Community Models that Influence Supervision

You feel threatened, so you act to protect yourself. It's natural. Each one of us has learned how to protect our egos. But sometimes, those automatic responses can interfere with our spiritual direction and hearing God speak.

Yes, defenses protect ego but avoid depth. Defenses can also prevent us from answering God's invitation to explore it.

Enter Supervision! It helps us to uncover our hidden agendas and actions. Supervision reveals our un-free spaces that can interfere in our direction.
So your group wants to practice group supervision?

To promote freedom for inner work, a group must understand and define the values under which it will conduct meetings. A group must consciously develop a method of interacting that will promote God-centered, creative openness. There are two models of behavior that groups generally fall into.

•Model 1 binds behavior and diminishes freedom. In this model, people can feel hurt, attacked, or not validated. Participants can become closed and fearful of other’s opinions. Model 1 behavior often dismisses or avoids the grace of conversion.

In Model 2, God’s Spirit brings to light what is hidden so that we can make free, co-creative choices which lead us into graced and lasting relationships with God and all creation.

For effective supervision, a group must focus on and practice Model 2 Values.

I'll talk more about these models in future postings.