The Retreat Association has been facilitating gatherings for Spiritual Direction trainers since the 1980s with the purpose of supporting and encouraging good practice in the field of spiritual direction. In the last 14 years a key focus of our gatherings has been the writing of our ‘Spiritual Direction Guidelines’ and our ‘Guidance for Developing Formation Programmes for Spiritual Directors’ both of which have become key documents serving the those in spiritual direction training and the wider ministry.

Our conference this year offers us a chance to catch breath. We will seek to use our time together to renew our own calling to the work of forming people for spiritual direction, and to explore how we can support and help one another in finding ways forward for our shared ministry. In other words, our hope is that it will be a time of communal discernment, seeking God’s presence within us, amongst us, and alongside us.

The first part of the conference will comprise a retreat. A chance to (re)connect with our selves, with the place where we gather, and with God who loves us and has made us with unique gifts. We come with a desire to bring these gifts to spiritual direction and the formation of others in this ministry. We will gather for input, prayer, reflection and plenty of silence. Wonderful! We will then move forward together, trusting in God as we seek to offer our very best in helping others to be good spiritual companions/directors.

We will follow this with a time of reflection and learning, making use of what is often called the ‘pastoral cycle’. This will offer a flexible structure within which we can draw on our experience and practice to understand more fully the nature and purpose of our calling, the challenges we face, and the patterns of training that might equip us for the future. The responses will be discerned by us all as we accompany one another on this journey and our Patron, Graham Sparkes, has been invited to facilitate these sessions.

We pray for an openness to God’s Spirit throughout our time together.