Prospectus for Spiritual Direction Groups
Times: Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 7:00-9:00pm at the church. Classes begining April 2, 2014.
Requirements: Gather together a 4-person-group. The group will meet once a month for 2 hours. Members must commit to praying for the group regularly. Since this is a listening group, all things must be confidential within the confines of the group. All however, are welcome to attend!
The Goal: This is not a self-help group, counseling group, or support group. This is a listening group. The goal is for each person to learn how God speaks to them individually. Each person must learn to discern God’s voice and God’s will in their life. The group will attempt to help one another listen for God without giving advice and without criticism.
Projected Start Date: Whenever 4 people get together and commit themselves to the program, we can start a group at any time.
Syllabus:
Session #1: During this session we will go over the goals, expectations, and commitments of the group. We will go over the protocol for the meetings. We will emphasize the nature of the group. This is not a self-help group, support group, counseling group, etc. The group is set up to be a group that together seeks the will of God for their lives and to support one another in intercessory prayer. Confidentiality will be emphasized along with a listening, non judgmental spirit. We will do some listening exercises.
Session #2: Group Spiritual Direction - This session will be dedicated to Lectio Divina. We will learn the method and its uses. Then we will spend time actually practicing it. We will use this method during our Group Spiritual Directions throughout the year.
Session #3: This session will be used to introduce the group to Bible Study. I will present one of Rick Warren’s book Bible Study Methods. As a group we will do one these studies. At the end we will take a time of reflection on what God spoke to us through this particular study.
Session #4: Group Spiritual Direction
Session #5: This session will be dedicated to “Praying the Names of God.” We will use Ann Spangler’s books Praying the Names of God and Praying the Names of Jesus. We will take one of the Names of God, learn what the Name means and look at one of the contexts in which it was used. Then we will spend some time to examine our lives where we need this particular Name of God to be active in our lives. Then we will pray this to God. I think that journaling may be the most effective method to teach this.
Session #6: Group Spiritual Direction
Session #7: We will look at Stephen Redmond’s Great Christian Prayers simply to practice reading the prayers of others and great prayers of the church. We will spend some time actually using this method.
Session #8: Group Spiritual Direction
Session #9: We will use Beth Moore’s Praying God’s Word in order to learn how we can use the Bible as a form of prayer.
Session #10: Group Spiritual Direction
Session #11: I’m not sure how much I can accomplish here but I would like to introduce the group to a couple of spiritual disciplines like meditation, contemplation to service, solitude and silence, etc. using Richard Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline. We will practice a time of meditation and perhaps choose a specific service we can do as a group.
Session #12: Group Spiritual Direction
Evaluation: At the end of one year, we will have an evaluation process for the group to see if you would like to continue. Perhaps you may want to continue the group on your own or start new groups.