Mark Yaconelli – författare

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.

Disappointment, Doubt and Other Spiritual Gifts is an honest, heartfelt and ultimately deeply hopeful collection of stories and reflections on Mark Yaconelli's own woeful inability to be the perfect Christian. As an acclaimed Christian writer and speaker Mark Yaconelli talks of his own failures and disappointments in Christian life and ministry, in order to offer others, hope for the future. This is a book for any Christian that has ever felt that they've fallen short as a follower of Christ or has felt disappointed when they feel that the Church or other Christians have let them down or acted in a way that was unexpected. Mark's stories in this part memoir, all inspirational collection, reveal how no matter how mature a Christian you are, no matter how firm you feel your faith is, everyone has doubts and feels disappointment from time to time. But the wonderful news the Mark shares through the stories in Disappointment, Doubt and Other Spiritual Gifts is that as Christians the hope we have is far bigger than any of those doubts and disappointments.Taken from the preface of Disappointment, Doubt and Other Spiritual Gifts: 'We fall in holes. Plans fall apart. Dreams die. Faith disappears. Suffering is real. We need help to recalibrate our lives back to our compassionate, God-trusting selves. Often, we need safe, creative space and trusted companions in order to move through painful and disorienting experiences. My hope is that the chapters in this book might provide that same creative companionship ... What I'm offering are stories, personal experiences, honest reflections and practices that might help you move out of the hurt and disappointment for a moment and remember your deeper capacities for love and generosity. These are the same stories and practices that have helped me to receive my own failings and sufferings as spiritual gifts.'