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Spiritual Directors Conference 2024 course

The Spiritual Directors Conference will offer input from a variety of practitioners,

This is an opportunity for spiritual directors to learn and share good practice. There also will be reflective and creative spaces and time to network with one another.

Contributors include Alison Webster, Ian Adams, Stefan Smart, Julia Mourant and more.

Residential and non residential options are available and you can come for all or part of the time. Additional nights B&B are available before and after the Conference so you can enjoy a break in and around Salisbury, visit the Cathedral, town and other sites such as Old Sarum.

Draft conference schedule

Tuesday May 21st
2pm – session one

‘Listening to Your Soul’
Threads and themes in Spiritual Direction Julia Mourant

‘Spiritual Direction as art’
Vanessa Chamberlin, Conference Artist in Residence

15.45 – session two
Ian Adams
Hearts Burning With Us:
The Emmaus Road as a Guide for Spiritual Direction
In this session we will explore how the Emmaus Road story as told in Luke’s gospel ch.24 might offer gifts for spiritual direction.

19. 30 Session three
Poetry reading with Ian Adams
All Flame: Poems of Life, Love and Faith
In this session, through poems and reflections, Ian will suggest how our words, shaped in prayerful presence and emerging from silence, may be a gift in spiritual direction.

Wednesday May 22
10.00 Session four How we profile ourselves as spiritual directors
Ray Andrews, Spirituality Adviser Diocese of Europe, Conference Chaplain

11.45 Session five
How body theology can inform Spiritual Accompaniment (part 1), Alison Webster

14.00 Session six
How body theology can inform Spiritual Accompaniment (part 2), Alison Webster

15.45 Session seven
Options for Conversation, Exploration, Recreation

7.15 Session eight ‘I am Mark’
Stefan Smart, spiritual director offers a dynamic solo performance of St Mark’s Gospel.

Thursday May 23rd
10.00 Session nine
Drawing on Mark’s Gospel in spiritual formation
Stefan Smart

11.30 Session ten
Conversations around spiritual direction
Guest Panel with Julia Mourant

12.40 Closing reflections

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Details

Dates & Times

21 - 23 May 2024

Expired!

Day one begins at 12pm; day two runs from 10am to 9:15pm; the final day ends at 2pm

Tutor(s)

The Revd Julia Mourant

Alison Webster

Guest Tutors

Course code

2452

Other Notes

This is a residential conference to be held at Sarum College.

Prices vary according to level of participation:

£350 residential for full conference (ensuite room)

£320 for full conference (standard room with shared toilet and shower facilities)

£250 for full conference non-residential.

£100 for Wednesday 22nd May only, which includes lunch and refreshments but no overnight stay.

What our students say

PhD Research Programmes

Visual Artist Claire Reed

The complex and sometimes fractious relationship between contemporary art and religion has intrigued me throughout my art career, informing my direction as an artist. It has led me to work in sacred spaces with their immediate and wider communities, to study an MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture at Sarum College, and recently to become artist–researcher at Leo Baeck College of Jewish scholarship and learning.

My aim is to examine the extent to which this creative approach might generate fruitful inter-religious theological insights within a Jewish and Christian ministry training context.

Sarum College combines an open-minded embrace of the imagination and the arts with a supportive, questioning and diverse community. Crucially for me, the Sarum-Winchester PhD programme is one of the very few UK university programmes to offer a hybrid thesis in art and theology in which the creative process and resulting art output along with a written critical component are presented for examination.

This PhD research is a key part of my development as an artist engaged with theology and inter-religious dialogue.

Read full article

Stimulating and Challenging

What is Successful Ageing? led by James Woodward

I enjoyed the course immensely from beginning to end – the seamless interweaving of knowledge, ideas and research and the linking with belief and faith.

The content was stimulating, challenging, thought provoking and I was greatly appreciative of the contributions and questions from other participants, your considered and sensitive responses and integration with your presentations.

Thank you!

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

Tutor(s)

The Revd Julia Mourant

Spiritual Direction

Alison Webster

Exploring Theology Programme Leader

Spiritual Directors Conference 2024

Spiritual Directors Conference 2024 course