Discerning Spiritual Discernment:
Assessing Current Approaches For Understanding God's Will
Dennis J. Horton

The purpose of this article is to provide clarification on the subject of spiritual discernment by (1) explaining the major approaches to spiritual discernment currently being advocated, (2) identifying which decision-making factors are most important to specific groups of Christians, and (3) offering some guidelines to employ when teaching about spiritual discernment and Christian decision making.

The Role Of Biblical Lament In Adolescent Ministry
Bob Yoder

This article explores the role of biblical lament in the faith formation and pastoral care of early, middle, and late adolescents by adult spiritual caregivers as a response to contemporary cultural realities. Also described is a project that helped youth pastors engage adolescents with a practice of biblical lament by having them write their own three-step lament. This article is adapted from Lamenting Youth, Believing Youth: The Role of Biblical Lament in the Faith Formation of Mennonite Adolescents, the author's D.Min. thesis.

Practical Theology: What Is It And How Does It Work?
Andrew Root

This article affirms the energy and attention given to thinking about youth ministry as practical theology. However, it questions if we have yet to take the time to articulate what practical theology is and how it works. We have looked at method (for instance in the last issue), but have yet to define what practical theology is and is not. Therefore, this article seeks to articulate what practical theology is and how it possesses, like the other disciplines, its own unique scholarly research program that can foster richer conversations across theological disciplines.

Youth Ministry In A Changing World:
The International Research Project On Youth Spirituality
Paul McQuillan

The research project invited research papers from International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry (IASYM) members from around the world to outline the issues surrounding youth spirituality today. The articles presented for publication included two each from Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. This paper utilises Inayatullah's causal layered analysis (CLA) framework to examine the way in which the world view of the young people impacts on how we present the reality of the Christian message. It takes the view that the metaphors and myths of Christianity, while essentially unchangeable, need to be reinterpreted and represented in a context appropriate to each of the youth cultures presented by the writers.

Can We Follow Willow Creek's Follow Me?
An Examination Of The Latest Reveal Study
Bradley R. E. Wright

Willow Creek's Follow Me explores the processes of spiritual growth by analyzing a data set of 80,000 church-goers. It identifies which spiritual activities and beliefs are associated with various stages of spiritual growth. This article examines the methods of Follow Me to gauge how much confidence we can place in its findings. Inconsistencies between Follow Me and its predecessor, Reveal, are addressed as well as methodological issues that commonly arise in church surveys.