Our Story
The Dayspring Community (WA) was established in 2001 within the Church of Christ in Dianella, with a vision to introduce Christians and Christian Leaders to spiritual practices that would support their faith in new ways for them. We have an ecumenical and inclusive outlook and have members from a wide range of Christian denominational traditions and some who have no connections. With its roots firmly within the Christian Tradition, the Dayspring Community is not a church. Rather, it is a place where church people can discover contemplative life.
Brian and Patricia Stitt, together with Jennifer Turner, the minister of the church at the time, gathered a small working committee together, to establish what was first known as the Dayspring Centre for Christian Spirituality & Counselling. Counselling was provided by Joy Eichorn, a qualified psychologist, and the committee set about providing training workshops and spiritual direction for faith workers and other interested people.
By 2005, we began to offer formal training in Spiritual Direction, and since then have graduated more than fifty people with various awards in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Spirituality. This program was prepared carefully to ensure that graduates would be recognised by the Australian Ecumenical Council of Spiritual Directors. We acknowledge Dr Beth Roberton as a significant guide and driving force behind our moves to have the training nationally recognised. Initially, we took our coursework program into the VET system and, in 2023, we entered into a partnership with the Uniting College of Leadership and Theology in Adelaide that enabled our program to be taught as a Higher Education Graduate Diploma award from the University of Divinity in Melbourne.
Peek at the Past
To mark the end of our presence at our previous location in Dianella, a ceremony of celebration, storytelling, and thanksgiving was held in January of 2021 and is captured in the video below.
Dayspring acknowledges the role of the Noongar People as the traditional custodians of the land on which Dayspring Events are held. Dayspring recognizes their unbroken continuing connection to land, water and community, their efforts to preserve and strengthen their culture and language and pays respects to elders past present and emerging who share in this work.
© Dayspring Community (WA) Inc.
© Dayspring Community (WA) Inc.
