10 Things You Might Not Know About Being a Spiritual Director in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Are you feeling drawn to becoming a spiritual director?

The following insights into this unique ministry may be a helpful part of your research and discernment process.

You can now apply for the 2025 intake of SGM's Spiritual Directors Formation Programme. Our two year, part-time programme offers comprehensive exploration of the theory and practice of spiritual direction, supervision for skill development, and significant opportunities for personal spiritual growth. Applicants come from all walks of life and Christian traditions and upon completion of the programme, practice the art of spiritual direction in a variety of settings.

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10 things you might not know about being a spiritual director in Aotearoa, New Zealand

1. Spiritual direction is an ancient Christian practice.

If you haven’t heard about spiritual direction until recently, you might think it’s the new kid on the block. But actually a thread can be traced right back to the Desert Mothers and Fathers in the third century who escaped the trappings of empire to seek God whole-heartedly. As people followed in their footsteps they guided them on their perilous and promising journeys into solitude, simplicity, silence and divine union. In later centuries, spiritual direction was a common practice amongst those in vowed religious orders, but over the last 40-50 years in particular it has flowed out of monasteries and convents into a broad variety of denominational streams and beyond.

2. Spiritual direction is a contemplative ministry of accompanying people on their journey with God.

A spiritual director is someone who has received special training (formation) in the art of accompanying another person on their spiritual journey. Most spiritual directors in Aotearoa, New Zealand will be anchored in the postures, practices and perspectives of contemplative Christian spirituality (i.e. a spirituality that is attentive to the presence of God in everyday life). While the term spiritual director has a long history, some people prefer the term spiritual companion, which conveys the non-directive, alongside nature of the spiritual direction relationship as it is primarily offered today.

3. There are two places where you can train to be a spiritual director in Aotearoa, Zealand.

Spiritual Growth Ministries Spiritual Directors Formation Programme (SDFP) has been forming spiritual directors since 1988. The SDFP is grounded in Aotearoa, anchored in an incarnational, trinitarian theology, positioned within a ‘broad-church’ ecumenical community, and centred in the contemplative/evocative model of spiritual direction. Spiritual directors in this model, don’t have any agenda other than the shared project of listening with their directees to God’s ongoing invitations to life in its fullness. The programme draws on many strands from the heritage of contemplative spirituality across denominational boundaries and histories.

Ignatian Spirituality NZ offer Te Wairua Mahi, a two-year Formation in the Ministry of Spiritual Direction in the Ignatian Tradition. The distinctiveness of this programme is that it forms people in a specifically Ignatian model of spiritual direction

4. You don’t have to be 50 + to become a spiritual director!

While it’s true that SGM seeks applications from “mature people with a grasp of the spiritual life, Scripture and theology” the maturity we look for is spiritual; forged in the crucible of life, so we encourage people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s who are drawn to this ministry to apply for the programme. The application process is a co-discerning journey between the applicant and the programme leaders and is a valuable process in itself.

Younger people who are called to this ministry are well-positioned to accompany others like themselves who are curious about developing their prayer and relationship with God in a thoroughly Christian way which incorporates the whole self, nature, the arts, relationships and the intellect, discovering God in the ordinary rhythms and tasks of daily life. 

Check out the stories of Rachel Kitchens and Joshua Taylor for inspiration!

5. There is a professional association of spiritual directors in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

After completing formation as a spiritual director, many spiritual directors choose to become part of the Association of Christian Spiritual Directors (ACSD). The ACSD has professional requirements for membership which ensure that people seeking a spiritual director can be confident of the training, supervision, ethics and ongoing professional development of a director who is part of the Association. The Find a Spiritual Director search function on the ACSD is a wonderful resource for spiritual directors who wish to be found by people seeking a spiritual director in their area.

6. Spiritual directors practice both within and beyond church contexts.

Spiritual directors come from a variety of walks of life, professional backgrounds and church involvement. Some clergy or church leaders feel drawn to the particular charism of spiritual direction and weave the gifts of contemplative listening and accompaniment into their pastoral ministry, others will offer spiritual direction as a ministry separate to their formal church role. SDFP participant, Strahan Coleman has partnered with Portland-based organisation Practising the Way, and has a heart for seeing contemplative prayer and spiritual formation renew the church in Aotearoa from the inside out.

There are also spiritual directors who would consider themselves post-church and feel drawn to accompanying people who are on a spiritual journey outside of or beyond formal faith structures. Some may be a companion to those who are involved in the holy and often harrowing process of deconstructing their old models of faith, discovering new images of God, and discerning the “vital impulse” within that that Teilhard de Chardin described, who is always “with us” and “ahead of us” to lead us into life.

7. Spiritual directors can operate as sole traders and claim business expenses.

After completing their formation, spiritual directors can begin a spiritual direction practice as a sole trader, earning income from their spiritual direction sessions. This income is taxable and needs to be declared, but expenses related to running a spiritual spiritual direction practice (including supervision, your own spiritual direction, ACSD membership fees, professional development and website or marketing costs etc.) can be claimed as business expenses.

8. Spiritual directors charge a range of fees for spiritual direction.

You will find a wide variety of fees charged by spiritual directors around New Zealand, according to their values and their needs. Some operate on a koha, pay what you can, model, whilst other will will charge set fees, or a sliding scale of fees dependent on the income of the person coming for direction. If you chose to charge nothing for spiritual direction, you would be in good company, and if you charged $100 per session, you would also be in good company.

Some of the earliest spiritual directors in New Zealand were clergy, or vowed religious, who were not dependent on earning an income from their spiritual direction practice to cover living costs.. We now see a trend towards increasingly professionalism within the ministry of spiritual direction, where spiritual directors in private practice need to earn a sustainable income from spiritual direction in order to be able to dedicate time and resources to it. It is also common for spiritual directors to practice spiritual direction on a part-time basis and have supplementary income from other professional roles.

9. There is a growing interest in spiritual direction among people from evangelical/Pentecostal faith backgrounds.

We notice more people being drawn into the contemplative ministry of spiritual direction from charismatic, evangelical and Pentecostal church circles. This trend can be accounted for in part by what we call the “Sensible Shoes Phenomenon”! The Sensible Shoes series is a collection of novels written by American spiritual director, Sharon Garlough-Brown, which follow the lives and faith journeys of four women as they attend a retreat and embrace contemplative practices for the first time in amongst the complexities and hopes of their ordinary lives. The books have been popular in New Zealand, and after reading them a number of people have sought out a spiritual director, and some have felt drawn into the ministry of spiritual direction themselves.

10. Not all spiritual directors offer formal spiritual direction.

Many people who train as a spiritual director will go on to practice spiritual direction in some capacity. However people find the training useful in a range of vocations including pastoral ministry, chaplaincy, counselling, social services, and more. The skilful art of listening deeply and asking evocative questions is well-honed in the two year Spiritual Directors Formation Programme and enhances many other helping roles.

As SDFP alumni, Holly Walton writes: “This programme is so much more than training as a spiritual director. It grows your whole way of being with people. I only have a few directees for formal spiritual direction, but my training informs my ministry as a chaplain with the elderly and as a retreat facilitator.”

Other participants report that they find the programme transformative for their own spiritual journey, quite apart from the ministry possibilities it opens up.