Adrienne Thompson

Nō Ingerangi, nō Kōtirangi ōku tīpuna. I whānau mai ahau ki Inia, e noho ana ahau īnaiani ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara, ki te rohe o Te Ātiawa. E mihi ana au ki ngā maunga, ki ngā awa, ki ngā Iwi katoa o Aotearoa.

I’m a New Zealander, born in India and growing up under the Himalayan mountains, the 5th generation of my family to have a strong connection with the Indian sub-continent. My parents were Baptist and evangelical and at the same time generously open to all branches of Christianity and respectful of other communities of faith. My schoolmates were all flavours of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi, and Muslim and came from India, Thailand, Nepal,
Bhutan, the UK, Australia, the USA and New Zealand.

I chose to follow Jesus for myself when I was 14 and was baptized in our school swimming pool. Completing school in India, I had a 6 year stint in New Zealand during which time I married Paul and we spent 20 years as Baptist missionaries in Bangladesh. We came to Wellington in 1999 and have stayed. I trained as a spiritual director in 2001-2 and as a supervisor with SGM in 2007, and with Weltec in 2009. I continue to learn how to live here, as a follower of Jesus in Aotearoa.

Part of that has been learning te Reo Māori and now discovering what it means to be Tangata Tiriti and beginning to learn ways to subvert some of the racism and inequity that are threaded through our society. Lately I am engaging with Ignatian Spirituality through Te Wairua Mahi. I am deeply committed to exploring and living a spirituality fed by all the rich traditions of Christian faith but firmly anchored in Aotearoa. Community is precious to me: at Wellington Central Baptist Church; at Stillwaters (an anarchic church in the inner city); the collegial community of Spiritual Growth Ministries where I contribute to the Formation Programme; the community of fellow language learners; the community committed to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi; our many flatmates; and above all my family – husband, children, in-laws, gorgeous grandchildren – and the friends who are like family to me.

“Listening with another to the Spirit’s direction.”

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” (Frederick Buechner)

I have the immense privilege of listening to the life that people choose to share with me. I listen to them, I listen with them, and together we notice the Spirit’s direction.

Approach to supervision

“Looking over your work”

I delight in the work of supervision which I see as helping you to integrate your experience, training and faith into your unique practice of spiritual direction.

In both spiritual direction and supervision I often find myself listening with people who are –

• navigating life in intentional Christian communities
• negotiating cross-cultural transitions
• on the edge (or feeling outside) of faith and church
• in the LGBTQIA+ communities
• in other countries and timezones