Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry PDF Download

Author: Jeannie Oestreicher
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310831644
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
How often have you struggled to help your students really grasp God’s love? How often have you been frustrated by their Sunday school answers when you try to draw them into the depths of God’s story? You’re not alone. Many students (and even youth workers brave enough to admit it) are experiencing emptiness, lack of passion, and a growing inability to hear from God.But there is hope. Just use your imagination...God created our imaginations. Why not harness them to encounter our creative God in brand new ways? Try it right now: Picture yourself in a boat with Jesus as the seas grow rough, as the water crashes over the bow. Notice what’s going on...notice your emotions at this critical moment. What is your sense of Jesus’ presence in the midst of the storm?The latter is just one example of the many guided exercises within the pages of Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry. You’ll find tools that can help you use imaginative prayer as a means of experiencing the God who is continually reaching out to us. Invite your students to open their imaginations (and their five senses) to God’s spirit and allow God to move and speak directly to them through the 50 imaginative prayer exercises inside. They come complete with instructions, environment suggestions, and optional debrief questions—there’s even a topical/Scripture reference index so you can find just the right exercises to suit your needs. If you want to introduce your students to the God who loves them (in a way that allows them to truly experience that love), imaginative prayer is an effective means to do so—you and your students will never be the same.

Author: Jared Patrick Boyd
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830846255
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How do we help our kids connect with God and experience his presence? Jared Patrick Boyd has discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. This unique resource helps us guide our children through weekly sessions of imaginative prayer, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation.

Author: Jared Patrick Boyd
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 083089229X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
How do we help our kids connect with God? Most parents want their kids to learn to love God. But most of us struggle to facilitate real spiritual experiences. It's hard enough to have a meaningful conversation with our kids about spiritual things, let alone help them experience true transformation in the presence of God. Jared Patrick Boyd discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. When we lead our children through guided times of imaginative prayer, they can experience a connection with God that transcends mere Bible knowledge or doctrinal content. This unique resource provides six units of weekly guided imaginative prayer, themed around core topics: God's love, loving others, forgiveness, God as king, the good news of God, and the mission of God. Each unit has six sessions, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation for children ages five to thirteen. Through imaginative prayer, you can help your child connect with God. As you do so, you may find yourself connecting more closely with your child, and your own formation as a parent will deepen into greater awareness of God's work in your lives.

Author: Heather J. Annis
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0819232793
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
The Book of Comic Prayer takes a fresh look at prayer from an unexpected perspective: comic art, humor, and their relevance to today’s image-driven youth. Part explanation, part instruction, it explores the role of prayer and faith in mainstream and underground comics, and provides resources for incorporating comics and cartooning into curricula for children and youth. The Appendix includes an illustrated booklet created by one group of young people as a supplement to traditional forms of prayer and offers tips and tricks for creating books of comic prayer. The church has always used visual arts for prayer, worship, and education, and religious themes and figures still permeate popular culture. Comics, with their larger-than-life stories of villainy, morality, and heroism, have religious undertones ranging from explicit to metaphorical, offering opportunities to explore what post-modern prayer and faith look like and why they matter. Comics are inexpensive, accessible, and adaptable to church school, youth groups, Bible studies, prayer groups, camps, and VBS. There have been illustrated comic Bibles and religious books, but no single resource dealing with prayer’s individual and communal aspects as they relate to the comic art form. This is that book!

Author: Andy Otto
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
ISBN: 159471648X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Where do you seek God? Are you waiting for him to appear in a monumental, life-altering event? In God Moments, Catholic blogger Andy Otto shows you how to discover the unexpected beauty of God’s presence in the story of ordinary things and in everyday routines like preparing breakfast or walking in the woods. Drawing on the Ignatian principles of awareness, prayer, and discernment, Otto will help you discover the transforming power of God’s presence in your life and better understand your place in the world. Andy Otto found God’s presence in surprising moments during his life—when, as a Jesuit scholastic, he taught children in Jamaica and also as he discerned the call to marriage with his wife. By combining elements of Ignatian spirituality with the lessons that came from his experiences, Otto identified three practices that helped him find God in all things: Awareness—Gain an understanding that God is present in the ordinary messiness of our lives such as battle with depression or sharing in the struggle of a friend. Prayer—Develop a prayer life using Ignatian practices such as asking for a morning grace and examining how your prayer was answered at the end of the day. That way you can focus on a personal relationship with God that finds everyday physical activities such as making a meal as an opportunity to talk to him. Discernment—The more you are aware of God’s presence and draw closer to him in prayer, the better you can learn how to plug into God’s narrative of the world in a way that enables you to participate in the divine story through the use of your gifts and talents. With God Moments as a guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to seek personal wholeness in the reality of God’s presence in the ordinary and learn to accept his invitation to participate in his transformation of the world.

Author: Claire Daniel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781841016887
Category : Prayer
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Prayer is a vital part of the Christian life but people often struggle with actually getting on and doing it. This book offers 80 imaginative and creative ideas for setting up 'prayer stations', practical ways of praying that involve the senses - touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing, rather than simply reflecting, as we bring our hopes, fears, dreams and doubts to God. Developed from material tried and tested with small groups, the ideas here provide activities ranging from bubble prayers to clay pot prayers (via just about everything else in between), and have been designed to be used with grown-ups - of all ages!

Author: Larry Warner
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830867538
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
In A Journey with Jesus, spiritual director Larry Warner guides us through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, similar to the way he's been leading people through them in person. Here's what he's observed: "The Spiritual Exercises helped people reconnect with Jesus and with themselves in life-giving ways. It was powerful." Ignatius wanted to help everyone, no matter what age or stage of life, experience Jesus. Through prayers and Scripture readings that largely focus on the life of Christ, the Spiritual Exercises that have been so powerful and growth-inducing for so many, including Warner, can be a tool for transformation in you as well. The exercises are designed to help you encounter the person of Jesus foster a deeper relational knowing of Jesus cultivate a greater desire and freedom to say yes to Jesus This book will guide you through Ignatius's traditional thirty-day retreat approach as well as the nine-month journey which allows you to take these practices into the "real world" each day. And you don't have to go on a retreat to do it. You can start now, and grow in Christlikeness right in the midst of your life. Are you hungry for Jesus and ready to do something about it? Are you committed to a sticking with a sustained journey of growth and formation in Christ? Then this book is for you. Open these pages, and let Warner guide you on the journey toward deeper intimacy with Jesus.

Author: Kenneth H. Carter Jr.
Publisher: Upper Room Books
ISBN: 0835819205
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
What is scriptural imagination? The word imagination does not mean the Bible is fantasy or untrue. A scriptural imagination allows us to look at the world through the stories and images of the Bible. As we view our world with scriptural imagination, we enter a continuous process of becoming more Christlike. In A Beginner's Guide to Practicing Scriptural Imagination, Kenneth Carter focuses on four scripture passages to give readers an easy entry into the practice of scriptural imagination. Carter advocates reading and reflecting on the biblical texts with a group. Carter says that almost every situation and problem we face can be addressed by men and women sitting with biblical texts, listening for what God might be saying through those passages. Equally important is taking time to listen attentively to people who are marginalized. As readers practice the spiritual exercises in this book, they will grow as disciples of Jesus who can then transform their world.

Author: Brian Kirk
Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties
ISBN: 031057885X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
The mainline church in the past few decades has witnessed a ghettoization of youth within the church, segregating them off to a particular room, perhaps in the basement, where they engage in ministry in isolation from the rest of the congregation. They are assigned a “youth minister” or “youth director,” often the staff person with the least experience, freeing up the “real” ministers to serve the adults in the church. They seldom serve on church boards or governing bodies in anything other than a cursory manner. Their leadership in worship is limited to one special Sunday a year; their activities seen more as programming than ministry, and their place often described as “the church of the future” rather than the body of Christ in the here-and-now. For decades, youth ministry in mainline churches has been program-driven, assuming that the primary function of youth ministry was to use activities and events to attract young people to church and keep them occupied until they were ready to be adult members in the faith. In recent years, it has become increasingly obvious that this paradigm has failed to develop youth as life-long participants in the Christian church and in the Christian faith. The result of such a model of ministry is that youth come to see church only as those segregated activities reserved for teenagers, most of which bear little resemblance to the practices of the rest of church life. Consequently, when youth graduate from high school and youth group, they perceive that their most meaningful church experiences are ended. Mainline congregations are now seeing the evidence of the real lack of impact of their youth ministries as the population of young adults in churches continues to shrink – even those young adults who were once regular participants in church youth group programs. In short, the program-driven model of youth ministry has failed to help youth find their place within the mission of the Church. Rethinking Youth Ministry critiques this older paradigm and invites the reader into a dialogue to help rethink many of the deepest assumptions of youth ministry in the mainline church. We challenge the consumerist goal of judging a youth ministry’s success by the number of its participants. We push back against the notion that a youth ministry is the sum total of the events on the calendar. We rethink the place of volunteers and parents, calling for a greater role of adults as spiritual mentors in the lives of church youth. We send out a call for greater understanding of modern methods of teaching and the impact of brain research on the intellectual and spiritual development of youth and we re-imagine a new role for mission within youth ministry which calls youth to see mission not as isolated activities but as the very heart of their faith journey. Rethinking Youth Ministry serves as a theological companion and practical guide for all those “working in the trenches” of youth ministry who are seeking to offer students a deeper, more consequential, and active life-long relationship with God through the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Author: Mark Yaconelli
Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties
ISBN: 0310829666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
“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 fl ight 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