Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta

Website: www.slca.com

Services: Sunday at 10 and 11:30 a.m. (youth 11:30 a.m.)

Worship Style: 10 a.m. quiet and contemplative, 11:30 a.m. lively and contemporary

Average Sunday Attendance: 550

Minister: Rev. Dr. David Ault

Mission statement:

“To Reawaken All To Their Spiritual Magnificence”

History:

In 1979, Dr. Kennedy Shultz founded The Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, which was chartered that year as a Religious Science church. Shultz retired in 1999 after 20 years of ministry. The Rev. Paul Gonyea served until his retirement in 2010, when Ault became senior pastor.

Services have outgrown the Woodruff Arts Center, and plans are under way to move to a new facility at 1730 Northeast /Expressway N.E., Atlanta 30329 (between REI and Floor Decor) once a build-out there has been complete, which should be in the next few months.

Pastor’s path:

For nearly 30 years, the Texas native has traveled the world as a New Thought musician, keynote speaker and workshop/retreat facilitator. He founded a Center for Spiritual Living in Alabama and served as its senior minister for four years before moving to Atlanta in September 2010.

Ault has created a nonprofit organization, the Khmer Child Foundation (www.khmerchildfoundation.org ), to provide fresh water wells in Cambodia and operate a non-government regulated school that provides education, medical/ hygiene assistance, and agricultural and life skills training. He has recorded seven original CDs, written "Where Regret Cannot Find Me" and writes a blog: http://drdavidault.blogspot.com.

Ministries:

“We’re an all-inclusive community that teaches that each and every one of us has a value and importance and unique gifts and ultimately life is about championing that, exploring that being to the best of our abilities,” Ault said.

The center offers weekly classes that explore topics from writing to meditation. An essentials class called SOM 101, which covers the basics of the center’s teaching, started the first of September with 180 participants.

The Fine Arts program includes dance, music and poetry ministries. Dinners and special events are regularly part of the center’s schedule. An online calendar offers the latest opportunities.

According to a core belief statement, the center subscribes to the New Thought movement, which states that God is a loving intelligence, operating in and through all life, never separate from anyone or anything. The classes, studies and spiritual practices offered at the center are designed to help participants “understand our oneness with this indwelling Divine Presence. We teach and practice a way of life where we can all learn how to live in accordance with spiritual principles.”

Thoughts from the pastor:

“Our intention is to be a place of inspiration where people from all spiritual paths feel the permission to reconnect to their inherent greatness. We celebrate that greatness through the recognition of the Divine presence that rests within all of us and we honor our ability to create a world of harmony, wholeness and peace through the power of our personal decision-making. ”