Trinitarian Spiritual Formation: Spiritual Direction and Supervision of Spiritual Directors within the Fullness of Trinitarian Life

Abstract

In this Research Portfolio, the author articulates a contemplative evocative approach toward Trinitarian Spiritual Formation, from where discernment and ministry flow. This will be explored through three avenues. The first is a spiritual autobiography describing the author’s own spiritual formation in response to the question: How will I know God’s voice? The author’s discernment of vocational call to spiritual direction and supervision will be shared. The second is through the development of a Trinitarian Spiritual Formation Model as informed by Trinitarian Spiritual Formation anchored in Trinitarian theology. In the face of hybrid forms of spiritual direction, this understanding of spiritual formation will be applied to the question: What makes spiritual direction, spiritual direction? The third is through a field research project that attends to the spiritual formation of Tyndale graduate spiritual directors. The project is guided by the question: Does attending to the spiritual formation of directors through a contemplative evocative approach better equip them to discern a calling to the supervision of directors? This research confirms that a contemplative evocative approach toward spiritual formation is helpful for discerning whether or not directors are called to become supervisors.