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Mark Yaconelli is co-director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project (YMSP), an
Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac) endowed program which is introducing contemplative spirituality to
young people throughout the country. He is also an adjunct professor of youth ministries at San
Francisco Theological Seminary. His father is Mike Yaconelli, head of Youth Specialties, a major
evangelical organization serving "more than 80,000 youth workers worldwide through training
seminars, conventions, videos, magazines, and resource products."

One Youth Specialties seminar is "Sabbath: A [Contemplative] Spiritual Retreat for Youth
Workers," which Mark Yaconelli leads. In an article for the popular youth-oriented Group maga-
zine, Mark states, "The YMSP approach to youth ministry pushes for a return to
God-awareness...[noting] that middle school and senior high kids are hungry to encounter God di-
rectly and eager to learn contemplative spiritual practices."

In another article subtitled "How Spiritual Exercises Can Change Your Kids," he tells of
implementing contemplative methods he first learned at "a week-long retreat at a nearby [Roman
Catholic] convent":

Our [YMSP] project churches were introduced to a number of classical exercises from
the Christian tradition: Biblical meditation forms like Lectio Divina and Ignatian contem-
plation; icon prayers and other visualization prayers; chanting; guided imagery; biblical
imagination...centering prayer; and prayers of discernment.

While I'm not questioning Yaconelli's sincerity or integrity, nevertheless his statement
needs both clarification and correction for accuracy's sake. By "Christian tradition" he cannot
mean biblical Christianity; these are exercises from "ancient" Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
traditions. And, as will become clear, the "biblical meditation forms" he refers to are the antithesis
of the meditation presented in God's Word.

Let's begin with the term "contemplative," which is the prevalent name for the movement.
Whereas contemplation normally means to think about something intently or to study it carefully,
practitioners of the various contemplative methods do the opposite. The movement's goal is to get
people beyond thinking and understanding and into the realm of experiencing. Adherents are taught
that while reason has some value, truly knowing God can only come through experiencing Him.
This approach is, at best, a corruption of what the Bible says both about reason and how a be-
liever's personal relationship with Jesus Christ is developed. At worst, the contemplative exer-
cises lead to the false Eastern mystical belief that man can achieve literal union with God, i.e., be
absorbed into Him or It.

Lectio Divina (or "holy reading") is one of the basic exercises of these disciplines. A
phrase or single word is chosen from the Bible. However, rather than aiding understanding through
one's dwelling on its plain meaning, the word or words become mediumistic devices for hearing
directly from God. The word or phrase is then "meditated upon" (meditatio) by being slowly re-
peated again and again in the fashion of a mantra (Jesus condemns as heathen "vain repetitions" in
prayer [Matthew 6:7]). It is then prayed (oratio) as an incantation, thereby allegedly healing pain-
ful thoughts or emotions. Finally, the repeated word is used to help clear one's thoughts (contem-
platio), supposedly making one an open receptacle for personally hearing God's voice.

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