In The Field
Ministries that Provide Prayer Resources
Multiple resources are available to help apprentices of Jesus learn a wide range of prayer practices (Footnotes by John Ortberg).
Practicing the Way offers a great start in the school of prayer. Their video series gives apprentices of Jesus a path to follow toward increasing their union with God. Steps on the journey include prayer as talking to God, talking with God, listening to God, and being with God.
Contemplative Outreach aims to help deepen your prayer life and awareness of God’s presence. Their focus is on transformation in Christ through Centering Prayer. This type of prayer involves calming your thoughts and silently resting in God. The goal? Receptivity to what God is doing in your mind and heart. i
The Upper Room provides a wide range of resources for making prayer a way of life. In addition to the Prayer of Examen and Centering Prayer, they suggest walking prayers, breath prayers, Ignatian prayers, praying the Psalms, soaking prayers, giving as prayer, and praying with a finger labyrinth. ii
i. People like David Brooks and Tim Keller have written much about how important it is for we who live in the age of Big Me to ‘de-center the Self’, so somebody should probably come up with de-Centering prayer as well.
ii. BTW–The Upper Room has been producing spiritual life resources for many years. But one of my favorites is simply their use of the name: “The Upper Room”. I like to think of that as a place in my soul to which I can retreat in any moment.
