Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry

Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry
Author: Jeannie Oestreicher
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2009-08-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310831644

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.

Presence-Centered Youth Ministry

Presence-Centered Youth Ministry
Author: Mike King
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2006-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830833838

Publisher's description: Presence-Centered Youth Ministry shows how classic disciplines, symbols and practices that have sustained the church over the centuries can shape the worldviews, virtues and habits of young people today. Come explore the deeper terrain of an ancient faith; your students are sure to follow.

Soul School

Soul School
Author: Jeanne Stevens
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2009-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310569796

We all know that youth ministry can be hard. Sadly, many youth workers walk away from their jobs, their callings, and their passion because their interior worlds are falling apart. That’s why Soul School is essential for developing an effective and healthy you(th) ministry. Because while your ministry might look healthy to outsiders, only you know that something is lacking. It’s easy to get so busy caring for the external parts of your ministry that you forget the most important part—your soul. So spend some time going beneath the surface, to the core of who you are. Let author Jeanne Stevens help you discover the answers to the deep longings in your soul. Soul School will bring you nearer to God, into a deeper awareness of yourself, into transformational community, and on the road toward a healthier future.

101 Ideas for Making Disciples in Your Youth Group

101 Ideas for Making Disciples in Your Youth Group
Author: Kent Julian
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2008-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310274958

Create a missional youth ministry where disciple-making happens naturally by exploring the idea of ACTS: Adoration, Community, Truth-and-Grace, and Serving-and-Sharing. Through ACTS, you'll see Jesus' style of ministry and how to apply it to yours. With 101 ideas that are easy to implement, your ministry can start looking the way you envisioned.

To Light Their Way

To Light Their Way
Author: Kayla Craig
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2021-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1496454006

Prayers to guide your journey of raising kids in a complicated world. In an age of distraction and overwhelm, finding the words to meaningfully pray for our children--and for our journey as parents--can feel impossible. Written with warmth and welcome, To Light Their Way gives voice to your prayers when words won't come. Filled with more than 100 modern liturgies, this book guides you into an intentional conversation with God for your children and the world they live in. From everyday struggles like helping your child find friends or thrive in school to larger issues like praying for a brighter world rooted in peace and truth, these pleas and petitions act as a gentle guide, reminding us that while our words may fail, God never does. At the core of To Light Their Way is the deepest of prayers: that our children will experience the love of God so deeply that their lives will be an outpouring of love that lights up the world.

Imagine You Walked with Jesus

Imagine You Walked with Jesus
Author: Jerry Windley-Daoust
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2021-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1681927047

Contemplative, or imaginative, prayer is a method of meditative prayer developed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in which you imagine yourself as a character in a Bible story, experiencing the events described in the passage as if you were actually there. In Imagine You Walked with Jesus, you’ll be introduced to contemplative prayer through forty episodes from the Gospels. Each entry includes: A brief introduction to the Bible text, with vivid details to aid your imagination and place the text in a larger interpretative context An introductory prayer The full text of the Bible passage Journaling prompts As you prayerfully immerse yourself in the Bible passages in this book, you’ll be invited to draw on your imagination to rewrite the story from your own perspective: what you saw and heard, your feelings and emotions, and how you interacted with Jesus and the other people present in the story. Saint Ignatius taught that the imagination can be an instrument of prayer. By imagining how we would respond to a particular biblical episode, we can respond to God’s word in a deeper, more meaningful way — and perhaps hear what God has to say to us, too. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jerry Windley-Daoust is the author of more than a dozen books on Catholic social teaching, family spirituality, and Ignatian prayer. The cofounder of Gracewatch Media, which creates print and digital resources for Catholic families, he is especially grateful for the ten years he spent as a stay-at-home dad for his five children. Find him online at windhovering.com.

The Book of Comic Prayer

The Book of Comic Prayer
Author: Heather J. Annis
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2016-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0819232793

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!

7 Ways to Pray

7 Ways to Pray
Author: Amy Boucher Pye
Publisher: NavPress
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1641583797

A hands-on and time-tested look at ways to pray that will strengthen your relationship with God and lead to transformation. 7 Ways to Pray explores ancient prayer practices to help you encounter God and avoid an over-intellectualization of your faith. Each chapter shares real-life examples, is rooted in the Bible, and includes prayer exercises for individuals or groups. This is a sourcebook for prayer, not a simple to-do list. Amy is a storyteller that brings these proven practices to life so you can make them immediately actionable. This is a great resource for your retreat, prayer group, or book club. Prayer is a gift from God; praying is a practice. We are always a simple word or single step away from a conversation with God. And yet taking that step or saying that word can sometimes feel confounding. This book draws from the deep well of Christian history to make praying a habit to enjoy in our crazy, bustling, wearying times. With seven ways of approaching prayer and practical examples of those ways to pray, you will find yourself regularly and repeatedly turning to God and finding him happy to hear from you.

Clear

Clear
Author: Chris Folmsbee
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2010
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0310277523

For teens whose faith seems a little blurry, Clear will help put it into focus. The interactive exercises in this book will help students develop a better understanding of God and his truths so they can be more like Jesus.

7 Ways to Pray

7 Ways to Pray
Author: Amy Boucher Pye
Publisher: SPCK
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0281084971

For Christians, prayer is the main way we communicate with God - but what can we do when we struggle with the question of how to pray or feel our prayer lives are lacking? Seven Ways to Pray explores how by looking to ancient prayer practices of Christianity, we can find fresh ways to relate to God today. Discovering these tried and tested tools will not only strengthen our relationship with him but will bring us joy, contentment, growth and transformation. With warmth and encouragement, Amy Boucher Pye takes us through seven ways to pray to God: praying with the Bible, receiving and extending forgiveness, practicing God's presence, listening prayer, the prayer of lament, praying with the gospels imaginatively and the prayer of examen. Guiding us through their history, she shows us how easily we can make these prayer practices part of our lives and use them to grow closer to God. Along with prayer exercises to help us engage directly with God, there are questions for individual reflection or small-group discussion, making Seven Ways to Pray perfect to use as a family, in churches or with friends. This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered how to pray or is looking for ways to revitalise their prayer lives. It will give you an understanding of some of the oldest prayer practices of Christianity, and equip you with the tools you need to renew and refresh your relationship with God. Come along, and discover Seven Ways to Pray.