If you long to be more closely aligned to the Son of God, more in tune with the voice of God, and more intentionally partnering with the Spirit of God, perhaps you have already experienced the Invitation—God’s Invitation to spiritual transformation.
Soul Care
One of the centerpieces of Sherpa is the service soul care or spiritual companionship. Such a ministry of spiritual conversation and prayer partnership has been called spiritual direction. A spiritual director is a trusted friend who gives himself or herself—in hospitality, presence, and dialogue—to make the journey with you by helping you attend to and respond to God.
What is Spiritual Direction?
Authors Gary Moon and David Benner explain it like this.
Spiritual direction is one aspect of “soul care.” From the Latin, cura animarum, the Christian Church has understood both nuances of cura: i.e., the “care” of souls, meaning nurture and support; and the “cure” of souls, meaning to restore the wellbeing that has been lost. Spiritual direction is high on both; because it focuses on spiritual transformation, it necessarily contains elements of both nurture and healing.
Spiritual direction cultivates an awareness of God’s presence. It assists in answering the invitation to the enjoyment of the love of God in an intimate, moment-by-moment relationship that God designed souls to enjoy. And it leads to the authentic transformation of the entire person by an internal yielding to God’s will.
The focus of spiritual direction is on experience, not ideas, and specifically experience with God. It is about conversing with an invisible Friend until we become just like him. Spiritual Direction is “a journey from the pig-pen of self-rule to the outstretched arms of a loving Father.”
Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls: A Guide to Christian Approaches and Practices.
Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner. Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2009.
Spiritual Direction Offerings
At the present time, Dr. Deborah Gill is the only fully trained spiritual director on the Sherpa Team. She completed the Selah certificate in spiritual training program offered by Leadership Transformations, Inc. in 2014.
By fall 2019 there will be 12 Sherpa spiritual directors in training (the first cohort is already full); and by summer of 2021 (the Lord willing) they will all have completed the certificate training program. This website will maintain a current list of our graduates that we can recommend as spiritual directors.
Interested in participating in soul care with one of our spiritual directors in training? Go to the Contact page and complete an inquiry there.
Interested in becoming trained as a spiritual director with Sherpa? Learn more on our Training page.
Spiritual Direction Supervision
The code of ethics in the field of spiritual direction calls for spiritual directors to continue being supervised for the duration of their practice. This is because spiritual directors, as professionals in any specialization, need to be continually growing. Also, the ministry of soul care reaches so deep that it surfaces issues that the Holy Spirit desires to heal and to conform to Christ’s will. While working with others, spiritual directors become more aware of their own “stuff” and must deal with it. Thus, they need to be in a relationship that will process such elements in their own walk with Christ.
There are currently 7 Sherpa spiritual direction supervisors in training. Once fully trained, their services will be available within and outside of Sherpa.
Other
Besides providing spiritual direction services, training, and supervision, Sherpa also offers immersive spiritual experiences. For a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey in the company of like-mind God-seekers, check out Sherpa Pilgrimages and Prayer Retreats.
We are also in the process of designing spiritual adventures for every-day life, retreats, continuing education, and online training modules in important skills, such as nurturing spiritual conversations. We will be developing a Speakers Bureau and a list of recommended locations for your own spiritual adventures.
Sherpa is building a list of recommended resources as well as our creating our own. Members of the Sherpa Team are authors and speakers and will have much to offer.
Keep tuned in as Sherpa services and resources continue to grow!