The
Practicing the Way
Course

An introduction to spiritual formation

The Practicing the Way Course features eight sessions of teaching, guided conversation, and spiritual exercises designed to lay a foundation for lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus. The Course is the on-ramp to the Practices and our other resources.

 

What to expect

Over eight sessions, you’ll form a foundational understanding of intentional spiritual formation. We’ll explore how to follow Jesus in our busy, distracted, and increasingly secular culture.


Each 30-minute session is comprised of teachings, guided discussion, tutorials, and voices from experts.

 
Preview Session 01
 

Week by Week

  • Following Jesus is more than going to church or believing the right things; it is practicing a way of life.  The meaning of “follow Jesus” is rooted in first-century practices of rabbis and apprentices, practices that inform our understanding of how to follow Jesus today.

    Practice: Develop a daily time and place to connect with God.

  • Whether we realize it or not, all of us are being formed — by our habits, relationships, the stories we believe, and our environment. This session explores the six primary forces shaping individuals: habits, relationships, stories, environment, time, and experience.

    Practice: Take a “life audit,” an inventory of all the forces that are forming you now and in the past.

  • Many of us desire to become more like Jesus, but we feel stuck. We need a training program, a reliable pathway to transformation. We find this in the Way of Jesus, which shows us how to intentionally engage formation.

    Practice: Replace an old habit with a new spiritual discipline.

  • The Practices are disciplines that create space for the Spirit to transform us from the inside out. Learn about practicing ancient disciplines that open us up to God to change us at the deepest level.

    Practice: Begin the spiritual discipline of Sabbath.

  • The Practices can expose pain as our soul begins to process and discharge suffering. This session explores the three primary ways people deal with pain (deny, detach, or drug), how unhealed pain sabotages transformation, and how God can meet us in pain to bring lasting change.

    Practice: Notice and name your emotions in the presence of God through prayer.

  • This session covers three dimensions of sin — sin done by us, sin done to us, and sin done around us — and explores four layers of sin we move through in our healing: gross sins, conscious sins, unconscious sins, and attachments. Finally, the session covers our part in healing, the practice of confession.

    Practice: Confess and name your sin to someone you trust.

  • Transformation is possible, but it’s not inevitable. Learn how to build an intentional plan, or what the early Christians called a “Rule of Life”: a schedule and a set of practices and relational rhythms that create space for us to be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did.

    Practice: Craft a personalized Rule of Life.

  • To sustain a lifelong journey of following Jesus, we need to key in on one final critical truth: you are meant to follow Jesus in community. Learn how to cultivate a community of depth, vulnerability, and commitment to transformation.

    Practice: Identify your intentional community and begin to meet.

 

Companion Materials

 

The Companion Guide

The Companion Guide is designed to help you practice, reflect, and dialogue in community. You’ll find helpful supports like:

  • Tips to get the most out of the course

  • Exercises to help put each session into practice

  • Additional prayers and liturgies

  • Over 50 additional recommended resources

Free digital and print-at-home versions of the Guide are provided when you sign up here.

When possible, we recommend getting a print version of the Guide to avoid distraction and to take notes. A new, reduced-price print version is now available for purchase wherever books are sold.

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Recommended Reading

We recommend reading Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer alongside the Course. Each session will have assigned readings for those looking to dive deeper. Buy a copy for you and your community here.