Growing with God
A space to slow down, notice, and respond.
Reflective sessions created for teams, leaders, churches and communities seeking deeper, sustainable faith. Growing with God is a facilitated reflective space designed to help people pause, pay attention, and respond to God in the midst of real life – personally and communally. It is for teams and communities who know that growth is not always about doing more.
Sometimes growth begins by noticing more.
Noticing what is happening beneath the surface. Noticing where people are tired. Noticing where connection has thinned. Noticing where purpose has become blurred. Noticing where God may already be present and inviting a faithful response.
Growing with God creates space for that kind of noticing.
What if growth wasn’t about doing more – but noticing more?
In a culture shaped by pressure, pace and performance, many teams and communities are quietly running on empty.
Leaders carry responsibility. People keep showing up. The work continues. The meetings happen. The diary fills. But underneath, there can often be fatigue, disconnection, and a quiet loss of depth. Not everything breaks. But something begins to thin out.
Growing with God creates space to pause.
Not to add more. Not to fix everything. Not to give people more content to consume. But to notice what is already happening beneath the surface and respond with honesty, attentiveness and faith.
This is not a training programme.
It is not a course to complete. It is not another demand placed on already stretched people. It is a guided space to encounter God in the midst of ordinary life, shared work, ministry, leadership, fatigue, hope and change.
A different kind of space
Growing with God is built around a simple, repeatable framework:
SPACE – EXPLORE – PRACTICE
This rhythm helps teams and communities slow down, notice what is happening, and respond with simple, grounded steps that can be carried into everyday life.
It gives people a shared language they can continue using long after the session ends.
These are not abstract ideas. They are lived, accessible rhythms that help faith become integrated rather than compartmentalised.
SPACE
Slowing down. Becoming present. Letting the noise settle.
SPACE is the invitation to pause before rushing to fix, plan, perform or decide.
It creates room for people to breathe, reflect, pray and become more aware of what they are carrying.
For teams and communities, this can help name what is often left unspoken: tiredness, hope, frustration, grief, longing, uncertainty, pressure and possibility.
SPACE asks:
What do we need to notice before we move forward?
EXPLORE
Noticing what is going on – internally, spiritually and communally.
EXPLORE is the invitation to pay attention with curiosity and faith.
Rather than rushing to conclusions, this movement creates space to ask honest questions, listen deeply, notice patterns and wonder what God may be inviting people to see.
For teams and communities, this can help open the kind of conversations that do not always happen in ordinary meetings.
EXPLORE asks:
What might God be inviting us to see differently?
PRACTICE
Responding with simple, grounded steps that can be carried into everyday life.
PRACTICE is the invitation to move from reflection into faithful response.
Not grand declarations. Not unrealistic promises. Not another layer of pressure.
Just one or two simple practices, rhythms or next steps that help people live what has been noticed.
For teams and communities, this can help reflection become more than a moment. It becomes something that continues afterwards.
PRACTICE asks:
What is one faithful step we can begin to carry forward?
Who is Growing with God for?
Growing with God is particularly suited for:
Church leadership teams.
Ministry teams and pioneers.
Churches and whole communities.
Retreats, weekends and away days.
Charity and faith-based organisations.
Teams or communities navigating change, fatigue or transition.
Small, intimate groups.
Mid-sized communities.
Larger gatherings, with an adapted facilitation style.
Whether people feel deeply rooted in faith or are quietly questioning, the space is designed to be accessible, honest and gentle.
Accessible – with no assumed knowledge or heavy insider language.
Honest – with room for doubt, tiredness and real life.
Gentle – shaped by invitation, not pressure.
What changes after a session?
This is not about a moment. It is about what continues afterwards.
Teams and communities often leave with:
A shared language – SPACE, EXPLORE, PRACTICE – to reflect together.
Greater clarity on what is really going on beneath the surface.
Permission for honest conversations that do not usually happen.
One or two simple, grounded practices to carry forward.
A renewed sense of connection with God and one another.
A stronger sense of shared identity and direction as a community.
The aim is not to solve everything in a day.
It is to create the conditions where real, sustainable growth can begin.
What people experience
Participants often describe the space as:
“A chance to breathe – without feeling unproductive.”
“The first time our team has slowed down together in months.”
“We finally had the conversation we’d been avoiding.”
“Simple, but it stayed with us afterwards.”
“It helped us feel like a community again – not just a group of people.”
The sessions are facilitated, not dominated. Structured, but spacious. Reflective, not performative. There is no spotlight. No pressure to share.
Just an invitation to pay attention – personally and together.
Why this matters for your team or community
When teams and communities do not have space to slow down, things do not usually collapse overnight. They quietly erode. Individuals feel tired, but do not say it. Communities gather, but feel disconnected. Conversations stay surface-level. Purpose becomes blurred. Faith becomes functional rather than alive.
Growing with God offers a gentle but intentional interruption.
It helps teams and communities reconnect with purpose and calling, navigate fatigue and overwhelm with honesty, build deeper relational trust, create space for spiritual attentiveness, rebuild a sense of shared life rather than simply shared activity, and develop rhythms that last beyond the session.
This is not a quick fix.
It is a strategic investment in the health and sustainability of your people.
Format options
Growing with God can be shaped around your team, community or organisational context.
Current format options include:
90-minute session.
Half-day session.
Full-day retreat experience.
Sessions can be delivered:
In person at your venue.
Online.
In optional outdoor or creative settings.
Simple, accessible pricing is available for churches and organisations, depending on session type, location and context.
Let’s create space together
If you are exploring ways to support your team, create space for reflection, or host something different, let’s start with a simple conversation.
You can book a free, no-obligation 20-minute exploratory call.
It is simply a chance to talk about your context, ask questions, and explore whether Growing with God could serve your team, church, charity or community.
You do not need to know exactly what you want yet. You may simply have a sense that your people need space to pause, listen and reconnect.
That is enough of a starting point.
Or email at:
About the facilitator
Growing with God is facilitated by Josh Barker, founder of A Curious Follower and author of The Radical Recall to Rest.
Josh creates reflective spaces for individuals, teams and communities who want to slow down, listen deeply and explore what faithful living might look like in ordinary life.
His facilitation style is calm and attentive, grounded in real life, theologically thoughtful but accessible, and gently invitational rather than directive.
Through A Curious Follower, Josh writes, creates resources and holds spaces shaped around five core values:
Curiosity.
Attentiveness.
Invitation.
Vulnerability.
Wonder.
Growing with God is one expression of that wider work.
A gentle invitation
We all know time with God matters.
So why does He get so easily crowded out?
Many of us find ourselves busier than ever before. Life is full. Attention spans feel short. Even within faith, ministry and leadership, it can become difficult to slow down long enough to notice what is happening beneath the surface.
Growing with God creates intentional space for teams and communities to pause together. Not as another course to complete. Not as another thing to perform. But as an opportunity to become more aware of God, one another, and the deeper rhythms beneath everyday life and ministry.
A space to slow down.
Notice.
And respond.
