Some may have noticed that suddenly there are people in the evangelical church calling themselves “Spiritual Directors.” This has come about mostly in the last 10 years. Many may think this is a term for some kind of counselor or a pastoral position, but it is not. What is a Spiritual Director, and where does this term come from? It is crucial to know this.
Spiritual Direction: What Is It and Where Is It From?
Spiritual Direction, while its definition may vary, is essentially the practice of helping somebody listen to or hear the voice/guidance of God or the Holy Spirit. It is not pastoring or counseling, although many pastors have become Spiritual Directors. Some Spiritual Directors are also Enneagram teachers, counselors, or coaches.
The practice of Spiritual Direction originated in early Christian monastic movements in the 3rd and 4th centuries, especially among the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was a soldier who became a mystic. He was influential in the Counter-Reformation and in 1534 founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). He took spiritual direction out of the monasteries and applied it to lay people. Ignatius included Spiritual Direction in his 1548 book of Spiritual Disciplines, and it is the basis for today’s practice of Spiritual Direction. The book also included his instructions for the Prayer of Examen and Ignatian Contemplation, also known as Imaginative Prayer. (The Contemplative practices of Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer had started earlier with the Desert Fathers and Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) who founded Western monasticism).
Spiritual Direction Not a Biblical Role
Spiritual Direction is part of the Contemplative Movement in the church and, until recently, existed only in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox religions. Such a role is not described in Scripture, whereas the roles of pastors, teachers, and elders are given.
One source on Spiritual Direction puts it this way:
“In spiritual direction, one person is being present to another for the sake of being attentive to the voice of God.“ – Susan Currie
A description of a podcast about Spiritual Direction on the same page continues:
“Distinct from other forms of companionship – discipling, mentoring, coaching, pastoring – spiritual direction is laser focused on helping another listen attentively to the voice of God. When we have a trusted confidante helping us notice and prefer God in all aspects of our life, we grow in our affection for God. Holy listening transforms us into a person of discernment.”
This assumes that what God has said in the Bible is not enough. It also assumes that another person has a special ability to help someone “notice and prefer God” although no such ability or role is given anywhere in God’s word.
Another Contemplative site, Rhythms of Grace (be alert to the word “rhythm/s” as it is a term frequently used in Contemplative teachings), states:
“Christian spiritual direction is a practice in which a trained guide, known as a spiritual director, helps an individual deepen their relationship with God and grow in their spiritual life. The focus is on discerning God’s presence, movement, and voice in the directee’s life, rather than providing counseling or problem-solving advice.
Spiritual direction is often sought by those who desire a deeper relationship with God, need help discerning decisions, or wish to better understand how God is at work in their lives.
Richard Rohr, founder of The Center for Action & Contemplation explains spiritual direction this way: ‘Through deep listening, a spiritual companion can help others explore a deeper relationship with God. Like other forms of contemplation, a spiritual companion or spiritual director helps people connect more deeply with the True Self…’”
Note that Spiritual Direction allegedly offers a “deeper relationship with God,” implying that it goes beyond anything described in Scripture, such as prayer, worship, Bible study, and fellowship, to further one’s relationship with the Lord. This is a hallmark of Contemplative teachings, which continuously claim that one can have a “deeper” relationship with God or more “intimacy” with God through their practices.
Also note that Richard Rohr is quoted. Rohr is a heretic who denies or redefines the essentials of the Christian faith, and is a follower of Perennial Wisdom (more on this in the next section). However, Rohr, who admires the mystics, is an influential proponent of Contemplative practices.
Spiritual Direction and Perennial Wisdom
The sources that teach Spiritual Direction or provide Spiritual Direction that I have examined usually have ties to Richard Rohr (such as the site quoted above) and/or appear to be aligned with Perennial Wisdom (without necessarily naming it as such). As noted in the CANA article on Perennial Wisdom and Spiritual Direction:
“Spiritual direction is essential to the Contemplative movement, also known under the rubrics of the Spiritual Disciplines; Lectio Divina; Guided Prayers; Imaginative Prayers; Spiritual Formation; the Prayer of Examen/Examen/Ignatius Prayer; Listening Prayer; Visio Divina; and others. Since the door opened to these practices, first rather quietly via Richard Foster and Dallas Willard a few decades ago, the role of Spiritual Director is now appearing in evangelical churches for the first time. The Perennial infection is inherent in these contemplative teachings and, if hidden now, will surely surface later.”
Perennial Wisdom is incompatible with Christianity, and Richard Rohr is an avowed follower of and promoter of this belief.
The Sufficiency of Scripture
Spiritual Direction is not rooted in Scripture, does not depend on Scripture, and is not modeled in Scripture. It is a mystical, monastic practice.
Furthermore, why is there a role for a supposed attempt at “listening” for God’s voice when we have God’s voice speaking in his word?
There has been a major focus on how to pray in dialogue with God, how to listen to God’s voice, and even how to discern whether it is God’s voice. Dallas Willard gives a complicated list of factors in his book, How to Hear God, on how to discern whether or not you are hearing God’s voice, and some of the points even contradict Scripture.
Spiritual Directors are now here to supposedly guide you in hearing God or the Holy Spirit speak, which could come as a nudge, wink, whisper, “still, small voice” (a misapplication of 1 Kings 19.11-14), a sign (one site states we must recognize signs God might be sending us — applying this would make almost anything a “sign” from God or surely overwhelm the person trying to decipher which “sign” might be from God), a feeling, or whatever kind of signal allegedly from God might be conjured up. Meanwhile, God’s word is available, offering God’s rich profound wisdom, waiting to be read, poured over, studied, and meditated over (in the right way, that is, with the mind turned on). The Bible is one of the greatest things God has given; it is his written revelation.
The Holy Spirit speaks to a person through God’s word, by illuminating Scripture, and by bringing it to mind; that is biblical because it is God’s revealed word. We need to ask: Would God, being perfect in all his aspects, give an incomplete or insufficient revelation?
Scripture is either sufficient or it is not sufficient; it is one or the other. If you decide it is not sufficient, then there are many roads you can travel from there that may seem spiritual, but they will be murky and subjective; they are not roads given by God. Although these roads might lead to spiritual experiences, they will not lead to hearing God’s true voice.Ω
Further Resources
CANA article on Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction which exposes the interspirituality of Spiritual Direction programs
CANA article, A Guide to Contemplative People, Practices, and Language
Before trusting Christ, Marcia Montenegro was a professional astrologer and was involved in Eastern and New Age practices for many years. Through her ministry, Christian Answers for the New Age, Marcia speaks around the country and on radio and writes on New Age and occult topics. She has a Masters in Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary, Charlotte, NC, and serves as a missionary with Fellowship International Mission, Allentown, PA. Based in Arlington, VA, she is the mother of an adult son and the author of SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today’s Kids (MCOI Publishing LLC, 2024). She is also co-author of Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret (MCOI Publishing, 2020) with Don and Joy Veinot You can find her online at: CANA or on Facebook at Christian Answers for the New Age
© 2026, Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc All rights reserved. Excerpts and links may be used if full and clear credit is given with specific direction to the original content.
We are told in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is there to give us guidance and He does this through Scripture. He will bring to your minds whatever God has told us when He walked among us. We can each ( those who have the Holy Spirit through rebirth) know His will. ‘grandma’ Jeanne
Thank you for your comment, grandma Jeanne. I agree.
Interesting Marcia!
Much more specific food for thought THANKYOU!!
..as one who’s enjoyed contemplative prayer spaces, Spiritual Direction and Silent Christian retreats …lead by Committed Bible believing Christ followers … that I believe have enhanced my understandings!
I can see how easily these practises could lead people astray in the wrong hearts and hands (even well intended)
I have more reading and praying to do!? The origins of things/the root of things does need wise discernment for sure!
Thank you for your comment, Jillian. I’m glad that you are considering this article food for thought. I do think that these practices, even when led by sincere Christians, are misleading people into thinking these are ways to connect with God, or are the best ways to know God, when God has already provided us his word and his Spirit to those who believe for that purpose. So I appreciate your thoughtful consideration of the article, thank you.
I spent some time doing Theophistic prayer with two ladies who were praying silently and recording what came to my mind. Is that a form of spiritual direction and was it wrong/unbiblical? I went in not knowing God loved me except in my head and ended with a deep sense of His love that is still there 20 years later.
Hello, Lynn, thanks for your comment and question. I would say that is not spiritual direction unless you were prompted about what you should let “come to mind,” as you put it, and how it got there. Were you suppposed to just let thoughts or memories come into your mind randomly? If anything from God’s word came to mind, I think that would be from the Holy Spirit, who does bring Scriptures to mind if we need it. So if Scriptures came to your mind, or if thoughts about God came to mind based on Scripture, I would call that guidance by the Spirit through God’s word.
If, on the other hand, you were supposed to just let thoughts come randomly,or if you were prompted as what to think about or remember, that is content from your own mind and/or imagination. If you were told that was from God, that would be similar to spiritual direction. So a lot depends on the method that was being followed.
Theophostic Prayer does use visuaization and supposedly can lead to encounters with Jesus, which is also a problem with Spiritual Direction, so I do not recommend Theophostic Prayer. I am in the process of ammending an article on my site on Immanuel Prayer and methods in the Immanuel Approach which includes information on methods also used in Theophostic Prayer (and I include embedded links to critiques of Theophostic Prayer) such as visualization.
If you go to my site, you can get that information there, and I am happy to answer more questions here about this reply to you or about this article, or about the one on my site on Immanuel Prayer/Immanuel Approach. I hope this reply was helpful, but ask further if you would like to.
I don’t remember any visualization or encounters with Jesus. The one lady trained in Theophostic prayer would start by praying and asking God what memory He wanted to bring to my mind and I was to say the first thing that came to my mind. She would write it down and ask what God wanted me to know about whatever I said. Often I was believing lies and she said God helped her discern if it was true or a lie. There was quite a bit of spiritual warfare during those months but knowing God loves me made it all worth it. I view it as a very life changing time in my life. The only “bad” thing that came from it was an interest in having a prayer language which I got and stopped using ten years ago.
I will go to your website if you think it will help me better understand why it’s wrong.
Hi, Lynn, thanks so much for your further reply. This method you describe is used in Inner Healing, which is a part of Theophostic Prayer. There are many problems with it because it’s very subjective. Asking God to bring a memory to your mind does not mean that the memory that comes is from God, it just means your mind is bringing it up. There is no biblical basis for this because we cannot expect God to answer the way we want him to immediately (the same thing applies to the lady asking God what he had to say about your memory and if it was true or not). In other words, the assumption is that if we ask God to bring a memory to mind, he will immediately do so. But this assumption is based on a false idea that God will respond the way we want if we ask him to, which is very presumptious. It’s the same thing as asking God for a new car and then expecting him to give you one — it’s the same principle. The problem is that people think it’s okay because you have a good purpose,but a good motive does not mean God has to respond immediately, or even respond (sometimes he does not do so for his own purposes). This is not how prayer is modeled in the Bible. I know you were not thinking that at the time and you were only doing what the lady said to do and it probably seemed like she knew what she was doing, and it seemed biblical.
This appearance of being biblical is the problem with Inner Healing, Theophostic Prayer, and many other methods that are variations on these techniques. Theophostic Prayer is also based on an idea that Ed Smith claimed God gave him, something I do not believe for many reasons. The idea is that you have believed lies and that is the cause of the problem. It is true that we do believe lies but there is no basis to say this is the cause of every problem; often, it is sin (on your part or by others) that is the cause. These methods tend to disregard or minimize sin (not saying your problem was sin but that is never considered a cause in these practices).
You can know God loves you from Scripture, we don’t need subjective techniques to know it, and doing a practice in order to feel or experience something will usually cause us to feel something because of the power of suggestion and desire to feel or experience it. This is a basis of mysticism, which is incompatible with Scripture. I finished the article on the Immanuel Approach which includes some info that might be relevant to your experience. I also have articles on mysticism which also might be helpful.
Please read those on my site if you can and get back with any questions. You can also email me from the site or contact me on Facebook if you’re on Facebook.
I’m not disagreeing with anything you’re saying and I’m not a proponent of inner healing anymore. That’s what makes this particular experience so unsettling…because it did result in something very life changing. Without going into the details of my life back then and my journey out of it, it’s hard to explain. So maybe God can and did for me work through inner healing even if the way is flawed. It reminds me of Paul saying in Phil 1:15-18 that it doesn’t matter how the gospel is advanced. I know it’s not quite the same, but the idea I’m trying to get at is I can’t limit the ways in which God might work, especially in my ignorance. It was His kindness. Does that make sense? This part of my life is in the past and now I’m struggling with being in a Doctrines of Grace (Calvinist) church.
It’s interesting how all these “new” things are actually millennia old and originate with Roman Catholicism.
“helps people connect more deeply with the True Self”. Yeah sure. Here is the “true self”.
” The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked”. Jeremiah 17:9
“For I know that in me(that is, my flesh)dwells no good thing” Romans 7:18
True, Larry, they are not “new” in that sense, but are very new to the evangelical church and appear to be new to some Christians who don’t know the origins. I agree with you on the “true self,” a concept not found in Scripture. There is only the fallen self and the regenerated self – the new creation in Christ.
Hello, again, Lynn, thanks for giving more information. I can’t comment on people’s experiences in terms of whether it helped them or not since there is no way for me to know that. Only you and the Lord know that for sure. I do think God can work through bad teachings, so he could work through that prayer session you talked about. My main concern is to warn people that even if God works through somehing like that, it does not mean he endorses it. I am not saying you endorse it because clearly you don’t, but there are other people who read these comments so I just want to be clear on that. Perhaps the Holy Spirit showed you something simply through your desire to know and it really had nothing to do with the method.
I do want to comment on the Phil. 1 passage because the main thing is that the men were proclaiming Christ, they were not giving a false Christ or false gospel. They were doing it out of wrong motives (“selfish ambition”) but it was still the gospel. I want to point that out because some people use that passage to defend or excuse false teachers so it needs to be said.
I do agree with you that because you were participating in this out of ignorance, God was protecting you out of his mercy, at least in that instance. I can’t say he would always do that in call cases, but I can see it as part of who he is. And we really don’t understand how God does things. We can know who he is and what we should do, but how God operates is not disclosed to us very much (Deut. 29:29). He reveals to us what we need to know.
Thank you and I hear you. I knew the Phil 1 wasn’t the best example but it’s what came to mind when I was responding. I pray your writing and ministry gets out to and instructs many people.
Thanks so much for the prayers, Lynn. Our exchange of comments was good for me as it made me think things through more carefully. So thank you.