Spiritual Direction

with

Charlie Sattgast

Invitation to a Journey

Everything in life—the joyful, the challenging, and the painful—is raw material God can use to form you into the person he created and redeemed you to be.

God invites us, through every circumstance in our lives, into a deepening awareness of our belovedness and toward a loving response to him for the sake of the world and and the people in our lives.

As a spiritual director, my role is to come alongside to help you pay attention to the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life.

The goal is for you to become increasingly aware of the presence of God and move toward a gracious wholeness in your relationship with God and others.

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Christian spiritual direction traces its roots all the way back to the mentorship of Jesus with his disciples.

Much of Jesus’ ministry focused on helping his followers develop a deep and meaningful relationship with a redeeming and radically loving God.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries, the early church Desert Fathers and Mothers developed spiritual direction into a practice that aided Christ-followers in finding deeper communion with God.

Christian spiritual direction today draws on that rich history and tradition, combined with the wisdom, insights, and methods mature spiritual guides have contributed over the centuries.

“If you want to get warm, you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet, you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.”

CS LEWIS

A Little About Me…

Hi, I’m Charlie Sattgast. I have been in full-time or bivocational ministry for over thirty years as a pastor and chaplain.

I have experienced the gifts and the wounds of leading in faith communities, in the nonprofit sector, and the world of business.

I have a master’s degree in pastoral studies with a focus in family ministry and a doctor of ministry degree with an emphasis in spiritual leadership and life transitions.

I have experience across a spectrum of Christian traditions, including growing up in a mainline Protestant denomination, a season in the Anglican tradition, studying for advanced degrees at two different theologically conservative seminaries, and being licensed/ordained by the Foursquare Church (a Pentecostal movement) since 1994.

I am currently completing my practicum for spiritual direction certification through Soul Formation’s School of Spiritual Direction (soulformation.org) and will start taking new directees in July 2026.

In addition to my spiritual direction practice, I serve as a teaching and discipleship pastor at Freedom Foursquare Church in Portland,

Oregon, and since 2001 have co-owned an online training company with my wife, Linda.

I am a lifelong musician, and love contributing to worship by playing upright and electric bass.

I have been married to Linda since 1982, and have two adult children, a daughter-in-law, and one grandson.

“Let nothing disturb you, nothing make you afraid. All things are passing, God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things. The one who has God is wanting in nothing—God alone suffices.”

Teresa of Ávila

What do we talk about?

We talk about everything as it relates to your experience of God. It’s not the same as therapy, in that spiritual direction is not problem-focused or aimed at “fixing” anything. It is different than coaching because it’s not goal-oriented in the same way.

The expectation is that you come prepared to talk about what you are noticing about the movements in your own soul as you live out your current experienced relationship with God.

In our time together…

I will attend deeply to your story.
I will listen for any question that wants to be asked, helping you discern God’s movement in your life.
I will approach our time together with reverence and humility.
I will resist giving advice and will not try to fix or change you.
I will hold your story in strict confidence.¹
I will abide by the Guidelines for Ethical Conduct of Spiritual Directors International.

¹See my statement on the limits of confidentiality below.

Whom I Work With

I am delighted to come alongside anyone who desires a deeper walk and life of prayer with God.

I have a special heart for leaders in transition, crisis, or burnout, those facing “second half of life” questions, and people from marginalized communities.

Details

Fees: A one hour session is $100 with a willingness to negotiate in certain situations.

Getting Started: Our initial 30-minute session is free. In that first meeting we will talk about spiritual direction and you will have the opportunity to ask me any questions you might have. Afterward, we will discern together whether to commit to regular monthly sessions.

Session length: 60 minutes

Meeting frequency: Once per month

Zoom: Link will be sent before the meeting

In Person: My office is in my home at

19421 SE Ash St, Portland, OR 97233 (Preferred)

Confidentiality

What is said in a spiritual direction session is confidential. No one else will be privy to what is said with two exceptions.

The first exception is that I am in a peer supervision group. Occasionally I bring a directee’s situation to supervision to help me become a better and more perceptive spiritual director. This supervision group is bound by confidentiality as well.

The second exception is that I am a mandatory reporter, which means I have a legal duty to report abuse and situations where there is danger to self or others.

Since spiritual direction often takes place in communities of faith, I practice dual relationships, which means that we may interact outside of direction. The fact that you are seeing me will not necessarily be confidential while the content of our sessions will be.

Contact Charlie