Hi! You know, if it were up to me, I’d really rather take a long walk with you or sit down with you over a meal to get acquainted personally, like normal people do. However, having this information “up front” is important for professional considerations, and I get that. So please bear with the flavour of this page.
I’m Kirk Ruch – I am a formally-trained and experienced minister, church pastor – and I offer spiritual direction, in-person and online, for all kinds of people.
I’ve been well-married for 49 years, with 4 wonderful adult children and 12 even better grandchildren. I live in metro Vancouver, BC Canada.
I hold a 60-hour Master of Arts in Theological Studies degree from Regent College, here in Vancouver, BC. I finished it in 2021. I love that place!
I hold certificates of completion for Living From the Heart and Art of Spiritual Direction through SoulStream Initiatives. What a wonderful journey that has been!
My lifelong spiritual roots draw from a wide range of conventional Judaeo-Christian influences. The taproot of my faith is in Israel’s Scriptures and the Christian New Testament. My mentors said, “Learn from movements – just don’t join them!” So I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to learn from many different people and their flows of thought and practice, and for the warm friendships I’ve been blessed with as I do.
I have over 50 years of considered experience in spiritually-oriented life, and over 45 years of full-time professional experience in human service (mostly church-related ministries) of various kinds:
- spiritual formation
- formal ministry in church community
- formal Biblical and theological instruction
- intercultural communication
- pastoral care
– in Canada, Ukraine, and the USA.
In personal spiritual consulting I’ve served as:
- a guide for non-Christians, pre-Christian seekers and new Christians – ordinary people, as they seek spiritual connection and growth
- a spiritual companion for Christians and non-Christians in transitions, challenging life situations, and grieving
- a spiritual companion for “post-Christians”: people who are trying to hold on to what’s good, while they recover from confusion and pain from bad experiences of religion.
I receive spiritual direction, training as a spiritual director and supervision for offering spiritual direction under the auspices of SoulStream.
I hold a Certificate in Regenerative Culture from the Eden Center for Regenerative Culture of Abilene Christian University.
I subscribe to the Code of Ethics of the Christ-Centered Spiritual Directors Association, which you can read here, and to the Code of Ethics of Spiritual Directors International, which you can read here.
These affiliations, qualifications and experiences don’t make me an authority over other people. They do help inform me as an interim pastoral minister, teacher, and as an open-hearted companion with you in your journey of spiritual discovery, growth, and flourishing.
Nowadays, in my dreams I’m a sparkling acoustic guitarist along the lines of Pierre Bensusan, Phil Keaggy, Michael Hedges, Alex Degrassi, Andy McKee, and Stephen Wake. (Click the links to enjoy a few of their songs.) Reality is rather different! In my dreams I’m fully multi-lingual, fluently speaking English, Spanish, Mandarin, Gaelic, Ukrainian, Romanian, Hebrew, and a few others. No, reality doesn’t quite match up! We live in a beautiful part of the world, and in my dreams I do a lot of hiking in the lush rain-forested wilderness. Again, reality is rather different … but it’s mostly fun trying. And in every case, in my imagination God’s unseen-but-ever-present love chuckles kindly at the disparity, and gently whispers, “Keep practicing.”
Let’s get in touch. I’d love to hear your story.
