a bit of a lost sheep

[karala]

I don't tend to post very much but I lurk around this board quite a lot and I find it very comforting. For quite a while I've been re-visiting my thoughts on Christianity, God and all the things that go with that. At the moment, and for the forseeable future, I don't live in the UK - I live on mainland Europe and although I'm relatively okay with the language of the country I live in, I'm not fluent enough to engage at any meaningful level.

When I was back in the UK at Christmas I went to the Christmas day service and I found myself being quite emotional. I was going to go for a blessing when the priest offered communion but I ended up becoming quite tearful whilst waiting and so I left. One of the reasons I'm writing here is that I'd like to be more involved with this board, but I also have a specific question and I wondered if someone could give some advice:

If I was in the UK then I would find a church with a priest/vicar that I could feel comfortable with and then spend some time with them. What I feel that I need is something like Christian counselling and help in finding my way back to faith. There is a place in London in Marylebone which offers this - help with faith and counselling. There is a charge for this. I wondered how an organisation like this would respond if I requested this help through email or letter. Obviously I would pay the counselling fees. Is this something that could be helped in this way - through written communication, I mean.

I'm sorry, this is a bit of a ramble. Thank you for reading.

All I would say, is give it a try! You've nothing to lose, its just that initial step that can be a bit daunting. The only thing I would say is check if you can that it is reputable.

Do you have any idea about what sort of denomination you think you'd be comfortable in? You say priest/vicar - tends to suggest RC/CofE?

If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to ask. (I'm currently training as a licensed lay minister or Reader in the C of E - click here if you've not heard of them...)

It would be worth contacting them to see what they suggest, or whether they have links with other organisations which do something similar. But do as Hallelujah says and try to check whether they are reputable - unfortunately counselling of any kind does attract some charlatans. If the fee seems to be just about covering costs, that's not so bad but if they seem to be a profit-making venture you have to wonder if they will want you to stay "dependant" rather than making you able to move to being more independant of them.

You could also look into whether there are any English-language sevices in your area - places with a lot of ex-pats often have some kind of chaplain even if it's only once a month or so.

You can also chat on here of course - though being an open forum you'll get a lot of different replies rather than developing a one-to-one relationship, you can still get support to work through your faith.

Thank you for your replies - they're not charlatans, at least I don't think they are, they seem to be very much a part of the church - healing centre in case you are interested.

I think CofE would be somewhere that I would feel comfortable.

I've been searching for something where I live but all I can find is a very evangelical international group who meet for bible study.

I will take a more active part on this board for now.

thanks

The Church of England (Anglican Church) has all sorts of outposts in Europe. This site may help you find somebody nearby who can assist you with this:

www.europe.anglican.org/homepage/index.htm

I'm sure that you would find a few of us on the board who would support you off board. But the Marylebone thing seems alright too, would have no hesitation sending them an e.mail and see what they say.
And as a last thought:- don't let tears stop you from seeking a blessing, no-one would bat an eyelid. I always cry over communion.

Hi

I'm not sure if this is of any help but I only recently joined this board and have found it to be an enormous help to me.

Since joining this board I've really felt like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders - because I've discovered there are lots of other "lost sheep" out there.

Whats really good is that its so nice to be able to throw a question out into the ether and get some really helpful and interesting replies.

Good luck with your search, I hope you enjoy the journey!

X

It puzzles me that it says on your profile that you have no children Allwillbewell. Is that a mistake?

thank you all for the replies -

Hi Dutch Oma,
How strange!
I am a happy mother of one DD.
On the public profile page I clicked on the box which says
" Show how many kids you have" but then there is no where to show how many kids I have.
Odd. Have probably mis read something as I am not v computer literate

I thought you were AWBW. it happened to me too when I first registered, because my children were well over the 'normal' age. Can't remember how I solved it.

Another possibility is to try the spiritual direction networks. Some spiritual directors are now working via email from time to time, so that's worth exploring.

Perhaps
www.oxford.anglican.org/miscellaneous/spiritual-direction/

thanks Amber - that's really interesting and I'm very grateful to you for taking the trouble particularly when you are having your own difficulties.

I have a spiritual director and she is wonderful!!! She was recommended to me.

I'm revisiting this to update on what's happened:

I emailed the Marleybone Healing Centre and haven't had a reply and I suspect that my email has gone astray - it was one of those links that I'm not always confident actually go anywhere. I'm pretty sure that had they had the email then they would have replied, if only to say that they couldn't help. At the moment I'm undecided where to take this - whether to telephone or whether to write it off.

Amber gave me a helpful link to the spiritual directors and I emailed them and they have sent me a long list of directors and I'm currently going through them and trying to decide which one to approach and what to write.

many thanks,
K.

Worth test-driving a couple of spiritual directors, I'd say. Ask to meet them for an informal chat and see if they seem like a good 'fit' for you, maybe?