Practicing the Way is the signature book for John Mark Comer’s current ministry (which bears the same name as the title of the book), the aim of which is to provide resources that equip churches to make discipleship to Jesus central to everything they do. This book is the culmination of Comer’s 20 years of hands-on ministry experience where he experimented with how to arrange his own life and his ministry to achieve making discipleship central in a local church context. This book offers a path.
Summary
Practicing the Way is a clear, practical overview of how to arrange your life to live as a disciple of Jesus. The book opens by answering the question, “What is a disciple?” Following Dallas Willard’s lead, Comer uses the word “apprentice” to capture what a disciple was in the world of Jesus’ day, and he summarizes the three main goals of discipleship. Those three goals are then explored in detail in the next three parts of the book.
- Goal #1 – be with Jesus
- Goal #2 – become like Jesus
- Goal #3 – do what Jesus did
Comer explores each of these goals in detail, with simple yet profound insights for how to wisely pursue them. For example…
He emphasizes that to be with Jesus means we must abide in Jesus. He observes that all of us abide somewhere. So, the question becomes, where are you abiding? “And this matters, because whatever we ‘abide’ in will determine that ‘fruit’ of our lives, for good or for ill” (p. 38). He then shows what it looks like to make abiding in Christ a central habit of our life. And there are loads of insights and wisdom in this section for ordering your life to gaze upon God, live in his presence, and abide in him.
“There are loads of insights and wisdom in this section for ordering your life to gaze upon God, live in his presence, and abide in him.”
When discussing goal #2, Comer calls attention to this fact: Who we are becoming is the most important thing about us. We are all being shaped and formed, so what is forming us and what is it forming us into? The “acid test” of Christian spiritual formation is “love” (p. 76). We are becoming like Jesus, who is the perfect image of God, and God is love. Once again there are loads of helpful insights in this section:
- “There are no accidental saints” (p. 80).
- Most people do not have “a reliable path of transformation to follow” (p. 82).
- As important as Bible study is, just prescribing “more Bible study” is “wildly insufficient” to effect deep life change (pp. 86-87).
After exploring the three goals of discipleship to Jesus, Comer offers guidance for constructing a rule of life. A rule of life is an intentional plan for arranging your life to live as a disciple. Here he discusses the spiritual disciplines, offering a sound theological framework for how to think about the disciplines and practical suggestions for how to practice them in your life.
The book concludes with a call to surrendering your life to live as a disciple.
Why It’s Valuable
Here’s a few things I think make this book extremely valuable.
Wise
There’s sage advice that only comes from practice and from practicing with others. This book is rooted in the wisdom of those who have followed Jesus deeply for a long time. It’s not “spiritual growth lite.” It’s wise and profound, yet Comer writes in a way that’s down to earth and easy to understand.
“Comer writes in a way that’s down to earth and easy to understand.”
Practical
There’s way more than fine sounding theory here. Comer offers loads of helpful tips for how to implement the ideas. What he’s teaching has been tried and tested in the context of real life over a long period of time. The suggestions are realistic and doable for ordinary people, and the kinks have been worked out.
Not Novel
I think it’s fair to say that there’s nothing new here, and I’m pretty sure John Mark Comer would gladly agree. Comer communicates things in some fresh ways, but he’s not trying to be trendy or catch a popular wave. He’s not seeking to be relevant or cool. Comer’s strength lies in his ability to read widely and communicate it simply for ordinary people. So, he incorporates the insights of people both ancient and modern. He’s synthesized a wide variety of material into a clear, helpful pathway for discipleship to Jesus.
“Comer’s strength lies in his ability to read widely and communicate it simply for ordinary people.”
Broad
Many books on spiritual growth focus on one specific piece of the process, such as the spiritual disciplines. Practicing the Way communicates a much broader, more wholistic picture of the pathway of growth. The book is only a little over 200 pages, but the breadth and depth of what is covered is remarkable.
What’s Missing
I started reading Dallas Willard in the 1990s and have enjoyed reading books on spiritual formation and discipleship ever since. Hence the reason I enjoyed reading Comer’s book. Practicing the Way, however, repeats a common error I have experienced in both books and other material on spiritual formation—namely the failure to discuss evangelism as a part of discipleship.
This failure contributes to the confusion that evangelism and discipleship are two separate ministries or missions of the church. But biblically and practically, that mission is disciple making, which includes two aspects according to Jesus (see Matthew 28:19-20): baptizing new converts (evangelism) and teaching them to obey all Jesus commanded. Practicing the Way could have more greatly strengthened the disciple making mission of the church if it hadn’t separated these two apart and left out the evangelism component of discipleship to Jesus.
“Practicing the Way repeats a common error I have experienced in both books and other material on spiritual formation—namely the failure to discuss evangelism as a part of discipleship.”
Conclusion
If you’ve been reading books on spiritual formation or discipleship over the last 25 years, you’ll recognize lots of what you find in Practicing the Way. But Comer has pulled it all together in a more wholistic, comprehensive way that offers a clear plan for individuals and groups. Not only that, but there’s a free 8-session course that can be used in your church or small group. And churches need a clear plan for helping people be formed deeply into Christlikeness. This book along with the course can help meet that need. But what’s also needed is a practical ecclesiology of formation to go along with it. Maybe we can get John Mark Comer to add that next!
