Called Back to the Well, a program of the Samaritan Counseling Center, in partnership with the Norbertine Community at the Santa Maria de la Vid Priory and with a $686,000 grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., fosters sustained excellence in ministry by cultivating in participating ministers vital prayer and spiritual practice.

This program invites ministers and the systems within which they live and work into a process of formation and re-formation for sustaining pastoral excellence.   The program engages ministers in one of two primary modes of spiritual renewal and practice.   Some participate in retreats or Sabbath days. Others are connected into ecumenical prayer/support groups in selected locales throughout the region.

Called Back to the Well enlists congregations and judicatories into a climate of encouragement for ministers to take time away for retreat, meeting with a spiritual director, participating in a group, and practicing spiritual disciplines.   As they support ministers in this process, church systems will themselves deepen their spiritual lives and more fruitfully sustain excellence in ministry.  

Protestant, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox ministers in a five-state area of the Southwestern United States (New Mexico , Arizona , Utah , Colorado , and Texas ) are served by this program. The Samaritan Counseling Center 's leadership of this program enables participating ministers to become more effective by developing deeper spiritual lives and stronger spiritual communities.   It also helps congregations better understand and support spiritual growth in their ministers.   Ministers in the region are encouraged to develop disciplined plans and enjoy supportive communities for vitalizing their spiritual lives as a cornerstone toward sustained excellence in ministry.