Imagine a formation director in Chicago and a formator in Windhoek, Namibia, sitting at the same table—comparing notes, praying together, and discovering how much each has to teach the other. That is the kind of conversation we hope to make possible next year.
Over the past several months, our two organizations—RFC and The Sophia Institute for Theological Studies and Spiritual Formation—have been exploring collaborations. Founded in 2025 by Sister Anne Arabome, SSS, The Sophia Institute began as Africa’s first center dedicated to the formation of women religious and now serves women and men religious alike. Its holistic approach, and its attention to leadership, discernment, and intercultural community life, will feel familiar to anyone who knows RFC.
Our hope is simple: To learn together. To share what we know. To widen the circle of collaboration and formation.
This work grows out of what you’ve already made possible. Your support helped launch RFC’s Ongoing Formation Circles. More than 250 religious have taken part since they began, and their impact continues to grow. Thank you—we never take your generosity for granted. Now we invite you to help carry that work across continents.
Ideas we’ve already discussed, each depending on funding, include:
- Joint online Formation Circles, webinars, and workshops. $500 helps fund a presenter.
- An exchange visit by RFC to The Sophia Institute in Namibia. $1,500 helps cover travel and hospitality.
- Strengthening international collaboration. $2,000 helps bring RFC's Communications Coordinator from Kenya to Congress to support communications, share the stories of international partnerships, and help connect formation communities across continents.
- The Sophia Institute’s involvement in THRIVE 2027 (RFC Congress), November 4–6, 2027, in Baltimore. $2,500 helps bring a speaker from The Sophia Institute to Congress.
- Financial aid for religious in Africa to take part in RFC programs. $5,000 helps fund participant travel and program costs for a residential session.
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This year’s appeal will support RFC’s exploration of these collaborative programs with The Sophia Institute, including formation exchanges among participants from both organizations. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by December 31, enough to begin these initiatives in 2027.
Picture what this could look like: a webinar where formation teams hear directly from African formators; a sister from Kenya sitting beside peers in the new Accompaniment for Shared Mission program; and learnings from the exchange visit shared at THRIVE 2027. Both organizations believe that formation is not a destination—it is an ongoing journey of becoming, toward holiness and wholeness.
We walk that journey best side by side, across cultures and continents.
Will you help us take the next steps?
With gratitude for all you give to this mission,
Ryan Hoffmann, DMin | Executive Director
Religious Formation Conference
Sr. Anne Arabome, SSS | Founder
The Sophia Institute