To be a spiritual director is to answer a divine and holy calling. The Rev. Peter White of The Sabbath Life is partnering with Fall Creek Abbey in Indianapolis to launch a two-year School of Spiritual Direction in Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting this fall.
The school is a response to our pandemic experience, as it shone light on the universal need for spiritual guidance. Peter, a C4SO deacon and spiritual director, believes clergy, church staff, lay leaders, program volunteers and people walking through church doors for the first time all need spiritual directors.
“I think the gifts of spiritual directors—loving presence, deep questions, active listening—are uniquely suited to the many shifts we’re experiencing in our culture in 2022,” Peter says. “Our churches need more vocational spiritual directors. Our world needs more gifted spiritual directors, people familiar with the movements of God’s Spirit who can guide us to listen well amidst all the uncertainties around us.”
The School of Spiritual Direction will be housed at Abbey of the Heights, a contemplative Christian urban retreat space that Peter started in Tulsa last year. Shortly thereafter, the school of spiritual direction was birthed from a partnership with Beth and Dave Booram at Fall Creek Abbey in Indianapolis. Beth and Dave are active members at a C4SO church, The Table Indy. Peter, Beth and Dave all received training in spiritual direction through Sustainable Faith’s School of Spiritual Direction in Cincinnati, Ohio. Peter and Dave connected online several years ago, which led to emails and Zoom calls, and finally an official partnership. The Boorams’ role will be designing the curriculum for the School of Spiritual Direction.
Another serendipitous connection was with Todd Long, a seasoned spiritual director also trained at Sustainable Faith, who will serve as instructor and facilitator at the school. Peter will serve as co-instructor and co-facilitator.
“All of us need that gentle, wise voice asking us if we’re finding ourselves closer to the heart of Jesus while we do Kingdom work,” Peter says.
To kick off the School of Spiritual Direction in September, Peter hopes to form a cohort of 10-14 people to meet at Abbey of the Heights in Tulsa five times throughout the year. Year One will be a solid introduction to spiritual direction and a year of discernment. In Year Two, the focus will be on defined skills necessary to offer valuable spiritual direction. Year Three will be an optional opportunity to receive monthly peer supervision led by a trained supervisor.
The School of Spiritual Direction may be perfect for you if:
a) You are familiar with spiritual direction and sense a call to the vocation of a being a spiritual director.
b) You have a natural gift that attracts people in search of godly advice (in other words, people who are intuitive at listening and asking good questions).
c) You want to sharpen your skills in listening and question-asking. (In his book Working the Angles, Eugene Peterson names spiritual direction as one of three essential jobs of pastors.)
Applications are available through June 1 . If you know someone in your church, a ministry colleague, or person in your network who might be interested, feel free to share the School of Spiritual Direction with them.