Interested in training as a Spiritual Direction / Companion?

 

The Gloucestershire Course in Spiritual Direction

 
We are now offering a 2 year ‘blended’ course to allow greater access to training.

This consists of 2 semesters a year of teaching and experiential sessions on Zoom, with residential weekends and face to face workshop days.

The course is open to those of any denomination with an understanding of and sympathy with the Christian faith.

Those seeking a place should:

• Be someone who finds others turn naturally to them
• Be mature and stable in their Christian faith (this does not mean without questions and challenges!)
• Have a spiritual guide (we can help you find someone suitable if necessary)
• Have knowledge of the scriptures and traditions of Christianity

Together we hope to:

• Encourage giftedness and offer practical training in the skills and art of spiritual direction
• To nurture your own spiritual life
• To develop an appreciation and knowledge of the wide variety of Christian spiritualities
• To broaden understanding and experience of differing traditions of prayer

If you are interested in exploring this, please download the publicity leaflet, the course plan and the application form.

The Gloucestershire Course in Spiritual Direction was launched in 1998 and has run successfully as a two year course meeting together.

Being by nature a course in Deep Listening, course facilitators have become aware of the increasing thirst among a growing number of Christians seeking to deepen their spiritual life and commitment, and consequently a growing need for training companions.

In 2019 it became clear that there were aspects of the course needing to be reviewed and updated, to meet the needs of those being drawn to participate. A sabbatical was therefore taken, with time to discern how best to offer the course in the future.

The revised structure of the course is therefore blended to offer a more accessible approach, while aiming to maintain a strong sense of the community which all previous participants have experienced and enjoyed.

It is offered on an ecumenical basis and aims to enhance people’s natural gifts in accompanying others on their Christian journey. It provides an opportunity for those with gifts of listening and discernment to develop those gifts and be able to ‘companion’ others seeking to articulate their faith and discern God’s work in their lives.

The Course is open to those of any denomination with an understanding of and sympathy with the Christian faith, and you can see from the information box below the breadth of spiritual tradition and background the participants come from. This provides a truly ecumenical community over the two years, allowing for much sharing and mutual exploration, which deepens and broadens understanding and experience of the Christian tradition.

Each course starts with an Introductory Weekend in February and spreads over two years, allowing significant time for growth and formation. Each year consists of two semesters of Wednesday morning session on Zoom followed by a small group tutorial meeting of one hour later in the day.

There are also two residential weekends – an Individually Guided Retreat and a Residential Workshop, plus 3 workshop days. The cost of these is covered in the termly
fee so that we can meet together.

• Personal development and discipleship
• Practical contemplative listening skills of the spiritual director
• Spiritual discernment
• Basic understanding of human development and the recognition of different stages on the way, to include specialist areas such as loss, sexuality, the dying, masculine/feminine spirituality and models of spiritual growth.
• The psychology and ethics involved in the process of spiritual directing
• Understanding and experience of the varying ways of prayer developed in differing traditions

The course is now administered and supervised by the Trustees of the Gloucestershire Spiritual Direction Trust.