Jesus said “Come away and rest awhile”. My walk of faith has been enriched through receiving regular spiritual direction, and engaging in times of retreat, silence and contemplation. I love to create such opportunities for others, encouraging them to reflect on how God might be blessing, inviting, and nudging them in their own walk of faith.

The Anglican tradition has been my faith anchor throughout my life, and I claim that as my home – the space in which I live and from which I offer my ministry to God’s created people. Yet, in more recent years, I have discovered richness, opportunity and blessing in diverse expressions of faith both within and beyond the Anglican umbrella. I’ve surprised myself with a curiosity to wonder about other places and other ways of seeking God-truth and wisdom, perceiving a quest for meaning and a thirst for connection common to all humanity.

Since moving from Wellington to the beautiful Wairarapa in 2018, I have developed a ministry of retreat hospitality, offering a self-contained one-bedroom retreat on our 5-acre property as a sanctuary of peace and rest. This space is increasingly being used by people who seek to draw aside from their daily rhythm of life to pause, reflect and be refreshed.

I worship at our local Anglican parish of St Mark’s in Carterton, where I also serve as a non-stipendiary priest.

For me spiritual direction/companioning is a place of freedom to notice, share and reflect on life. Anything and everything may be brought to spiritual direction. It is a place to linger with God and with ourselves, in a spirit of curiosity and openness. It’s a place to love questions and engage with them, to wonder and explore. It’s a safe space of deep listening, attentiveness and trust, where both light and dark, joy and struggle, love and fear – all the paradoxes of life – may find expression.

I seek to create a warm and welcoming space for faith seekers, and regard it as a privilege to companion others in building their capacity to notice life and live life. Above all, I see spiritual direction as a place of hope: I trust that God – the Divine, Mystery, whatever name you prefer – will be present to move and inspire, to create and re-create, perhaps to challenge, and always to offer fresh insight about ourselves and about God. I offer spiritual direction both on-site at my home and by Zoom, and welcome enquiries from the Wairarapa region and beyond.