Product Description

Stories and exploration abound in this companion volume to Contemplative Youth Ministry. Hear from the churches that participated on the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project and get an insiders look at the stories that formed this pivotal project.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #488907 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From the Back Cover
The Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project was formed in 1997 to participate in the renewal of youth ministry in the Christian church. Its mission is to foster Christian communities that are attentive to God’s presence, discerning of the Spirit and who accompany young people into the way of Jesus. Our mission is founded on the biblical vision of the human person who is created in the image and likeness of God and whose deepest longing is for communion with God and others in love. In response to Christ’s invitation to abide in him (John 15:4), we believe that the central purpose of youth ministry is to open the minds and hearts of young persons to an intimate relationship with God in Christ through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. We seek to fulfill our mission through retreats, workshops, training events, written materials, and relationships that promote a contemplative approach to youth discipleship. The contemplative approach to youth ministry is based on a Christian community’s commitment to cultivate attentiveness to God’s Presence in the lives of young people and is supported in the following seven ways: SABBATH, PRAYER, COVENANT COMMUNITY, ACCOMPANIMENT, DISCERNMENT, HOSPITALITY, AUTHENTIC ACTION.

About the Author
Mark Yaconelli is the co-founder and co-director of Triptykos School of Compassion. The author of Downtime, Contemplative Youth Ministry, and Growing Souls, Mark lives in Oregon with his wife and three children.

Customer Reviews

An excellent book putting contemplative youth ministry into practice
This book is written in acknowledgement that youth ministry culture has often become increasingly frantic, consumerist, dull, formulaic and spiritually stunted. However much of the thought in the book is applicable to other aspects of church life and it's a helpful read for those who don't play any part in youth ministry as well as for those for whom it is primarily written. The explanation of the busyness and frantic nature of much youth ministry, focusing mainly on fun activities and moral guidance rather than building young people with souls, was a timely reminder of the way that many churches have bought into the world's views on success and business-like methods as the be-all and end-all.

The first section is an introduction to contemplative youth ministry and how the programme of the YMSP (Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project) came about. The second section looks more closely at two specific churches and the way in which this new form of youth ministry works within those churches. The third section is an interview with many youth leaders from the churches that have been involved in the pilot projects and also with some of the youth who have been at these projects. The last section sums up the results of ten years of the youth ministry project and describes in more detail some of the problems that were encountered on the way. There are some helpful appendices which provide information on some of the methods used during the project.

The section that describes the experiences of two of these churches was fascinating, as were the apparent effects on the rest of the church, not just the youth section. What was interesting was that only three or four out of the original sixteen churches involved in the project had found that their churches really embraced this way of ministry and that in some cases the project contributed to instability in the church - sometimes church pastors or other parts of the churches shut the projects down and sometimes, even if the project continued to run, it created something of a wedge between youth and main church. However the overwhelming feeling from reading this book is that contemplative prayer is a vital tool for the youth leader who wants to build spiritually mature young people and "an attempt to counter the isolation, hyperactivity and emphasis on efficiency that plagues ministries with youth... an intervention to heal the more destructive aspects of the way youth ministry is often practised within a western context," even if many churches aren't yet ready for it or able to practise it.

My only reservation about the book was that it didn't address whether some young people couldn't relate to the more contemplative approach and therefore didn't stay involved with the churches studied; I imagine this could be the case but it wasn't specifically mentioned. However it was an enlightening book to read and it showed that this method can be of immense value to both the young people and also to the adult youth leaders and others involved in bringing the next generation of Christians into a deeper faith.