Over the last few years, the phrase spiritual direction has experienced something of a renaissance. This is now widely offered online, increasingly discussed in books and publications, and developed through a growing number of training programmes. In the process, both spiritual direction and the role of the spiritual director are being interpreted - and reinterpreted - in a variety of ways.
In this short article, here are four questions to consider when seeking spiritual direction and a spiritual director. Also included our my own reflections on spiritual direction as a relationship rather than a service offering, and on the spiritual director’s place within the relational movement.
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Relationship as the “place” where God is encountered. I think spiritual direction is far deeper than offering helpful guidance in a Christian way, or teaching advice, or even personal insight into our creative selves (Writer, Artist, Publisher, Pastor, Leader).
Spiritual direction is a sacred encounter where the Trinity is actively forming a soul in and through relationship. And relationship, even with training and experience, is not a tool for spiritual growth (nor church leadership, building church growth or personal creative growth), but the environment in which God is active and experienced.
God is Himself relationship. Trinity. Love. Spiritual direction at its genesis participates in this reality, rather than standing outside as a service offering aimed at producing perceived, or managed spiritualised outcomes.
In my view spiritual direction only exists within the ongoing relational movement of the Spirit. In other words, true spiritual direction is fully inside the Spirit’s movement. The “field” in which spiritual direction happens is already alive with divine initiative and we are invited to join in a movement that is already operative.
Within this relationship spiritual direction is not merely about discerning what God is saying; this is meeting God together. This is not simply a conversation about God but a relationship within which God is present and active. So the relationship between the spiritual director and the person being accompanied is not a pastoral method, this is a living expression of the relational reality at the heart of the Christian faith.
I’d also suggest spiritual direction isn’t an external practice applied to a person’s spiritual life. The “director” doesn’t generate direction. We are not positioned as someone who stands over a process, managing or controlling this, but as one who is already caught up in this, led by the Spirit, noticing and responding alongside the person we accompany, attentive to the same Spirit who lives in each of us. Relationship, therefore, becomes a place of encounter with God.
Non of this relationship is merely a matter of posture or outward practice. Knowledgeable methods, however useful are not transformative. This is a matter of the heart, which is why formation by the Spirit is necessary, not simply training in spiritual direction, or training in spiritual formation.
Spiritual directors are being encountered too by the same Spirit. We typically have our own spiritual directors and people who accompany us. So spiritual directors, ourselves, are formed within the same relational life of the Spirit, who is God, as we accompany others within this same life.
Four questions when considering Christian spiritual direction and a spiritual director:
Consider formation and training. Spiritual direction isn’t something people should try to improvise. Do be wary of the use of the phrases spiritual direction or spiritual director without formation and training. However, what really matters isn’t impressive spiritual direction accreditation, publications, or public speaking, but how a person has been shaped and continues to grow in their own walk. Particularly in personal relationships. The point is not professionalism, but depth of attentiveness to God.
How do you and they relate when meeting? When you meet, notice how you are after a conversation as well as during - not just do we get on, but am I growing attentive to the Spirit, or more focused on the director? This kind of awareness develops over time, not in a single meeting.
Spiritual direction is not the service delivery of expertise or insight, but the cultivation of attentiveness to God within relationship and life.
My relationship with the Spirit. Am I noticing God’s movement in my life, or is this predominantly interpreted for me? Real discernment tends to ask simple but meaningful questions. This is not about removing guidance, but about my own growing attentiveness and relationship to, and with the Spirit.
Humour. As well as thinking deeply, it’s a bit of a bonus if a person has a sense of humour too!
-Andy.