Who We Are
A Christian contemplative community in Lincoln, Nebraska, and online around the world.
A Christian contemplative community in Lincoln, Nebraska — and online around the world. Founded in 2016.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide a safe, participatory, and holy space to foster spiritual growth deepening our love for God, ourselves, neighbors, and all of creation. We are a hub for Christian contemplative prayer, spiritual practice, and living. In communion with others we participate in the Christ mystery through contemplative practice, learning, growing, and doing life together. Through this sacramental tapestry, we and our world are transformed.
As a community, we live this out through a commitment to a daily spiritual practice, compassionate action, cultivating mature self knowledge, creation care, and growing in God’s wisdom and grace. There are a variety of spiritual disciplines one may commit to live out a rule of life.
Our Story
As our mission statement says, Contemplate is a hub for Christian contemplative prayer, practice, and living. Born out of a felt need to practice in community, Adam and Joselyn Luedtke co-founded Contemplate Lincoln in 2016 and began hosting in-person workshops, retreats, practice sessions, and a Sunday Gathering. Though the contemplative tradition has its roots in communities such as the Beguines, Franciscans, and monastic orders, the modern contemplative movement has largely been rooted in one-time retreats, workshops, and solo practice. Contemplate Lincoln and The Contemplative Cathedral serve to firmly root contemplative practice in spiritual community.
Since its founding, Contemplate Lincoln has responded to severe floods in 2019 through food and water distribution, and to the 2020 pandemic by moving online, delivering free groceries, and creating an online community — The Contemplative Cathedral. Today, Contemplate Lincoln and the Contemplative Cathedral are home to multiple groups for learning, growing, practicing, and doing life together — where people can share their journey, be curious, and practice in communion with others.
While we are firmly rooted in the Christian contemplative tradition, we learn from other traditions, and members from other faith backgrounds find themselves at home in our spiritual community. Contemplate Lincoln is a space to deepen your spiritual life.
What Shapes Us
Two mandalas hold our story: the practices we share, and the teachers, traditions, and ideas that form us.
Welcome
Click a petal on the mandala to begin. Click a name to learn more.
What’s in Our Logo
Every element of our logo carries meaning. Tap each part to explore.
Every element carries meaning
Click a part of the logo — or a button below — to explore.
Our Cathedral is not built of stone, but with our participation and communion in Christ.
— The Contemplative Cathedral
Born out of a felt need to practice in community.
Our Team
Hover a photo to read their story
Adam holds a PhD in Psychology with research focused on the spiritual development of contemporary Christian contemplatives and mystics, a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Studies, and a BA in Religious Studies and Psychology.
Since 2016, Adam has served as Executive Director and Pastor of Contemplate Lincoln. He created the Contemplative Cathedral, an online contemplative community and platform, and leads Little Church on the Prairie, an expression of Wild Church. In 2023, he founded the Contemplative Community Creators Network. Adam also leads retreats and guides spiritual formation for clergy, denominations, churches, and individuals. A daily practitioner of centering prayer, he teaches spiritual practices, Christian mysticism, and contemplative Christianity with both scholarly grounding and personal depth.
Email: adam@contemplatelincoln.org
Joselyn is an attorney and government relations expert in Lincoln, NE. She has studied law, environmental law, non-profit law, and natural resources. Joselyn serves on several non-profit boards in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is passionate about nature, policy, and family. Joselyn leads contemplative movement, meditation, and Contemplative Conversation Groups at Contemplate Lincoln.
Our Board
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Joselyn is an attorney and government relations expert in Lincoln, NE. She has studied law, environmental law, non-profit law, and natural resources. She serves on several non-profit boards in Lincoln, and leads contemplative movement, meditation, and Contemplative Conversation Groups at Contemplate Lincoln.
Juliet is a web designer in Lincoln, NE. She holds degrees in chemistry and web design. She is passionate about her puppies, grandkids, gardening, and photography. She loves to be creative.
Marvin Lee Anderson holds a PhD in Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology, and an MA in Religious Studies from Mundelein College, Chicago, where he studied Creation Spirituality in Matthew Fox’s first graduate program. A Fellow at the Center for Renaissance and Reformation Studies at the University of Toronto since 2010, he is an international consultant on congregational ministry and rural communities and has taught rural ministry across Canada and the U.S. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Eckhart Society UK and the Deep Ecumenism Institute for Yerusha. He lives with his wife, Gwen Jenkins, in Toronto. Website: ruraljustified.com
Steve recently retired from a 40-year career as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, and has taught and consulted at several universities and mental-health agencies. Raised in a Jewish home in New York, he converted to Christianity following a profound conversion experience in 1980. A Benedictine Oblate and trained Spiritual Director, he has served as a Dean in the Benedictine Oblates of Nebraska community affiliated with Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, South Dakota, and presents online retreats on the Christian Mystics through the St. Benedict Retreat Center in Schuyler, Nebraska. He is married to Kathy and lives in Lincoln.
Former Chair of the Board, 2016–2019
Board Member At Large; Former Chair of the Board (2016–2019)
(full bio in Our Team)
Board Emeritus
Honoring those who helped launch and guide Contemplate Lincoln
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Dr. Peter Traben Haas is founder and editor of ContemplativeChristians.com and a certified Centering Prayer instructor and retreat leader. He is the author of numerous books on contemplative prayer, including Centering Prayers: A One Year Companion for Going Deeper Into the Love of God and My Yes is Yours. A teaching pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Peter earned his MDiv from Princeton Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He currently serves as pastor of Christ Church Telluride.
Paul Smith (1937–2024) was a mystic, author, and teacher of the Jesus path, and a cofounder of the Integral Christian Network, a worldwide organization seeking the loving evolution of Christianity. Prior to ICN, Paul served a forty-nine-year pastorate at Broadway Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and taught at churches, seminaries, and gatherings around the country. A leading voice of Integral Christianity, his books include Integral Christianity: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve and Is Your God Big Enough? Close Enough? You Enough?
Also founding members: Marvin Anderson, PhD · Joselyn Luedtke, JD · Juliet Andersen · Adam Luedtke, PhD
The Contemplative Cathedral
The Contemplative Cathedral is our communal prayer for a welcoming, co-created community of contemplatives learning, growing, practicing, seeking God, and doing life together. Our Cathedral is not built of stone, but with our participation and communion in Christ.
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