The Lived Experience of Group Spiritual DirectionThese moving, positive essays witness the experiences of participants in Shalem Institute's group spiritual direction workshops. Each author relates what he or she learned as a member, mentor or facilitator of a spiritual direction group--a community gathered together to seek and share a desire for God in communal silence, dialogue, intercessory prayer and discernment--and adapts it to a specific setting--the family, workplace, congregation, seminary, the homeless. The result is this collection--a loving, gentle testament to the power of spiritual direction groups--that enables young and old, clergy and laity of all faiths to realize, celebrate and proclaim a commonality of greater spiritual purpose. Fluid and well-honed, The Lived Experience of Group Spiritual Direction is of great value to seminarians, graduate students, church organizations, clergy and laity of all faiths, as well as to anyone seeking guidance on the value of group spiritual direction. It features biographies of its numerous contributors. + |
Contents
17 | |
23 | |
There Is a River | 38 |
Spiritual Direction A Comparison | 45 |
Group Spiritual Direction Within Communities of Worship | 59 |
In a Parish Setting | 65 |
Raising Holy Sparks | 76 |
Groups in a Congregational Setting | 94 |
Tending to Spirituality in the Workplace | 169 |
Sacred Story Sacred Text | 184 |
Group Spiritual Direction with Teenagers | 198 |
Group Spiritual Direction in Seminary | 214 |
Group Spiritual Direction on Capitol Hill | 234 |
Core Understandings in Group Spiritual Direction | 245 |
Experiencing Spiritual Community in Different Settings | 249 |
Intercessory Prayer and Group Spiritual Direction | 258 |
Prayerfulness in a Parish Community | 115 |
Group Spiritual Direction with Clergy | 127 |
Learning with a Clergy Group | 131 |
Group Spiritual Direction with Clergy | 145 |
Group Spiritual Direction in a Variety of Settings | 165 |
Opening Space for God | 268 |
It Would Have Been Enough | 280 |
Contributors | 283 |
Common terms and phrases
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