Lead from a place of rest in Christ
In The Way of the Beloved, we accompany you as you deepen your abiding in Jesus Christ and learn to lead from a place of rest in him.
Here, your leadership flows from an attentive, creative life: watching where the Father is already at work among the people, organisations, and communities you are called to serve.
At a Glance: The Way of the Beloved seeks to serve leaders in every sphere: clergy, church planters, creatives, founders, business owners and those leading teams and departments.
Spiritual direction. An hour a month with someone who listens with you for God’s presence and movement in your life. For those who want to go further, we accompany people through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius across a nine-month journey.
Sabbatical. For those who need weeks, not days. Greenwood is a place of rest and renewal with a rhythm of prayer and work you can lean into as much or as little as you wish. We help you shape the time before you arrive.
Retreats for leaders. These weave together greater psychological awareness, theological and scriptural depth and the gifts of wisdom and discernment required for leading in these challenging and chaotic times.
Beloved Before Utility
Before we have anything to offer, we are loved. Through baptism, as we turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, we are given a place in his family. His Father becomes our Father.
Christian leadership flows from this belonging. Before we are useful, successful or recognised, we are beloved sons and daughters in Christ. The Way of the Beloved takes its name from this reality. We exist to help you discover its depth and learn to lead from the belonging you have received in him.
This runs against the grain of much modern leadership culture. We are rewarded for what we deliver: results, growth and the bottom line. Over time, what we do can become the measure of who we are. If the work or title is taken away, who are we then?
Being beloved invites us to lead from a deeper place: received and loved in Christ before we have proved ourselves to anyone, even ourselves.
Room to Receive
When others look to us for direction, our own questions can struggle to find room. We carry decisions, hopes and disappointments, alongside a longing for God that deserves our attention.
Leaders need somewhere to receive: somewhere to speak freely, receive prayer and listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Through spiritual direction, sabbatical rest, healing prayer and leadership retreats, we offer space to receive your life afresh from God: to recognise your gifts, honour your limits and discern where his grace is meeting you in this season.
At Greenwood, the rhythm of prayer, time among the trees and conversation around a fire create room for this attentive listening to deepen.
Leading from Rest
The images we use and the stories we tell about leadership shape how we lead. Talk of pipelines and levers can make people sound like parts of a machine. Scripture gives us living images: a shepherd tending a flock, a gardener nurturing growth and a body whose members need one another.
These images invite a different kind of leadership, marked by care, patience and attention. The people and communities entrusted to us are living relationships to be tended, rather than machinery to be driven.
In Jesus, God entered the ordinary working life of the world. He knew the work of human hands, shared meals and friendships, and met people amid their daily responsibilities. The risen Lord meets us in ours. Your business, your team, your creative work and the decisions that keep you awake at night all matter to him. Each can become a place of communion with God and loving service to others.
Leading from rest means learning to attend to Christ’s presence within these responsibilities. It is the freedom and confidence that grow as we lead in him from a place of settled trust.
Together, we seek to cultivate teams where truth can be spoken, healthy relationships can grow and people are released into the life-giving creativity God has placed within them.
Abide in him. Love one another. Go where he sends you.
This is the way of life we seek to nurture among the people, organisations and communities you are called to serve.
Start a Conversation
If something on this page has caught your attention and you're interested in exploring spiritual direction, retreats or a sabbatical, we would love to hear from you.
You may already have a clear sense of what you are looking for, or you may simply feel drawn to make some space for God and see what emerges.
Tell us a little about yourself, where you are in life, and what you are keen to explore together.
From there, we can begin a conversation and discern together what might be a good fit.
