My Spiritual Bearing

I’m Nicole. I am me because of the people and cultures that shape me. To know you is to see the character of the Divine that no one else reflects quite like you. To know you is to know God more.

I am passionate about people. I am convinced by Love, and compelled to be an instrument of peace and grace. I am trained to guide individuals and leadership groups to know and be themselves more, and to see the Divine in others. Then, together, we can be instruments of peace.

Dr. Nicole Oliver Snyder is founder and senior pastor of just church, an on-line and local community blending spiritual practices and action in the greater Chicago area. We are about gathering as an inclusive community that is democratic, nonpatriarchal and compassionate. Here, it is ok to be raw, not refined; earthy, not sophisticated; concerned with action, not just theory.

Born in Hackensack, NJ, raised in Denver, CO, Nicole has also lived in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Turkey, and six states from CA to PA. She has a diverse background in international community-relations work combined with volunteer work in multi-ethnic communities, and with local institutions. Nicole livestreams a Centering Prayer-Sit, develops and facilitates retreats, has a mindfulness prayer Podcast, and loves to hear how people uniquely experience the numinous. She is an ordained Elder in the Free Methodist Church, USA; received a BS in Human Development and Family Studies, w/Ed. Cert (CSU), an MA-Counseling (Asbury Seminary), MDiv Equiv. (Northern Seminary), holds a Doctorate in Leadership in Community Spiritual Formation and Theology (Denver Seminary), PhD-candidate Amos/Justice-as-Spiritual Formation; Advanced Certification in Formative Spiritual Counseling, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor. Nicole, co-pastors The River Church with her husband, Howie, while living in Lakewood, CO, with three of their kids, Clark, Lysander, Greer, their greyhound, Wiggy; and their oldest, Samantha, works in Urban Planning in the city of Denver.