Aims
- To give participants experience of some of the different Christian prayer traditions;
- To create a safe space where journeys of faith can be shared, a learning community formed and the gift of listening nurtured;
- To develop participants’ awareness of their own calling to spiritual growth and to encourage the pursuit of this calling with discernment;
- To encourage the development of a sustainable way of living, founded on a prayer practice that nourishes the life of the participant and gives life to others.
Approach
Experience
The sessions comprise guided experience, rather than knowledge transfer. At each meeting there will be a guided time of prayer and opportunity to explore the personal response to this.
Praying Community
Participants and tutors are asked to make a commitment to being at all the sessions (unless unavoidable) so that a sense of community can grow. Also to make time for prayer between sessions, so that calling can grow. Tutors will be available one to one by prior arrangement after sessions.
Reflection
This is where we learn to spot the moves of the Spirit, both in personal reflection and in telling and hearing others. Some may choose to use writing to help their reflection, but academic writing is not a requirement.
Content
Tutors come with an awareness of the Christian prayer traditions and will present material from these to stretch participants’ experience. The aim is not to be comprehensive but to provide ‘soul food’ (or at least some cutlery!). Areas likely to be covered include:
- Personality and prayer
- Ways of praying with the Bible
- Silence and solitude
- Using art and poetry
Ignatian and monastic traditions are drawn on, but also contemporary developments in spirituality.
Contact hours
24 hours excluding breaks and one-to-one time.
Evaluation and discernment
Participants’ discernment is helped by keeping a record of the journey. This can be written, oral, or non-verbal but should be prepared in a form which can be shared with a tutor as a way of confirming/testing the direction of travel. It is also helpful to share elements of this record with other participants, at the participant’s discretion.