Abstract
Quest for Spiritual Community: Reclaiming Spiritual Guidance for Contemporary Congregations
Angela H. Reed
New York: T. & T. Clark, 2011. 189 pp. $26.95
At a time in history when spiritual hunger is high and church membership is declining, Angela Reed makes a compelling case for revitalization through congregation-based spiritual guidance and formation. A pastor and spiritual director herself, Reed writes with confidence, clarity, nuance, humility, and love for those in ministry, in the pews, and in the marketplace who are seeking something more. Her insights also come from her Ph.D. research involving qualitative case studies of three Mennonite and three Presbyterian congregations that have spiritual guidance ministries led by the pastor or a lay leader educated in this discipline.
Different from pastoral care, which Reed sees as crisis-oriented, “spiritual direction is spiritual in that it looks for the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in all of life, and it is direction in that it is a relationship of coming alongside another who seeks God’s direction for living” (8–9). This can take many forms, including small group spiritual direction, spiritual friendships, and traditional direction with a director. Reed says these faith-forming relationships build and nourish a spiritual community rather than reinforce individualized spirituality. They are inevitably missional, because God encourages the discernment of call and gifts for loving partnership in the healing and redemption of creation. While spiritual guidance practices draw on biblical, historical, and theological writings of the Church, “contemporary writings in spiritual guidance support the notion that drinking from a variety of spiritual streams actually enhances the fullness of our relationship to God” (39). This makes room for conversation between those who have been formed within a particular spiritual tradition and others who hunger for meaning, community, and God, and whose journey has bypassed or led them away from traditional faith contexts.
Reed does not say all pastors should be trained in spiritual direction, but believes all pastors need “a circle of trust” with a spiritual guide, a spiritual friend, or a small group where they can be vulnerable, honest, nourished by reflection on glimpses of God, and accountable to the prompting and longings that emerge in silence and words. The pastors Reed interviewed described spiritual guidance as a lifeline that helped them maintain a right-sized view of themselves and a connection to the passion for people and God that had brought them into ministry. The lens of being “a prayerful presence” changed their preaching, administration, and interactions, and was slowly changing their church’s culture.
Reed acknowledges the messiness of watching for God and differing understandings of where God is leading. Throughout the book she draws on the unique metaphor of improvisational theatre to illustrate reincorporating “the story so far” with what is emerging on stage, or on God’s stage, as actors and audience, God and creation exercise free will and mutually influence each other. Examples of soul care in Scripture and history are part of “the story so far” that Reed interweaves to provide depth and context for her observations. She reviews the apostle Paul’s model of spiritual guidance evidenced in his pastoral letter to the Thessalonians, describes the ministry of anchoress and spiritual director Julian of Norwich in the late 1300s, and outlines Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s insights about person, community, and spiritual growth. Reed also explores the faith journey and systematic theology of Jürgen Moltmann, another German whose life, like Bonhoeffer’s, was shaped by the tragedies of the Second World War. Reed’s engagement with Moltmann’s ideas provides an inspiring, clear, and thorough grounding for a Protestant understanding of spiritual guidance.
Refreshingly practical throughout, Reed concludes with models of congregation-based spiritual guidance. Congruently, she includes occasional personal stories and questions for self-reflection and sharing at the end of the five chapters. As one approaches the last page, the mark of a good book is satisfaction and wanting more. Angela Reed does not disappoint. She stays within her book’s title, focusing on congregations, but hints at the role seminaries have in forming future pastors who not only know about God, but seek to know God, and can help bridge the gap between church and culture. Another book is needed to explore how seminaries are incorporating the teaching and practice of spiritual guidance. Just as church cultures slowly change as leaders bring the lens of prayerful presence into ministry, seminaries, too, may find their discernment, life together, and missional identity nourished and deepened by reclaiming spiritual guidance practices for the community that is forming people for creative, sustained, and faithful ministry.
Nancy Schongalla-Bowman
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey