I’ve known God, wrestled with God, been upset with God, and loved God since an early age. My parents were in church ministry and modelled an authentic faith that left a lasting impact on me. The death of my father in my teenage years shook my faith profoundly, but also became the catalyst for a genuine adult faith and personal calling to vocational ministry in my 20’s. I’ve pondered the relationship between suffering and faith.

I would describe my own spirituality as broadly charismatic-contemplative. I’m reflective, curious, questioning, and a little bit mystical. By mystical I just mean I’m interested in direct personal experience of God’s presence (and sense of absence) in our lives. I’m also interested in prayer: ways we converse and commune with God. I’ve held various leadership and teaching roles in churches and Christian organisations in NZ and elsewhere. I’ve even cooked on a Pentecostal mission base in the Czech Republic (think gualash and dumplings).

More recently I pastored for 6 years in Hong Kong. I’m currently on staff at Saint Augustine’s, an Anglican church in Auckland. I also lecture in Christian spirituality for Carey Baptist College. That all makes me sound quite spiritual. Actually, I have the same mix of spiritual vitality and mediocrity, faith and doubt, hope and discouragement, love and lethargy that characterises so many spiritual journeys. Besides, all things are spiritual when seen in the light of God.

Every spiritual-life journey is unique, and no two people encounter God the same way. I love listening to the thoughts, feelings, spiritual experiences, joy, disappointment or deep longing that resides within someone seeking to know God. I am always aware that when someone speaks about their relationship with God, they are in fact speaking to God, not just to me. God listens. That makes spiritual direction a bit like prayer. Sometimes God even responds!

My commitment to everyone who sees me for spiritual direction is that I will listen to them, and with them to God. A number of people who see me work in vocational Christian ministry or the charity sector. I have experience in providing ministry supervision in addition to, or alongside, spiritual direction. I am particularly interested in the intersection of spirituality and vocational ministry, though I enjoy working with anyone wanting to deepen their awareness of God’s presence in their life.