Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME)

09/03/2026

As we start a new program year, we reached out to returning students to check in with them. We asked them for their reflections heading into their continued time at ChIME and posed three questions:
*Where are your heart/mind at?
*What are you looking forward to?
*What makes you nervous?

"My heart and mind are still immersed in the wonderful spaciousness of summer- the mostly unstructured time to explore, create, and just be.
I’ve discovered that ChIME has settled into my bones in some surprising and lovely ways, helping me feel more present and grounded in the world amidst the craziness all around us. Sometimes it takes that spaciousness to recognize what is bubbling to the surface. Love the bubbles!
What will deepen, what will shift, and how will this next year shape the way I show up for others? I’m curious and excited to find out!" - Debbie, 2nd year

07/21/2026

Part 2 of a two-part series. Join for one or both days! Separate registration is required. Learn more here:
https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/workshop-perennial-philosophy-practice-8-1-26

07/16/2026

This is part of a two-part series. Join us for one or both days! (Separate registration is required.) https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/workshop-perennial-philosophy-promises-7-31-26

07/14/2026

Join our partners at Unity Of Greater Portland for a Concert for Peace on July 24 at 7pm. More information here:

Abed Alsalam Manasra is a musician and peace worker from Nazareth, Israel. As a musician, Abed plays the oud, an ancient instrument that is the ancestor of the lute and considered the “King of Instruments” in the Middle East. The oud’s fretless nature allows great subtlety of expression, and i...

07/13/2026

Grief Without Borders: Holding Every Child
July 19, 5:30-7:00PM, ZOOM
https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/grief-without-borders-7-19-26

In an age of polycrisis -- the climate, democracy, human rights, war, inequity, and so many other layered and intertwined things -- it can sometimes feel like an insurmountable task to think of looking any one grief in its eye and sitting deeply in and with it. This is especially true for those things that cut to our very souls, to the tender core of our being, and for many of us, grief around harm to babies and children the world over has created a soul wound of unimaginable depth and unspeakable breadth. This container opens a space where we can begin, in compassionate, quiet witness with one another, to acknowledge, name, and start to metabolize the many griefs that we each carry in response to the barrage of grievous harms perpetrated against the most helpless among us.

07/09/2026

Open House : What Ordination Means to Me
July 15, 6:00PM, ZOOM
https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/openhouse

Over the last 24 years, ChIME has Ordained over 236 Interfaith Ministers. That’s a lot of people serving their communities with attention to spiritual presence, integrity, and prophetic voice!

In this Open House, four newly Ordained Interfaith Ministers from the class of 2026 will share what Ordination means to them and how their time at ChIME prepared them for the service emerging on their horizons.

06/16/2026

This June, ChIME's Open House takes a different shape. Instead of hearing from an alumni guest, you'll hear from three people who work, teach, facilitate, and are part of the current fabric of ChIME — and who each first arrived here as students.

Lisa (Dean/Executive Director), Abby (Community Coordinator), and Dana (Academic Coordinator) — all three alums themselves — will be in conversation about what drew each of them to ChIME, what the training asked of them, and what the work and ChIME continues to mean to them. Along the way, they'll open the question to the room: Why ChIME? Why now?

The Open House includes a Q&A period about ChIME's Interfaith Ministry and CPE programs.

To register: https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/6cuo77xtg0m8fparw1ns4cppe4uv7s-le8ck-2bhep-hlfb4-bkxtz-c8led

06/07/2026

A full house for ordination celebration. 🥰🥰🥰

06/07/2026

It's ordination day!!! Share your favorite ordination memories.

05/14/2026

According to the Pew Research Center, 22% of American adults consider themselves "spiritual but not religious" (SBNR). Without an overarching set of beliefs or cultural practices, how do SBNR people come together to pray, worship, and practice? And how does a minister in this emergent space find ways to serve when there is no established church or congregation?

Rev. Andrew Forsthoefel ('23) will share some of his own story as a SBNR-type, and how he's now finding ways to attract, organize, and serve his people in community, at work, and in his own family.

FMI and to register: https://www.chimeofmaine.org/events/6cuo77xtg0m8fparw1ns4cppe4uv7s-le8ck-2bhep-hlfb4-bkxtz