Summary: A guide to the need and experience of what it means to be under spiritual direction.
After reading fictional account of spiritual direction in Susan Howatch’s Church of England series, I decided to read a non-fiction account of spiritual direction.
In Abba, Give Me a Word, Roger Owens, a pastor, gives an account of how he found a spiritual director, and how to be under spiritual direction and use that form of spiritual direction (sort of mentoring/counseling/friendship/accountability) to grow spiritually.
Spiritual Direction is a form of spiritual growth that has mostly been ignored by the Evangelical Protestant world for a long time. In fact, most accounts of spiritual direction that I have heard of have been about protestants going to Catholic spiritual directors (often monks) because there are so few spiritual directors in other traditions.
One of the encouraging points in Abba, Give Me a Word, is that Owens, a United Methodist pastor, found a spiritual director (in a very rural community) that was a retired Baptist pastor.
Personally, I asked for a referral from my church for a counselor last fall. It is not because I felt the need for counseling for anything particular, but because I was feeling spiritually stuck. I never followed through and went to the counselor because it just did not feel like the right thing to do.
But after reading good fictional and non-fiction accounts of spiritual direction, I do think that spiritual direction is what I need. So if anyone has any suggestions of particular names, or ways to find a spiritual director (in the greater Atlanta area) let me know.
(I started going to a spiritual director not long after this review and highly recommend it as a practice.)
Abba, Give Me a Word Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition – My kindle edition is lendable. If you would like to borrow it leave a message below in the comments.
Thanks for sharing. There is a lot to learn about spirituality outside your own tradition. I have been learning that myself. Especially at a group called the Nehemiah Leadership Network. (Its goals were personal spiritual and professional development so that pastors are better equipped to facilitate congregation change.) It ability to spiritually influence others often begins with being willing to change yourself. A spiritual director can go a long way in helping with this growth.