Nurturing Spiritual Life at Work: Fostering Connectivity with Organisational Vision, Values and Purpose through Reflexive Practice

Workshop Presentation
Joan Wright Howie  

There is a growing awareness that spiritual care is an important element of whole-person care. Where spiritual care is part organisational vision, values, and purpose statements, understanding the nature of spirituality is essential. This workshop emerges at the start of a PhD research project which draws on Theological Action Research and Organic Inquiry to explore how organisations can nurture the spiritual life of their staff to foster alignment with the organisation's vision, values, and purpose. The research explores pathways in spiritual formation fostered through the Christian mystical tradition. These patterns are translated to foster spiritual growth in the contemporary context of an Australian faith-based organisation called Baptcare. Baptcare has grown out of localised congregational missional projects, responding particularly to the needs of the elderly, and is now a state-wide community service agency. Organisations like Baptcare need tools to foster the spiritual life of staff in order to continue offering wholistic spiritual care to the people they serve. The workshop will offer space to experience small group processes that can be facilitated in organisational contexts to nurture the spiritual life of staff. The group process will identify essential ingredients that to foster the type of safety and trust essential for spiritual growth and development.