Rev. Dr. Sarah Travis and participants from Knox College’s Preaching Collective—a retreat and ongoing community designed to equip and encourage preachers across Canada. The group shares honest reflections on the joys and anxieties of preaching, the power of collaboration, and the growing role of lay leaders in worship leadership.

Together, they explore what it means to preach faithfully in a changing church and how companionship in ministry can renew courage and creativity in the pulpit. This episode is a reminder that no one preaches alone—and that the Spirit works best in community.

About Rev. Dr. Sarah Travis

Sarah Travis is the Associate Professor, Ewart Chair in the Practice of Ministry and Faith Formation at Knox College and has been teaching at Knox since 2012.

Sarah is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and currently serves as part-time minister at Norval Presbyterian Church. Her primary areas of research and teaching are preaching, worship and the practice of ministry. From decolonizing worship practices to trauma-informed preaching, Sarah has published several books aimed at facilitating a conversation among Christians about topics that matter for the church today. She is a 2023 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Teacher-Scholar Grant recipient, exploring how playful theologies can enhance the worship and self-identity of very small congregations.

Learn More About The Reforming Preaching Initiative

The Reforming Preaching Initiative, led by Sarah Travis through Knox College’s Centre for Lifelong Learning, is reimagining what preaching formation can look like in the Canadian church today. It’s about forming new preachers and re-forming experienced ones—creating space where both can learn from one another in honest, collaborative ways. Funded in part by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, the initiative explores how sermons shape who we are as faith communities and how preaching can respond more faithfully to diverse and changing contexts.

Learn More About the Preaching Collective & The Preaching Collective Weekly

The Preaching Collective is the Initiative’s cohort-based, residential retreat—created to make sure no one prepares or evaluates sermons alone. In a small group (typically 8–12), lay and ordained preachers of mixed experience gather from Friday evening to Sunday morning for a bespoke weekend shaped around their needs. The rhythm includes naming shared hopes and fears, learning or refreshing practical methods (from simple exegesis to preaching amid trauma), workshopping real texts, and practicing collaborative sermon development. The design is intentionally intergenerational and theologically diverse—participants learn as much from one another as from facilitators. The retreat doesn’t end on Sunday; it launches a cohort that continues journeying together through structured check-ins and mutual mentoring so the companionship begun at the retreat keeps supporting the work back home. Learn more, and find out about upcoming retreats.

Weekly Gatherings Every Thursday at 11AM ET on Zoom

Flowing from the retreats is Preaching Collective Weekly—a simple, sustaining online practice. Preachers meet Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. (ET) to sit with one lectionary text for the following Sunday (giving time for real preparation). Using a light Lectio Divina frame, the group listens to Scripture, names what they’re hearing in their own contexts and congregations, and trades early ideas and cautions. It’s not a lecture; it’s a collaborative conversation that sends everyone back to their desks with clearer focus, fresh angles, and a sense that the Spirit is at work in the community—because preaching isn’t meant to be a solo task.

Upcoming Gatherings