contemplative youth ministry – being with god, and learning to be attentive to god’s presence in the lives of young people.
bob carlton has organised a contemplative youth ministry grid blog tour for contemplative youth ministry by mark yaconelli which has now been published in the US. it actually came out first in the UK. i have been asked to kick the tour off which i am delighted to do. i said it before and will probably say it many more times but i am a big fan of mark yaconelli and the groove he has carved for a different direction for youth ministry. i hope i get to meet mark and learn from his wisdom which i find inspiring especially in someone so relatively young. sometimes there are some very special families you come across – it
goes without saying that the yaconellis are one. i loved getting to
know mike yaconelli at greenbelt and subsequently via YS, and have
enjoyed getting to know karla particularly via her love of the
labyrinth, and now mark…
here’s my review of contemplative youth ministry. one thing i want to add to that review is that there is an amazing amount to learn from this book even if you’re not doing youth ministry. the outline for a process of meetings to plan as a team is relevant to any group or team. i facilitate our team meetings on mission leadership at CMS and having read the book structured the last meeting based on mark’s suggestions. and it was a wonderful meeting – it seemed to set it off a very different kind of tone and direction.
my wife jenny has just finished reading the book. she just walked in the lounge having made me a latte – tough life eh?! so i asked her for a quote…
this is the best book i have ever read on youth ministry. it’s not just about youth ministry – it’s about a different way of being, with yourself, with God and with other people. it offers a way of working that could revolutionise churches, organisations, teams because the focus is on identifying what God is doing and calling you to and responding to that rather than imposing your own great ideas and solutions onto other people. the down side of it being called contemnplative youth ministry is that only youth ministers will read it. i’m not a youth minster – i got an awful lot out of it for my own spiritual growth and ways of relating to other people personally and in work or team contexts. i would love our boys to be in an environment formed by this way of thinking.
if you want to follow along, the tour dates are as follows:
May 8 Jonny Baker
May 9 Gavin Richardson
May 10 Sarah Dylan Breuer
May 11 Jennifer Roach
May 12 Mark Oestreicher
May 15 Dixon Kinser
May 17 Jonathon Norman
May 19 Adam Cleaveland
May 22 Lilly Lewin
May 24 Tim Van Meter
May 26 Lucas Land
May 29 Andy Jack
May 31 Bobbie
June 2 Darren Wright
June 5 Kester Brewin
June 7 Steve Case
June 9 Mike King
Technorati Tags: contemplative youth ministry grid blog
Hi Jonny; this book looks amazing, and I’m going to have to talk to my peeps and YS and procure one (somehow). My church is small–a house church, and multigenerational–but I think we can learn as a whole church how to incorporate more day-to-day silence and fellowship with God.
I’m curious, have you read “Tune In Chill Out: Using Contemplative Prayer in Youth Ministry” (See http://chill-uk.org/ChillResources.htm ) from your side of the pond? I’m wondering how it compares…not in an either-or sort of way, just if it’d be worth it to get both.
you must get it mike! ideal for a house church size group…
w.r.t tune in chill out that is a must – i am totally biased as it is written by my wife and we (proost) put together the cd rom for it!!!!
I am looking forward to the contemplative youth ministry conference with Mark Yaconelli next week in Denver. Thanks for your previous mention of his book which alerted me to it. I love your photos and appreciate your posts and that you are so gracious in sharing your ideas for worship, etc. Keep up the good work.