Training, Tools, and Community for Wayfaring Companions

Spiritual companionship is a form of relationship whereby one person intentionally ambles alongside another, creating and holding safe space, listening together to the Vitality guiding them both toward greater healing, freedom, personhood, and calling.

Wayfaring Companions are outliers who hold the creative tension between time-honored practices and the wild. We honor the long-established synergistic relationship between Presence and Moxie, inviting those in our training program to listen well to self, others, systems, creation, and the Divine Mystery, while incorporating innovative teaching and experiential application. In the wild, Wayfaring Companions engage others in spontaneous conversations around spiritual longing with a playful, compassionate spirit of adventure.

COMPANIONFEST

If you are seeking space for rest and reflection, as well as fun and connection, then you are invited to Companionfest! An in-person and online retreat to breathe, rest, share, and encourage. There'll be a book discussion, guided meditations, open conversations and games. Stayed tuned for details about Companionfest 2022.

COURSE - INTRODUCTION TO SPIRITUAL COMPANIONING

For those interested in discerning a call to spiritual companionship, we offer a 3 week course which offers tools for deeper listening, an overview of our understanding of spiritual companionship, and details about our spiritual companionship training.

SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP TRAINING

What is Wayfaring Companions Spiritual Companionship Training?"

How does it work?

Wayfaring Companions is a two-year training program in spiritual companionship with optional third year practicum and certification.

Over the course of two years, Wayfaring Companions takes the Companions-in-training through six online retreats, small group practice and learning between retreats, and guidance from an experienced spiritual companion to help you hone essential skills in companionship.

Each year we begin a new cohort in the Fall, with retreats happening in October, January, and May. Retreats begin on Thursdays 9am and end on Saturday at noon (Central Time).

Practicum Structure: 5 four-week learning modules with half-day retreats, personal reflective practice, practical skills practice, alumni peer supervision group, and individual coaching

"Is Spiritual Companionship Training for me?"

To answer that question, let us tell you what a Wayfaring Companion is.

Wayfaring Companions are….

• Contemplatives

  • Develops and maintains a personal spiritual practice that is open, curious, flexible, and life-giving.

  • Recognizes and articulates personal purpose and meaning. Acknowledges and honors gifts and shadow. 

  • Notices and articulates the movement of God in self, community and the world

  • Demonstrates familiarity with history, context and wisdom of spiritual companions

..who develop the skill of….

• Practical Listening

  • Demonstrates awareness of interpretive, metaphorical/emotional, and physical communication.

  • Cultivates an environment of trust and safe space for the directee to share freely. Maintains mutual respect and trust. 

  • Develops and maintains personal boundaries and honors the directee’s wholeness and agency

...walk with others as….

• Missional Companions

  • Cultivates awareness of the four areas of engagement: God and self, God and neighbor, Institutions, and nature. Uses concentric deepening levels of interpretation, emotional/metaphor, nonverbal, God/mystery.

  • Respects the wholeness and uniqueness of each person. Embraces difference and diversity. Honors boundaries. 

  • Facilitates and co-creates invitational inclusive spaces for deeper conversation in formal and informal settings

  • Embraces the posture of spiritual direction as a lifestyle choice, employing the listening mindset in all settings and communities

  • Nurtures exploration and participation of spiritual practices in others

...and intentionally engage in….

• Cohort Cultivation

  • Nurtures connections with other members of the learning cohort, individually and as a group.

  • Understands and consistently applies spiritual direction ethics and standards.

Does this sound like you? Or maybe who you want to become?

Each year we begin a new cohort in the Fall, with retreats happening in October, January, and May. Retreats begin on Thursdays at 9 am and end on Saturday at noon (Central Time).

The total cost for the program is $4000, which includes…

• Six training retreats with experiential learning, formal instruction, time for solitude and reflection, and practical skill-building.

• One-on-One and monthly peer group supervision.

• Enneagram profiles and one-on-one consultation.

• Registration to our annual National Gathering for each year you are in the program.

Dates for the Retreats for the 2022 Cohort are:

• September 29- Oct 1, 2022

• January 26-28, 2023

• April 20-22, 2023

The 2022 inquiry deadline is July 20, 2022. The tuition deadline is August 20, 2022.

If you happen to find us after this date, please contact us to to see if we have any openings.

Ready to learn more? Click the “Contact Us” button below to contact Matthew Johnson and learn more. Ready to sign-up for the Wayfaring Companions training? Click the “Enroll” button below.