by John Mark Comer
When speaking to ministers and lay leaders on “Infusing a Jesus Worldview into Congregational Culture” I encouraged dispelling the unexamined idea that Bible study and spiritual formation are synonymous and to significantly elevate spiritual formation as a focused congregational pursuit.
John Mark Comer’s Practicing the Way is a current, compelling, off-the-shelf resource for congregations and small groups. His writings strike me as “next in line” among the well-known spiritual formation thought and practice leaders of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Comer flows in the same stream of such mentors as Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Robert Mulholland and others, and references their works often. As a next generation spiritual formation leader, Comer’s language is contemporary, inspiring, easily digestible, and compassionately healthy.
Most importantly, the disciplines — or practices — taught in Practicing the Way are comfortably familiar and readily actionable.
Comer champions a life and worldview in which Jesus is the orienting center. Period.
His clarion call (and the tagline of Practicing the Way) is simply:“Be with Jesus. Become more like him. Do what he did in the world.”
Practicing the Wayseeks to encourage and foster this kind of living.
Comer notes that the life of Jesus — as evidenced in scripture — exemplifies a particularly identifiable rhythm composed of several practices or spiritual disciplines. He calls this rhythm “A Rule of Life” — not “Rules for Life.”
The introductory, eight-week study on Practicing the Way is available at no cost at https://www.practicingtheway.org/.
It is video driven (free video download or play from a computer) and is complete with a companion study guide as a free download. A printed copy may be ordered for a fee.
Resources for deeper study abound. Participants gather each week for group work and discussion and are provided with practical, individual “homework” between group sessions geared toward the development of a personal Rule of Life by the end of the study.
As Comer states, this study is a primer — a first effort. The longer we practice our Rule of Life, the better at it we become.
Or the more we are with Jesus the more like him we become and the more likely we are to live like he did in the world.
The study itself works best in a small group setting but the subject matter easily lends itself to larger groups and sermon series. There are also free, four-week studies of each of the practices.
The book, Practicing the Way,while not necessary for group study, is well worth the read and widely available from booksellers.
This resource was enthusiastically received for focused spiritual formation and is making a measurable impact on our congregation. The culture is noticeably changing.
Review by David White, Connections Pastor at Johns Creek Baptist Church in Alpharetta, GA. To learn more about how this congregation used this resource email him at dwhite@jcbc.org.