Directions for the inner journey

Stopping at a petrol station or consulting a road map is often sufficient to keep us, quite literally, on the right road as we travel from place to place.

For the “inner journey”, assistance is also needed in locating and understanding the sign posts that guide us to our most authentic selves and to God’s presence within us and our life experiences. It is for this reason that the ministry of Spiritual Direction developed centuries ago.

The Uniting Church has taken a bold step in ministry by appointing Sue Dunbar to the Mid Lachlan Mission Area (MLMA) team, as the Spiritual Formation Facilitator.

Sue has spent the last three years in Chicago studying and working in the area of spirituality and spiritual direction. She left Australia in August 2003 to complete a year-long program in spiritual direction at the Institute for Spiritual Leadership (ISL). Once completing the program, Sue became part of the staff at ISL for the next two years, teaching a number of classes, supervising training and offering spiritual direction.

Concurrently she completed a Masters in Spirituality at Loyola University, Chicago.

With this rich experience to share, Sue returned to Australia in July 2006 to take up the new position in the MLMA.

The MLMA is a collection of congregations in the central west of New South Wales. The larger centres of the region are Parkes and Forbes. The smaller places are Condobolin, Trundle, Bogan Gate, Gunningbland, Bedgerebong, Cookamidgera and Eugowra.

The MLMA was conceived with the aim “to reverse the self fulfilling perception that the rural church faces inevitable decline.”

The leadership of the MLMA has implemented numerous strategies to better resource the rural church. However, there was recognition that the focal point of any renewal was in responding to the cry from deep within the human spirit, experienced within and outside of the church, for the One who truly gives life, vitality, and hope.

Sue was called to the MLMA because of her specialised gifts and training to help rediscover our first love, to provide tools in a journey that looks grimly in the face of droughts and falling church attendance and yet celebrates life, grace, and generosity.

Through the ministry of spiritual direction, Sue seeks to accompany people on this journey.

“Spiritual direction,” says Sue, “is an ongoing conversation between a trained director and a person seeking self knowledge, a fuller relationship with God and an understanding of what the Spirit invites that person to do with his/her life.”

That is accomplished through regular private meetings in which the seeker is invited to relate and embrace their life experiences, both conscious and unconscious; to recognise the movement of God in those events; and to respond in a way that leads to greater compassion, freedom and mission.

The ultimate goal for the individual is to gain a conscious awareness of and participation in an ongoing dialogue with God that gives meaning to life.

The person recognises God’s love more deeply and discovers Jesus’ invitation to greater life and service.

Although Sue has been appointed by the Uniting Church, her ministry is seen as one for the whole community, including members of other denominations and those with no formal links to any church.

Often people are seeking something more from life or have been disillusioned in some way by the church. For these people, spiritual direction offers a hospitable place to explore their deeper yearnings and desire to make meaning out of their life journey.

Already Sue is seeing 14 people, including two from outside the Uniting Church.
She says, “I am excited about the possibilities of reaching out into the community and introducing people to the immensity of God’s love while accompanying them as they discover their own yearning for God.”

As well as providing spiritual direction, Sue will also offer a range of workshops and reflection days and evenings to nurture on-going spiritual formation within the MLMA.

Topics like prayer styles, journaling, art and spirituality will be offered.

Using the churches in Parkes and Forbes as her base, Sue travels around to the smaller centres and plans to use some of the little outlying churches for days of quiet prayer and reflection.

She also hopes to eventually facilitate training of others as spiritual directors so that there will be a wider network of people able to accompany others in their journey of faith in the central west.

Sue’s new role of Spiritual Formation Facilitator complements the rest of the MLMA team, consisting of Tom Stuart (Strategist and New Initiatives), John Ruhle (Discipleship and Lay Education) and Marie Weller (Mission Groups Coordinator).

Together, the vision of the team is to encourage, empower and equip the people of the Mid Lachlan so that they can recognise God’s invitation in their own lives and feel confident in responding according to their own gifts and abilities.

This may be as a leader of a small group, a lay preacher, visiting people in need, singing in the band, supporting an elderly parent, coordinating a Project Reconnect service or many more.

This way of being church is one where everyone is involved and responsible. No longer do we hop on the bus and let the minister take us to the destination, says Sue. Now people are invited to undertake their own journey, accompanied by the Spiritual Formation Facilitator, and then contribute to the life of the church and community.

Sometimes this may take longer but in the process people discover Jesus as both the way and the destination.

Sue is available to meet with people, usually setting up an initial meeting to discuss questions and expectations. The person is then free to decide whether they want to continue or not.

Appointments can be made by phone: 6862 5392 or spiritual.direction@uniting.com.au.