YMSP Charter Reading List The Charter of the Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project is our compilation of the seven grounding elements of contemplative youth ministry. Here are our top reading recommendations for each of these elements. Sabbath Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest by Wayne Muller. This book will touch your own longing for space, time and balance. This book is inter-religious, yet Muller is a UCC pastor and relies heavily on the Jewish and Christian practices of Sabbath. The text is readable and filled with testimonies and simple practices from ordinary people who are struggling to slow down amidst a speed-driven culture. For something that is more solidly grounded in the Christian tradition try Sabbath Time by Tilden Edwards. Prayer The Awakened Heart by Gerald May. This is a beautiful and accessible guide to contemplative prayer (in the tradition of Brother Lawrence). May knows how to talk about the heart with its desires and deceptions. I've given this book to many non-Christian friends. Anthony Blooms, Beginning to Pray is a simple but powerful book on prayer in midst of God's absence. For something with more variety try Tilden Edwards' Living in the Presence. Edwards gives a variety of prayer practices that incorporate body, scripture, imagination and silence. Covenant Community Community and Growth by Jean Vanier. This is a classic book on Christian community. Vanier is the founder of L'Arche communities for the mentally handicapped and their helpers. Beautiful meditative and practical reflections on the nature of Christian community. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is another classic. This little book is based on the community life that Bonhoeffer lived in secret with many of his seminary students during the rise of the Nazi party. This book is theological, practical and inspiring. Accompaniment How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. One of the best practical books on accompanying youth, children and anyone else that happens to be in the room. This book is a classic and one of my top three books for parents. You will discover new skills in speaking and communicating with kids that will deepen your relationship with them and free them to be themselves. Excellent cartoons and exercises will help you develop better listening and responding skills to even the most difficult situations with young people. A good book to help parents accompany is Lost and Found: Adolescence, Parenting and the Formation of Faith by Amanda Hughes. This is a relevant description of the process of accompanying young people in their Christian faith formation. Discernment Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community by Suzanne Farnham, Joseph Gill, R. Taylor McLean and Susan Ward. This little book in combination with its companion Grounded in God: Discernment for Group Deliberations are simple, practical and meditative books on the practice of discernment in Christian communities. These are foundational books for our understanding of the role of discernment in ministry. Another great book is Sleeping with Bread By the Matthew, Dennis and Sheila Linn. This is another little book that describes the practice and power of the Awareness Examen the primary prayer used for discernment within contemplative youth ministries. Hospitality Black and White Styles of Youth Ministry, by William Myers. This classic study on "white" and "black" styles of youth ministry sheds light on the ways in which youth can be excluded or included within the life of the Church. Myers' description of the "kinship" model of youth ministry common within most African-American congregations provides a model of welcoming youth into the life of a congregation. Authentic Action The Active Life by Parker Palmer. This book reveals the powerful connection between contemplation and action. It is a description of the spirituality of action and how our creativity, spontaneity, work and efforts to care are just as nurturing and necessary to spiritual living as prayer and solitude. Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens Edited by Dorothy Bass and Don Richter. This book is written for a youth audience but is just as powerful for adults. It is a series of meditations by teens and adults on how Christians live the Way of Jesus--from how we care for our bodies, to how we resist oppression.
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