EXPERIENCING MORE OF GOD IN PRAYER
Our lives are busy. We have internal questions, anxieties, doubts and challenging relationships. We want to live an authentic, integrated, Holy Spirit filled life as we represent Christ to those around us. However, we sometimes find ourselves stressed, busy, with a lack of internal peace, relational difficulties and questions of God. Our assumption is, that as you make clear steps towards Christ these areas of internal stress and relational conflict will diminish.
The purpose of this course is to deepen and broaden your prayer life. To deepen existing prayer methods means to practice them on a consistent basis and make them more meaningful. To broaden your prayer life you will be introduced to traditional and current prayer methods and encouraged to give them a try.
Our emphasis will be on experiencing God in prayer. Many of us have developed a solid theological knowledge of God and ministry. We know many Scriptures and practices of prayer. However, the emphasis of this course will be on relating to Christ, improving our communication with Him, listening to Him better; not just knowledge about Him, but a closer friendship with Him.
Our schedule and structure. For 10 months:
You will have about approximately two hours of reading or video preparation on a particular topic each month.
You will be asked to write a reflection and put your answers and questions down on paper.
We will meet as a group online for an hour and a half each month. It will be a short presentation and a discussion on the topic.
We will make some practical suggestions on how you might expand or broaden this prayer method.
You will meet individually online during the month with a spiritual director.
If you want to join us for our next class please email samkendrick@pobox.com.
What is spiritual direction? Spiritual direction is a traditional ministry method in which two people get together for the purpose of helping the directee grow in Christ. The spiritual director does not tell the directee what to do. I would prefer to call the director a prayer companion in spiritual growth. A spiritual director spends most of his time listening to the directee and the Lord, and asking a few questions.
We define Christian spiritual direction as help given by one Christian to another, which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship. The focus of this type of spiritual direction is on experience, not ideas, and specifically on spiritual experience.
Cost: We don’t want money to be an issue with your participation. However, traditionally spiritual directors have charged a fee per session. You will receive 10 personal online spiritual direction appointments and 10 online classroom sessions. And all of the spiritual directors involved in this course have spent extensive personal time and finances in preparation. Therefore, I am recommending a fee of $400 for the 10-month course. However, if finances are an obstacle to your participation please let me know. Scholarships are available.
Background, if you would like a little more information on Mary and Sam: Both Mary and I were influenced by The Navigator ministry in our early Christian life. We moved internationally in our early 30s with two small children. We had the normal stresses and busyness of a full-time employee and an expatriate family. We often functioned in a survival mode. We were giving and reaching, but not always from a healthy place. When we returned to the US with four children I joined a busy church staff. I was busy with ministry activity, but not always connecting well with Jesus Christ. In the pursuit of marital and spiritual growth, Mary and I attended a two-year course in spiritual direction with Leadership Transformations. This has significantly increased our internal peace, improved our marriage, helped us listen to God better, and develop our ministry skills. We would like to walk with you for these months to help you deepen your relationship with Christ.
If you are interested in joining our next online class or for more information – samkendrick@pobox.com