Spiritual Direction in the Wider Context of Pastoral Practice

Abstract

The practice of spiritual direction is growing in New Zealand.
There are those (including advocates of spiritual direction) who
charge that the dominant ‘therapeutic’ model caters to our
individualistic, acquisitive culture, and divorces spiritual
direction from congregational life. This paper evaluates the
results of a survey of 40 spiritual directors from various
denominations in New Zealand. The results show that,
although the therapeutic model is the main one used in New
Zealand to train directors, the gift or skill of direction has not
been thereby institutionalized or professionalized. Rather, the
skills gained from training have flowed over to enrich general
pastoral ministry.