Your guide to the opportunities and choices you have for TE 2026
QUICK LINKS to Workshop information below
Thursday – Friday – Saturday – Sunday
Quick links to information about TE 2026 1-4 October
- Workshops and Electives
- About our presenters
- Programme
- Printable PDF version of Programme
- Open Day information – share it with your friends…
- Registrations here
Thursday 1 October 2026 – Open Day
Opening Session | Taking Root
We begin this day together in a contemplative wayโwith stillness, silence, and an invitation simply to arrive. Before conversations and workshops unfold, we create space to arrive, settle and leave behind the busyness of the week. An opportunity to become present to ourselves, to one another, and to God.
Rooted in Psalm 92’s image of the flourishing tree, this opening session introduces the three questions that will companion us through the day:
- What does flourishing look like?
- How do we flourish, rooted in God?
- And how do we help those around us to flourish too?
Be still, and know that I am God. Come and be still.
Thursday Afternoon Electives
Elective 1 | Prayer as Poetry with Lori Brudvik Lindner
Prayer, spoken solemn words, live inside the practice of spiritual direction. If we begin and end our sacred sessions with prayer, our prayers acknowledge the mystery and the presence of God in our midst.
This prayer flourishing elective blends contemplative spirituality with the intimacy of a poetry reading โ hushed voices, pauses that breathe, cadence adjusted โ creating a natural rhythm, a rise and fall of the spoken prayer. In our time together we will learn to treat prayer the way poets treat words โ with attention, with weight โ with the belief that what we say and pray matters. We will read prayers aloud, learn a lamentation form of prayer and engage in interactive self-guided prayer stations โ all the while experiencing prayer as both artform and conversation with the Divine. These poetic prayer discoveries will unfold in a substantial, comfortable and thoughtful environment at Nelson Cathedral, a five-minute walk from the Nelson College for Girls venue. Let’s pray. About Lori
Elective 2 | Kintsugi as a Spiritual Practice | Brad Wood
In this reflective and hands-on workshop, participants will explore the Japanese art of kintsugi, the practice of restoring broken pottery with gold, as a metaphor for the healing and redemptive work of God.
Together we will reflect on the philosophy of wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfection and restoration, and consider how this resonates deeply with the story of Jesus and the Christian journey of healing and resurrection. Participants will then take part in a guided kintsugi process, restoring broken porcelain using golden resin, followed by contemplative prayer and reflection. This workshop offers space for creativity, silence, vulnerability, and encounter with the Divine. About Brad
Elective 3 | Scripture, Presence & The Enneagram | Sue Cunningham
This presentation and workshop delves into the questions posed by St Francis of Assisi: “Who are you, O God, and who am I?” We will explore what Presence is, how it invites us into the depths and freedoms of the Enneagram Type Essence Qualities, and how Scripture contemplated through the lens of the Enneagram has the potential to help us see, know and experience more of who we are and who God is. About Sue
Knowing your Enneagram type is not required โ you will simply need to choose a type beforehand so we have sufficient materials. Come with open, prayerful curiosity.
Plenary Sessions
Group Spiritual Direction
Have you ever wondered what it might be like to listen for God together? This session offers a gentle introduction to Group Spiritual Direction โ an ancient practice made new. In a small circle, guided by experienced spiritual directors, participants are invited into a sacred space of contemplative stillness, deep listening, and unhurried reflection.
Through simple practices drawn from the Christian tradition โ including Lectio Divina and prayerful silence โ the group becomes a kind of micro spiritual community: being with God, for one another. No previous experience of spiritual direction is needed. This is not a space for processing life’s difficulties, but for something simpler and richer โ slowing down, paying attention, and discovering together what it means to flourish in God’s presence; to notice, receive, and be nourished by the movements of the Divine in the everyday.
Closing | Bearing Fruit
We end this day together in a contemplative way โ with stillness, silence, and an invitation simply to rest in what has been. Before we return to the busyness of life, we create space to gather, settle and notice what God has been doing. Rooted still in Psalm 92’s image of the flourishing tree, this closing session returns to the three questions that have companioned us through the day โ not to answer them, but to harvest them. They will still bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green. Go well. Go gently. Go rooted.
Friday 2 October – Flourishing Place
Becoming Re-enchanted in a Disenchanted World by Attending to Place |
Courtney Wilson
Poet Mary Oliver writes “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” I can think of no better pathway to re-enchantment in a disenchanted world. In this talk, we will reflect on how our ability to flourish is intimately linked to place, to the holiness of rootedness, and to an ability to see the sacred in the ordinary. About Courtney
Friday Afternoon Electives
Elective 1 | Drawing Near | Catherine Whaley
Have you ever said, “I can’t draw โ I’m just not creative”? This session explores how the simple act of drawing can become a doorway into deeper spiritual awareness, accessible to absolutely everyone.
Drawing teacher and spiritual director Catherine Whaley invites us to reconsider drawing not as a product to be judged but as a contemplative practice โ a form of body prayer that moves us from our heads to our hearts and opens us to encounter with God. Using the gentle technique of contour drawing, we will explore how picking up a pencil (or simply trailing a finger along our leg) can quiet the inner critic, reconnect us with our bodies, and create a space to notice and tell our stories with God. No artistic experience needed โ only a willingness to be a little brave. About Catherine
Elective 2 | Soul Collage | Karen Moynagh
Soul Collage is an expressive arts practice. It gently opens to your intuitive wisdom and invites the Spirit to speak through image. You may come to know yourself more fully and express your unique gifts. You may find an unexpected response to a question you have been carrying.
Soul Collage moves toward wholeness. It can reveal, with surprising honesty, where something is out of balance. Participants are often struck by how much insight emerges from images they were simply drawn to without quite knowing why. It is another tool to use in Spiritual Direction. No artistic experience or skill is needed. You will be guided through each step. All materials provided. Come with open, prayerful curiosity. About Karen
Elective 3 | Flourishing with the Divine in Aotearoa | Vicki Roberts
An early memory (7 yrs old) is lying on the lawn in Dovedale (rural Nelson province) enjoying looking up, up, up through the wide wide blue sky, executing snow angel moves and leg kicks; โฆ and then suddenly wondering if anyone was looking down on me! โฆ He graciously formally introduced Himself to me 9.40p.m. 18 Sept 1978 and He’s been introducing me to myself since then! About Vicki
Saturday 3rd October – Flourishing People
Making Room for God: Lessons on Flourishing from the Woman of Shunem | Bishop Steve Maina
This session explores how the story of the Shunammite woman of Shunem in 2 Kings 4 offers a compelling biblical lens for understanding flourishing in spiritual direction. Her hospitality, grounded identity, courageous truth-telling and resilient faith reveal a pattern of spiritual maturity that grows not by avoiding hardship but by making room for God’s presence in every season. Together, we will consider how her narrative can shape our approach to accompanying others. About Bishop Steve
Local Tangata Whenua & Christianity | Hilary Mitchell
Many local Mฤori were keen converts to Christianity. Mฤori who had encountered Anglican or Wesleyan missionaries in the North Island first brought the Gospel to the region. When European missionaries arrived from 1839โ1840, Mฤori were baptised in large numbers, met regularly to read scripture and pray, practised the teachings of forgiveness and love, and built chapels and churches. They quickly adopted new skills of reading and writing. Over time the ministers’ perceived involvement in land issues, a lack of
leadership roles for Mฤori, and neglect of Mฤori communities because of immigrant demands led tangata whenua to choose other options. About Hilary
Saturday Afternoon Electives
Elective 1 | Scripture, Presence & The Enneagram | Sue Cunningham
This presentation and workshop delves into the questions posed by St Francis of Assisi: “Who are you, O God, and who am I?” We will explore what Presence is, how it invites us into the depths and freedoms of the Enneagram Type Essence Qualities, and how Scripture contemplated through the lens of the Enneagram has the potential to help us see, know and experience more of who we are and who God is.
Knowing your Enneagram type is not required โ you will simply need to choose a type beforehand so we have sufficient materials. Come with open, prayerful curiosity. About Sue
Elective 2 | When Words Fail: Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction | Sarah Carruthers
Trauma is present in the spiritual direction room more often than we recognise. As spiritual directors, we are increasingly accompanying people carrying deep wounds โ including those affected by sexual abuse and complex trauma โ yet few of us have received specific training in how trauma shapes the psyche, the body and the soul. Drawing on her clinical and contemplative experience, Sarah explores why trauma-informed practice matters for spiritual directors, and what it means in practice. We will consider how trauma disrupts meaning-making and the experience of God, how well-intentioned responses can inadvertently harm, and what it looks like to cultivate the kind of grounded, boundaried and attuned presence that genuine accompaniment requires. About Sarah
Elective 3 | Flourishing Spirituality of Young Adults in Aotearoa | Spanky Moore
Join Spanky in this workshop as he explores what a Flourishing Spirituality of Young Adults in Aotearoa might look like. Traditionally Spiritual Directors have worked more with people in the second half of life, but increasingly Young Adults are drawn to Spiritual Direction and what it has to offer. However this life stage often presents with a unique set of issues that are both familiar and new to the practice of Spiritual Direction. New found freedoms, deconstruction of inherited faith, questions regarding first stage of life vocation, discernment of relationships and work, and family of origin dynamics. Spanky will reflect on his 15+ years working with people in this life stage and what he and his friends have noticed. About Spanky
Saturday evening TE2026
Embodied Prayer: Movement as Expression and Offering | Miriam Jessie Fisher
In Scripture we have images of dance, clapping, lifting hands, kneeling and prostrating ourselves before God. Yet in our own practices we are often disconnected or uncomfortable with prayer or worship that expresses itself in spontaneous movement. In this session we will explore how movement may be a way of prayer and worship โ for ourselves and those we direct. From there we will move into a time of gentle led exploration about how we might engage with this as people, individually and collectively. Time for movement and reflection will be included. This session will be thoughtful, tentative, inclusive and safe, with an overarching aim of wondering how we might engage with embodiment in our practices before God and as we companion others. About Miriam
Sunday 4 October | Flourishing Practice
Reimagining Spiritual Direction | Steve Tollestrup
What if Spiritual Direction is not simply a ministry for individual Christians, but a contemplative practice with wider social and spiritual possibilities? This talk explores emerging forms of direction with couples, leaders, organisations, communities and seekers across faith traditions. Rather than abandoning tradition, we ask how the tradition itself may invite deeper imagination. At a time when many experience disconnection from meaning, truth and belonging, can Spiritual Direction become a wider practice of transformation for persons, communities and cultures? About Steve
Creative Session | Kaye Bustin
There is something that happens when our hands are busy and our hearts are open. Conversation goes deeper. Walls come down. God shows up in unexpected ways. Kaye Bustin โ artist, ceramicist, art teacher and spiritual director โ has spent a lifetime noticing this. From riverbed clay in the Himalayas to her beloved studio in Nelson, she has watched people encounter God through their senses in ways that words alone rarely reach. In this session, Kaye invites us into something hands-on, unhurried and quietly surprising. Come ready to make something. Come ready to feel something. Come ready to meet Someone. About Kaye
