Amanda Pilbrow is a spiritual director, an LGBTIQA+ ally and speaker. She is the founder of www.alreadyenough.co.nz, a website to resource LGBTIQA+ people of faith, (and those who walk beside them). In this blog post, Kathryn Cass has a conversation with Amanda about her research paper ‘Spiritually Directing LGBTIQA+ People of Faith’ and the personal journey that lies behind it.

I thought you’d be interested to know about our recently updated Book List for the Spiritual Directors Formation Programme (SDFP). Whether you completed your formation with SGM three or thirty years ago, I think you’ll find something here to enrich your practice!

Strahan Coleman is a spiritual director, musician and writer who creates his Commoners Communion offerings from a beach-side cabin in Tairua, before returning home to the noisy chaos of family life with his wife Katie and three growing boys. In this blogpost, Kathryn Overall has a conversation with Strahan about his new book ‘Beholding, his partnership with Practising the Way and his sense of the contemplative currents flowing throughout Aoteara, New Zealand.

Rachel Kitchens is a spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and workshop facilitator for the SGM Spiritual Directors Formation Programme. She is married to Andrew Shamey and is mother to three children. In this blog post, Kathryn Overall has a conversation with Rachel about how her contemplative journey collided with the realities of parenting young children, and how she rested in and journeyed creatively with God during those all-consuming years.

Alice Wood is a spiritual director, university chaplain and retreat facilitator with a particular gift for facilitating creative processes in a contemplative way. In this blogpost, Kathryn Overall interviews Alice about her experiences of the gifts of creative processes, both personally and in her practice as a spiritual director.

With some trepidation, I accepted an invitation to tread in the gifted footsteps of Jane Wilkinson who resigned as Convenor at our hui along with Trish O’Donnell. Both Trish and Jane have made huge contributions to SGM with a combined tenure on Workgroup of 34 years!

Kathryn Overall has a conversation with Naomi Holt about her formation journey as a spiritual director, being the youngest person in her cohort, and some of the changes that have happened in her life as a result of following her draw to contemplative spirituality.

To celebrate the release of the 2023 SGM Retreat Calendar, Kathryn Overall invited Phoebe Mackay to share this poem written on retreat and to reflect on the value that contemplative retreats have offered in nourishing her spiritual life.

Rachel Kitchens is a spiritual director, retreat facilitator and workshop facilitator for the SGM Spiritual Directors Formation Programme. In this blog post, Kathryn Overall has a conversation with Rachel about the convictions she holds about the power of spiritual direction and what she notices in her own practice about the spiritual needs of people in their 20’s and 30’s.

Jim McInnes is a church leader, lecturer and a spiritual director with a particular interest in accompanying people in vocational Christian ministry. In this blogpost, Kathryn Overall has a conversation with Jim about his formation as a spiritual director during a ministry sabbatical and the gifts that are emerging on the other side of the deep soul-work of a mid-life transition.

Vic Francis is pastor of Shore Vineyard Church and a spiritual director. He has a particular interest in offering spiritual direction to pastors, and after 30 years in ministry has an inside understanding of the needs and challenges facing church leaders in post-COVID Aoteaora, New Zealand.

When Holly Walton turned 50, her planned party celebrations had to be cancelled thanks to COVID. After receiving beautiful letters from loved ones near and far, she wondered “What would God’s letter to me have said?” In the quiet of lock-down, she re-read a life-time’s worth of journals to find out.

Joshua Taylor is an Anglican Priest from the Diocese of Christchurch. Currently he is based at St John's in Auckland working on his PhD in theology. In this blog-post, Kathryn Overall interviews him about his formation experience and the value of spiritual direction for people in their 20’s and 30’s.

Mike Coleman offers a personal and evocative account of recovering from burnout, one breath at a time.