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Christianity Today, January, 2009 |

What Is a Spiritual Director?

Richard Foster | posted 2/04/2009 08:52AM

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What is spiritual director?

1. A person who has a continuing hunger for intimacy with God.

2. A person who has an ability to forgive others at great personal loss.

3. A person who has a lively sense that God alone can satisfy the longings of the human heart.

4. A person who has a deep satisfaction in prayer.

5. A person who has a realistic assessment of personal abilities and limitations.

6. A person who has a fundamental freedom from boasting about spiritual accomplishments.

7. A person who has a demonstrated ability to live out the demands of life patiently and wisely.

Related Elsewhere:

This article accompanies an article by Richard Foster on "Spiritual Formation Agenda."

Richard Foster previously wrote on leadership, which accompanied an interview with Christianity Today. CT also interviewed Richard Foster and Dallas Willard on the difference between discipleship and spiritual formation.

Other articles on spiritual formation include:

The Blind Spot of the Spiritual Formation Movement | Let's not forget the spiritual discipline of choice for the masses. (September 24, 2008)

Back to Sunday School | The author of Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered says the church must reclaim its disciple-making infrastructure. (June 26, 2008)

Three Temptations of Spiritual Formation | "When seeking to be shaped by Christ, It is all too easy to veer from a fully Christian approach" (December 9, 2002)

Christianity Today also has more articles on prayer and spirituality.

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January 2009, Vol. 53, No. 1

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Ronnie V

Posted: February 05, 2009 5:09 AM


Do they have to meet all 7 qualifications? Whadda about a majority of the qualifications? Whadda about a sense of these qualifications? Can we have 7 different directors? Can we have just one Spirit directing us to Christ?

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