_ contemplative space

Becoming a Spiritual Director

If you desire to journey with people well as they seek to deepen their experience of God, undertaking formational training in the art of Spiritual Direction may be for you.

There are now many good places to engage in the process of formation and training as a spiritual director. As the Retreat Association advocates — the emphasis is really on formation rather than ‘training’. They note that we live in a world where there can be an over-emphasis on “the task we are engaged upon rather than the person in front of us; and on training in functionality rather than personal transformation.” For that reason any teaching of the art of spiritual direction benefits from encompassing “a wholistic sense of the development of the person, including their inner qualities and disposition that will be manifest in their practice of spiritual direction.”

The breadth and diversity of SD training across denominations and networks is a delight to see, and seems expresses the generative and generous character of God. (Shout out to LCSD, Sarum College, OCL, Launde Abbey and Sustainable Faith). I want to highlight the excellent curriculum developed by Sustainable Faith which I have first hand experience of, through receiving the training in Amsterdam, NL (2015-2017). This has been followed by several years teaching cohorts in the UK (Oxfordshire, South Wales, East Yorkshire, Nottingham and the East Midlands), and now online.