A Legacy of Formation. A New Chapter of Accreditation.
The Center for Integral Spiritual Formation (CISF) stands on the shoulders of a decade of innovative spiritual care education under the auspices of Concordia Clinical. CISF's story begins not just with institutional strategy, but with a commitment to the sacred task of clinical spiritual care—offering presence in the places where people suffer, grieve, doubt, heal, and transform.
Since 2016, Concordia Clinical has helped thousands of students experience meaningful Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) through multiple accrediting pathways. Each chapter of the story helped shape what CISF has now become.
2016
Launch of USDE accredited CPE under Concordia Clinical (ICPT) with expanded spiritual formation focus.
2020
Specialized military and first-responder cohorts established under The School of Military Spiritual Formation (ICPT & CPEI).
2023 - 2025
The School of Military Spiritual Formation emerges as a leader in contemplative CPE across North America with hundreds of trained chaplains, and in 2025, expands to healthcare and correctional chaplaincy as Anam Cara CPE (CPEI) and The Center for Integral Spiritual Formation (ACPE).
Our Mission
CISF was launched in direct response to the call for an ACPE-accredited path that still held true to the ethos of:
• Rigorous clinical spiritual care
• Integral personal formation
• Professional readiness
• Online-hybrid accessibility.
CISF is a deepening of Concordia's commitment to offer CPE that is both recognized and real.
What remains central to our work is this:
We believe spiritual caregivers must be spiritually formed. We don’t teach chaplaincy as a technique. We walk with people into a calling. CISF carries forward the faculty, philosophy, and formation process that students have trusted through Anam Cara, The School of Military Spiritual Formation, and Concordia Clinical’s spiritual care ecosystem.
We exist to equip the next generation of chaplains to meet the world’s suffering with strength and soul. From bedside vigils to prison chapels, from hospital trauma units to quiet corners of grief—we are forming the people who show up when it matters most.
At CISF, a new wave of chaplains is being shaped—inside and out.
We are honored to continue this story—with you.
