The Rev. Brian Vander Wel is the 43rd rector of Christ Church Accokeek, located just outside of Washington, D.C. A 1999 Trinity Anglican Seminary alumnus, Father Brian has served at Christ Church since 2007.

For Father Brian, as for so many clergy today, the day-to-day life of pastoral ministry is demanding. “While there are built-in deadlines, milestones, and ‘emergencies’ in congregational life,” Father Brian stated, “every parish priest knows—or soon learns—that the work is never really finished. It is easy for the demands of meetings, emails, sermon prep, pastoral visitations, staff oversight, and more emails to crowd out time for the necessary, personal work of cultivating one's own heart, soul, and mind. But it must be a priority because our priestly life is more like a reservoir than a canal—as Evelyn Underhill puts it—and without intention, we will soon run dry.”

It was for people like Father Brian that Trinity Anglican Seminary developed a new continuing education program called Ad Fontes. It began with a question: What if theological education wasn’t just a steppingstone on the way to ordination but something integrated into the daily life of ministry? What if the academy and the church weren’t siloed off from one another but closely linked?

Back to the sources, but not alone

The phrase Ad Fontes means “to the sources,” and for this program, that means helping clergy and lay leaders return to the sources of theological nourishment. We believe ministry is enriched by drinking together from the deep wells of theological writing that has shaped the Christian tradition. This is what helps deepen our love and knowledge of God and to become better equipped to share that knowledge and love in our churches.

The goal of Ad Fontes is threefold:

1. to promote theological education as an integral component of ministerial life
2. to cultivate pastoral formation through robust networks of friendship and mutual mentoring
3. to develop a distinctively Anglican theological, spiritual, and pastoral identity that supports unity across dioceses

We ran a pilot program last spring on the writings of one of the most important theologians in the early church—St. Gregory of Nyssa. For Father Brian, who participated in that program, what was most inspiring was getting to listen firsthand to this church father. “Listening to him, in his voice, gleaning from his insights and simply working to learn how he thinks has been deeply enriching for me,” Father Brian said.

Built for a priest’s schedule

The format is simple. Over a semester, 8-12 participants meet for an in-person retreat at Trinity followed by six to eight online sessions. Each seminar is led by an expert faculty and conducted in a seminar-style format, with generous time for discussion and practical engagement.

Our goal isn’t to create academic experts but to enrich the theological practice of ministry through conversation and friendship around key texts and writings from the Christian tradition. More than just gaining knowledge, we want Ad Fontes participants to experience formation and transformation in the virtue of charity and habits of learning, listening, and thoughtful engagement that will support a lifetime of faithful ministry.

This fall's seminars

This fall, we’re offering two new seminars, one on the theology of creation in the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius, one of the most influential theologians in the early Church, taught by Dr. Thomas Breedlove, Director of the Ad Fontes Program. Another seminar, taught by Dr. Alex Fogleman, Director of the Robert Webber Center, will introduce the theology and practice of catechesis and discipleship.

You can learn more about Ad Fontes on our website, as well as find information about registration.

We’ve worked hard to make this program affordable and well-suited to the rhythms of pastoral ministry. Several dioceses have already agreed to make generous scholarship funding available, and there is also funding to provide additional scholarships.

See how it fits your parish

If you’d like to hear more or chat about how this program might fit within your ministry, you can reach out to Dr. Breedlove, the Ad Fontes Program director, or Dr. Fogleman, Robert Webber Center director.