SGM Annual Appeal | Spiritual Growth Opportunities on the Horizon
pbkwee, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
SGM’s Contemplative Horizons Appeal July 2025
As Spiritual Growth Ministries Workgroup, we extend an invitation to you to make a donation to our Annual Appeal.
This year we have two spiritual growth opportunities on our horizon.
Bruce Maden: SGM Workgroup Convenor
Kia ora SGM Community,
Each July, Spiritual Growth Ministries (SGM) holds our Annual Appeal.
We invite our community to turn hope-filled eyes to the future as we share the strategic directions God seems to be leading us towards.
We invite you to support SGM in this movement by donating to our Contemplative Horizons Fund.
So, what is on our horizon this year?
SGM are creating two spiritual growth opportunities for the contemplatively curious and those on a deepening spiritual journey.
1. Pathways to Presence - The Journey of Drawing Closer is being developed as a six-week online spiritual formation journey for people hungry for community and curious about contemplative spirituality.
2. Spiritual Direction Taster Events will be facilitated in-person by Fran Francis in partnership with local Spiritual Directors groups around main centres of Aotearoa over the next few years.
Why are we feeling called in these directions? You need go no further than our name to recognise that fostering spiritual growth is an important aspect of our kaupapa.
Our call to fostering spiritual growth in Aotearoa is not limited to forming spiritual directors.
We hear the growing interest in spiritual formation from churches. The popularity of Practising the Way indicates that more church leaders are recognising the value of contemplative prayer and practices.
We sense the longing for community and spiritual nourishment from people who are disconnected from institutional forms of faith.
We know that the Spirit invites people everywhere to go deeper - beyond the beginnings of discipleship and into whatever comes next in the unique unfolding of God within each person.
Into this context, SGM are developing these two offerings to be delivered from 2026 onwards.
1. Pathways to Presence - A six-week online spiritual formation journey
Facilitated by Fran Francis and David Crawley, Pathways to Presence – The Journey of Drawing Closer is an online, six-week spiritual formation journey grounded in contemplative Christian spirituality.
What makes it distinctive from similar offerings?
It is grounded in contemplative Christian spirituality. i.e. noticing the “holy in the ordinary” and fostering the inner life by developing awareness of the presence of the Spirit of God within the human person and all of creation.
It is grounded in Aotearoa. SGM is committed to Treaty-based biculturalism, acknowledging the need for decolonising spiritual formation and trusting in the loving presence and work of God in all cultures. Pathways to Presence is grounded in practices and taonga drawn from the Church across time and place and culture - The Desert Fathers and Mothers, The Mystics, The Celtic Church and privileges the unique voices of people here in Aotearoa.
It is a formation experience, not a discipleship course. Pathways to Presence transcends the traditional barriers between denominations or culture through its grounding in simplicity while engaging with scripture, music, art, nature, making and rest as pathways leading us closer to God. The purpose is to allow formation of your soul and life. As Richard Foster puts it, “Formation is a practice, transformation is a grace.”
Next Steps
Fran and David are currently fleshing out the outline they have created. We plan to promote Pathways to Presence later in 2025 and deliver the first intake in 2026.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to join the waiting list to be notified when when we are taking registrations.
2. Spiritual Direction Taster Events - coming to a city near you!
Following on from the success of a similar event in Singapore, Fran Francis is taking Spiritual Direction to the streets! Or at least, to a city near you. These taster events will provide an opportunity for people to discover and experience what is spiritual direction like in real-time, vulnerable, Spirit-infused conversations.
These informative and intimate events would be valuable for people who are feeling drawn to the practice of spiritual direction as a directee, and to those who are discerning a call to training as a spiritual director.
Would you like to host a Taster Event in your region? Contact Fran Francis to express your interest.
Feel moved to support these initiatives?
Thank you for considering this invitation to invest in our shared future.
Every bit counts. Whether you can afford to give $5 or $5000, we are grateful for your support.
How to Donate
Donations to Spiritual Growth Ministries are tax deductible. You can give in two ways:
Via online banking to Spiritual Growth Ministries 03-0166-0198782-00 (Add your name and town in reference line, and Annual Appeal in particulars)
Via credit card on the ‘Donate’ page on the SGM website
Please email SGM administrator, Jenna Edgar at admin@sgm.org.nz with any donation payment enquiries.
Ma te Atua koutou katoa e manaaki, God’s blessings upon you all.
Bruce Maden
Convenor SGM Workgroup
