Mark Yaconelli is co-director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, which over the last 8 years has gathered together churches and youth ministers from across North America to explore contemplative prayer, discernment, spiritual direction, covenant community, spiritual practice and Sabbath-living as a way of resourcing ministries with youth. This book offers some of the experience, teaching, praying and thinking behind the project.

In Growing Souls, readers are introduced to the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project (YMSP), a programme co-founded by the author Mark Yaconelli, which is based at San Francisco Seminary. Growing Souls is the follow-up to Yaconelli's influential book Contemplative Youth Ministry (SPCK, 2006). The idea of YMSP grew from reports of youth ministry being a frantic and busy environment that focused on fun activities and moral guidance, rather than the spirituality side. YMSP was then established to test the integration of contemplative practice and awareness within youthwork programmes. This book is for those in youthwork and does not only introduce the project itself but also tells the stories of the specific churches that adopted the project. After this, readers will then be introduced to the many youth leaders that were involved in the pilot projects, and some of the youth who had been at these projects.

Contemplative Youth Ministry is rooted in Mark Yaconelli's experience of co-directing the acclaimed Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project. Through this project, churches and youth ministers have explored contemplative prayer, discernment, spiritual direction, covenant community, spiritual practice and Sabbath-living as a way of resourcing ministries with youth. The results have been transformative, and this engaging book, richly illustrated with personal stories, provides refreshment and new ways of thinking for anyone who has grown weary or disillusioned with the vital tasks of working with and caring for young people.

Deeply honest and personal reflections for a popular author and speaker

Every heart feels wonder. Every heart knows fear. Every heart aches with longing. Awed, we whisper, Thank you. Frightened, we cry, Mercy. Yearning we plead, Show me the way. Because the truth is, no matter who you are, every heart needs prayer. This is a prayer book. A book to seduce, cajole, entice, and encourage your heart into prayer. More than a book to be read, this is a book to be explored. It is a book of stories, divine poetry, holy verses, mystical inspirations, prayerful imaginings, meditative practices, and spiritual exercises that seek to uncover the hidden communication between you and God. As you read and explore more about love, longing, fear, suffering, compassion, rest, reflection, passion, wonder, and gratitude you ll be invited to discover prayer within the various moods, attitudes, and experiences that we human beings often find ourselves in. It s a book to be used, flipped through, tested, experimented with, and then set aside. It is a book that asks you time after time to stop and listen, turn and welcome the silent love of God. The hope of this book isn t to teach you anything. The point of this book is to encourage you to give yourself to God---your anger, your fear, your gratitude, your curiosity---your real self to the real God, because then (and only then) will your heart find peace (even in the midst of wonder, fear, and longing). Because every heart needs prayer."

""Contemplative Youth Ministry" is refreshing rain for dry youth workers and barren youth ministries. More than the same old youth ministry tips and tricks, it gives principles and practices to soak in God's grace, love, and power. I wish I had read it 15 years ago." - Kara Powell, Ph.D., executive director, Center for Youth Ministry and Family Ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary. "Mark invites readers to be encountered by the presence of Jesus who is always near. This book is transparent about the challenges that churches and families face as they desire to be effective in youth ministry. The book is filled with the honest stories of different kinds of youth ministries representing the breadth of Christianity in the United States. I heartily endorse "Contemplative Youth Ministry" as a rich encounter with the souls of youth and adults whose lives have been transformed by our very present God." - Bill Kees, director of youth ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "Mark Yaconelli not only reminds us of some of the long-forgotten pathways of faith, he shares with us how it actually looks when men and women who love God practice it with young people.;I especially appreciate Mark's optimism in his perspective of today's kids, for his insights are grounded in God's view of them." - Chap Clark, Ph.D., associate professor of youth, family, and culture, Fuller Theological Seminary. "Mark Yaconelli was experimenting with contemplative youth ministry practices before contemplative youth ministry practices became cool. This book has about it the unique air of authenticity. He shares with us in these pages his own journey as a youth worker who actually believes that God's still small voice speaks louder than the roaring windstorm of our busy youth ministry calendars. It's a book about creating for our students places of silence and opening up spaces for God to speak." - Duffy Robbins, professor of youth ministry, Eastern University; author of "Enjoy the Silence" and "This Way to Youth Ministry". "Mark Yaconelli has emerged as one of youth ministry's most provocative 'voices in the wilderness,' calling us back to our theological taproots: The contemplative practices that bind our lives to the life of Christ.;If Mark's research has taught us anything, it's that these practices do not cause youth ministry to take flight into a spiritual never-never land; rather they anchor young people - and their churches - in the fertile soil of Christian tradition, in the nitty-gritty of daily life, and in the explosive transformation that awaits us when we wait upon God." - Kenda Creasy Dean, parent, pastor, and professor of youth, Princeton Theological Seminary; author of "Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church".

About the Contributor(s): David F. White is the C. Ellis Nelson professor of Christian education at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. He is author of Practicing Discernment with Youth, and coauthor of Awakening Youth Discipleship: Christian Resistance in a Consumer Culture. He was the editor of the Pilgrim book series Youth Ministry Alternatives. David is an ordained United Methodist minister who served for over twenty years as minister with youth at congregations in Mississippi, Kentucky, Alaska, and California.

'You know the reality: teens don t have much downtime in their lives. Between school, extra-curricular activities, jobs, friends (and youth group ), students these days barely have enough time to do all the things they need to do in a day. It s no wonder that quiet, reflective time in prayer with God is not high on their priority list. With years of experience helping teens encounter God in quiet, contemplative ways, Mark Yaconelli will give you the tools and insights needed to help teens understand why and how to pray, and to guide them towards a life of prayer. You ll find several prayer exercises in this book, based on the praying tradition of the Christian church, along with instructions to help you introduce the prayers to students. Not only are there explorations of classical methods of prayer that involve silence, solitude, and scripture, but you ll also discover more recent forms of prayer that use creative media, music, writing, movement, and acts of compassion. As you help teens bring prayer into their everyday lives, your students will find that they long for those times when they can step away from it all and find rest and comfort in God.'"

Foreword Reviews' 2016 INDIES Book of the Year Award, Silver Winner in Self-Help In many ways society teaches us to try to have everything under our control. If we are honest, we tend to think that this can be true even of our spiritual lives. But Mark Yaconelli eloquently expresses the reality of our situation: "We are small, sensitive creatures with short lifespans, in a world that is often chaotic, capricious, mysterious, terrible and wonderful all at the same time. Failure, disappointment, loss and other difficult experiences call us to accept our humanity, feel grateful for what has been given, receive the care of others and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit." Using extraordinary stories from his own life and the lives of others, Yaconelli offers a narrative journey through ways in which disappointments have turned into gifts. In these pages are a wealth of spiritual practices that will carry us deeper into the grace we find in unexpected places.