communities for the greater good. She served for over a decade in the role of Executive Director for Lifesprings International where she thrived and loved connecting, encouraging and preparing women worldwide to step into the fulness of their callings. Now Janice is extending that ministry through her laptop where she writes and continues to empower women in ministry leadership, team building and soul care.
On a more personal note, Janice enjoys the simple pleasures in life: walking through her wine-country neighborhood, hiking on the surrounding hills, getting a day away to the beach or the mountains when possible, reading, writing, photography, family meals and porch-time with neighbours.
19 March, 2022
Pursuing God’s Will Together — Gudrun Reeves
Gudrun has been living and working with her austro-texan family in the Christian retreat center, Champfleuri, in the French Alps for the past 20 years. Affiliated with the French churc- planting mission Perspectives and the International Fellowship of Toarchbearers, it is a ministry that allows her to successfully combine her training in the tourism industry in Austria with her Theology studies at the European Bible Institute in Larmolaye, France. Gudrun’s passion for building community and for spiritual formation practices has definitely shaped her approach to faith and life. Gudrun is most happy when she has a good book to read or a trip to prepare, but most of all she loves hearing peoples’ stories.
29 January, 2022
Spiritual Formation & Transformation
Anne Meynier-Schweitzer and Louis Schweitzer
Since 1987, Anne has been a permanent member of the Agape France mission. One of Agape’s vocations is to train Christians to help fulfil the missionary order (Mt 28.18-20). Anne holds a Master’s degree in Theology. She believes that deepening one’s personal relationship with God is an essential element to respond to the Lord’s call. She has therefore been involved with the association Compagnons de Route (“Companions along the way”), along with her husband Louis, since 2010, training Christians in spiritual guidance. She and Louis also lead spiritual retreats. Since her encounter with Christ, she has been challenged by Jesus’ prayer for Christian unity “so that the world may believe” (Jn 17.20-23), and she enjoys working to build bridges between Christians. She rejoices over past and present opportunities for collaboration with brothers and sisters from all walks of life. The presentation would not be complete without mentioning her love for the mountains and in particular the Haute-Maurienne.
Following doctoral studies in theology, she held church pastorates in England and Wales before serving in two regional oversight roles. Other areas of ministry have included chaplaincy to a psychiatric hospital, contributing to BBC religious programming and university lecturing. She currently exercises her ministry through speaking and writing. She is author of “Quand les femmes se mettent à l’oeuvre” and “Women Without Walls,” a regular writer for The Preacher magazine, and a member of the editorial team of the blog ServirEnsemble. She is also a passionate classical musician and teaches the piano.
Louis is a pastor belonging to the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France. After having been pastor of a church in the centre of Paris for 11 years, he became General Secretary of the French Protestant Federation (Fédération Protestante de France). From 1996 to 2020, he taught ethics at the Evangelical Faculty of Theology (Faculté de Théologie Evangélique) in Vaux-sur-Seine. He still teaches courses in spirituality there. In 2002, together with Linda Oyer, they set up the ISCAS training courses (initiation to Christian spirituality and spiritual guidance), followed by the association Compagnons de Route (“Companions along the way”) which they continue to run with Anne and Alain Marionnet. Louis and Linda wrote a short book together entitled, « Les crises de la foi, étapes sur le chemin de la vie spirituelle » (Crises of faith, stages on the spiritual journey). They have kindly allowed an english version to be translated for this school.
29 January, 2022
Organizational Principles and Practices — Daphne Clifton
Having spent 25 years as a senior leader in media sales and marketing, Daphne now runs her own Performance Coaching business, based in London and coaching globally. An Associate Speaker for the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, Daphne is passionate about helping real people understand the real role they have to play in the world of work, as Christians. A recently ordained minister in the Church of England, Daphne is sure it is never too late to learn new ways of living life to the full. The reality that time is finite and energy is renewable, is her key to living a varied, fulfilling life. She recharges her batteries on the hockey pitch, watching cricket or dog-sitting for friends.
6 November, 2021
God’s Global Vision for Women — Mary Cotes
Mary is a Baptist minister from Britain. Having completed doctoral studies in theology, she held church pastorates in England and Wales before serving in two regional oversight roles. Other areas of ministry have included chaplaincy to a psychiatric hospital, contributing to BBC religious programming and university lecturing. She currently exercises her ministry through speaking and writing. She is author of “Quand les femmes se mettent à l’oeuvre” now published in English as “Women Without Walls,” a regular writer for The Preacher magazine, and a member of the editorial team of the blog ServirEnsemble. She is also a passionate classical musician and teaches the piano.
Prior to ordination training, Mary studied French, fell in love with France, and has been crossing the Channel frequently ever since! She remained very happily single until the age of fifty, since when she has been very happily married to Duncan.
6 November, 2021
History of Women in the Bible and in Building the Kingdom of God — Lula Derœux
Lula has completed her degree at the Free Faculty of Evangelical Theology (FLTE). She is also a member of the Serving Together blog team (servirensemble.com). She is married to Benjamin, a pastor of the Baptist Federation (FEEBF), in which she is also involved at the national and local levels. Their church is in Morsang-sur-Orge, in Essonne. One of the great joys of this Swiss native is to see people grow in faith and discover the Lord, walking the paths He has planned for each one. She has a special interest in serving women. Indeed, she wishes to encourage her sisters to dare, to dream and to act for the Gospel. With her passionate and committed character, she aspires to share this wonderful God depicted in the Bible.
Cost
Non-refundable registration fee 50€.
Each teaching day costs 75€ — and includes lunch and course materials.
Curriculum
- God’s Global Vision for Women
- History of Women in the Bible and in Building the Kingdom of God
- Spiritual Formation: It’s Focus and How it Works
- Organizational Principles and Practices and Rhythm of Life
- Serving God through Leadership
- Building Effective Ministry Teams
- Conflict Transformation
- People Helping
- Evangelism
- Making Disciples
- Bible Study Methods
- Your Story for His Glory
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an age limit?
At Lifesprings we say that ‘retirement’ doesn’t exist in God’s Kingdom! The training is accessible to every Christian woman over the age of 18, whatever her age, experience, background, family situation…
Can I try out the first session before I decide to register for the school?
You must register for the school before attending, however you can choose to pay for the first day only and decide whether to continue after that.
Payment Options:
‘Pay as you go’ – Registration of 50€ + 75€ per day -> Total cost = 500€
‘Pay up front’ – Registration of 50€ + 400€ for all 6 days together -> Total cost = 450€
Is there a possibility of financial aid?
We would not wish financial problems to prevent you from participating. If you are in financial difficulties you can request a partial scholarship which will reduce the cost of the sessions.
What happens if I can’t participate in all sessions?
Of course we encourage you to participate in all the sessions but if you are registered and cannot be present on the day we will give you all the materials needed to catch up (notes, books etc.) and also the recording of the teaching session. The general rule is to be present in person for at least 4 out of 6 sessions. It is always possible to discuss with your coach and the dean on a case by case basis if an unplanned change occurs.
Do I get a diploma at the end of the course?
We are an ecumenical organisation and not affiliated with a particular church. If you attend at least 4 of the 6 sessions, have completed the necessary assignments and also completed the planned sections of your ministry project, then you will be awarded a Lifesprings International certificate of completion for the LSM – Lyon school.
Is child care provided?
Unfortunately we do not have the possibility to provide child care at the venue, however, given that the sessions are infrequent and only on Saturdays we hope that you can find a solution. The teaching days normally start at 9.00 a.m. and finish at 5.00p.m.