Drawing Near
Spiritual practices for hungry souls
The Drawing Near course will help you to draw closer to God and his transforming grace. It introduces classic spiritual practices which have been utilised throughout church history by people in pursuit of God. Rooted in contemplative spirituality, which prioritises developing intimacy with God and a deep and vital Christian experience, Drawing Near has opened the door for many to a deeper walk with God and to grow in maturity in their faith.
Drawing Near is taught interactively and experientially. Exercises for home encourage your growth as you put the principles into practice.
Who is it for?
Drawing Near is geared toward Christians who are fairly well grounded in the faith and who desire to infuse their relationship with God with fresh insight and depth. I am also developing a introductory course, shorter and appropriate for younger Christians, as an introduction to core spiritual practices.
Principles and Practices
Though Drawing Near centres around spiritual practices, it is about much more than mastering techniques. The practices can be life-changing as they are lived out within an open and responsive relationship with God. Underlying principles are essential for connecting us in intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. These principles, when given life by the Spirit, breathe life into the practices.
Underlying Principles
- We grow best in our spiritual lives when rational knowledge about God is transformed into experiential knowledge (transferred from head to heart).
- God's great gift of grace is that we are truly loved and accepted (which is fairly easy to know with our head, often a challenge to live out in our experience).
- God is delighted when we draw near to him in devotion rather than out of duty.
- If we desire to experience more of God, it is essential that we create more space in our lives for him.
Spiritual Practices
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Alternative packaging of the Drawing Near material
The full course involves 6 evenings and a retreat. These are spread out over 3 months, which allows time for growth in incorporating the practices into your lives.
A weekend retreat creates a setting for a meaningful shorter experience. Each of the evenings has been developed as an individual module and these can be combined by request in whatever way will best suit the setting, experience and needs of the group.
An introductory course introduces a few core practices for engaging with God. This consists of three to four individual sessions or combined within a retreat.
A single teaching on any of the spiritual practices.
Feedback from Participants
""Drawing Near is inspirational and really helpful in drawing closer to God in your own unique way and personality style." Eveline
"The course is a perfect opportunity to learn about and experience ways to get drawn nearer to God." Wilco
"One of the exercises that really helped me was practicing the presence of God as we took time to listen to God at the retreat. It reminded me of how much God longs to speak to me if I take the time to listen. It also reminded me the value of sitting in silence and allowing myself to reflect on what was going on in my heart and allowing God to speak into those areas. Marcia
"During the course I experienced a deeper longing for God and a growth in my belief in God. The course has given tools to continue practicing in strengthening my relation with God." Marcel
"Lectio divina has especially helped me to experience God's faithfulness and has renewed my longing to spend time with Him through reading the Word and letting it speak to me. I'm impressed by the different ways in which God can speak from the same passage to various people; and so specifically to me." Thamar
"Drawing Near gives a perspective on how you can live a balanced life with God. In my spiritual diet I went short on gratitude. Especially to be thankful for all God gave me in my life. Practicing the discipline of gratitude makes God's influence bigger, mine smaller. It increased my worship of God and also my way of viewing life. God is in control. Jet
Some of the practices are new for me, others aren’t, but all served well to draw me nearer to God. In short, the course has reminded me to consciously keep God in perspective in ALL areas of my life. By consciously doing it frequently, it becomes a mindset and hopefully then a lifestyle. Chih-Wei
Interested?
Contact me to begin a conversation about bringing this teaching to your church. A course, retreat or teaching is customised to each audience, with topics, length and depth that are suitable for your group.
Links
Go from Drawing Near to:- My profile
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- Cursussen & workshops
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- Faith Formation (links to related articles)
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