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.