Explore spiritual direction

In discipleship, just as in mentorship and coaching, the person to whom the disciple comes takes an active, directive role. This often involves study, exercises to be completed, and lessons to learn in a successive pattern that is designed to track growth.

While spiritual direction does involve some teaching, that is not the main thrust of the direction sessions. Your director may sometimes give you exercises to try or may teach in regards to methods of prayer or other topics, but the predominant role of a director is as a listener and guide. Much as you wouldn’t expect your guide up Mount Everest to stand at the bottom and instruct you in the methods needed to reach the summit, a director takes the path with you, listening, watching, and only occasionally intervening when he or she sees that you may be veering close to a cliff edge.

While some of our pastors employ techniques from spiritual direction, and are steeped in the theology inherent to spiritual direction, our pastors are not trained spiritual directors in the same way that we have outlined here. That does not make one better or worse than they other - only different. Meeting with a pastor at CCC may be a great entry point if you are interested in spiritual direction, and if they sense that you want the specialized training that a spiritual director can offer, they may refer you to one. We affirm the necessity and benefit of meeting with a pastor.