Sowing Shalom: Soul-Anchored Practices for Racial Healing and Nurturing the Beloved Community
Sowing Shalom is a four-season retreat series that invites participants into a contemplative journey of racial healing, belonging, and transformation rooted in the way of Jesus. Through soul-anchored practices, participants are invited to discern God’s presence in the places where race has shaped their stories, relationships, and communities. Drawing from the rhythms of the natural world and the wisdom of Christian spiritual practices, each retreat explores a different season of growth through a distinct spiritual practice.
Fall invites participants to engage Guided Lectio as they reflect on the stories they carry and consider what must be released.
Winter explores the Examen of Consciousness as a pathway into grief, lament, confession, and repentance, creating space to honestly encounter the wounds of racial brokenness and God’s healing presence.
Spring centers on Centering Prayer and the possibility of renewal, inviting participants to receive God’s transforming love and discover new ways of being with themselves and others.
Summer explores Imaginative Prayer as participants reflect on the fruits of transformation and imagine what it means to nurture the Beloved Community.
Each retreat includes guided spiritual practices, Scripture reflection, silence, storytelling, personal reflection, and meaningful conversation. Participants are invited to deepen their relationship with God, grow in compassion across racial differences, and discover how inner transformation can foster healing, belonging, and faithful participation in God’s work within their communities.
Participation is offered through a brief discernment process rather than open registration. This allows for the thoughtful cultivation of a cohort that reflects a range of racial and ethnic identities and lived experiences, which is essential to the depth and integrity of the work. Those who are interested are invited to complete a short interest form and may be invited into a brief conversation as part of this shared process of discernment.
Upon reviewing the interest forms, we will send the Cohort registration link.
Retreat Dates
Fall: September 20-22, 2026
Winter: January 31-February 2, 2027
Spring: April 4-6, 2027
Summer: July 9-11, 2027
Retreat Cost
$750 total for the four retreats
About the Facilitator
Afrika Afeni Mills is an author, spiritual director, educator, and ordained elder who helps individuals and communities cultivate deeper belonging through contemplative practice, spiritual formation, and racial healing. She is the founder of Soul Compass and the author of Open Windows, Open Minds: Developing Antiracist, Pro-Human Students and the forthcoming Sowing Shalom: Soul-Anchored Practices for Racial Healing and Nurturing the Beloved Community. Her TED-Ed Talk, Four Ways to Have Healthy Conversations About Race, has been viewed more than one million times. Afrika serves as an Assistant Pastor with Grace Communion International and is a participant in the Transforming Center's Transforming Community. She is known for creating spaces marked by warmth, honesty, curiosity, and grace.