#57 John Mark Comer's Practicing the Way: Serious Theological Concerns
Unshaken Faith
Alisa Childers & Natasha Crain
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2026
⏱️ 119 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Unshaken Faith, we take a careful, biblical look at Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer, a book that has quickly gained popularity in Christian discipleship and spiritual formation circles. Many listeners have asked whether we recommend it and after a thorough review, the answer is no.
We walk through the book’s core framework, its view of spiritual formation, and how it defines discipleship and transformation. While some of the practices it encourages may sound helpful on the surface, we found deeper theological concerns underneath including influences that overlap with contemplative spirituality, charismatic/NAR-style formation models, progressive-leaning theology, and sacramental or mystical streams more commonly associated with Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic spirituality.
Most importantly, we evaluate the book’s message against the biblical gospel. Does it clearly present salvation by grace through faith? Does it ground transformation in the finished work of Christ or shift the center toward practices and processes? We explain where we believe the message drifts and why that matters for everyday Christians.
Our goal is not to attack people, but to equip believers with discernment. We encourage you to think biblically, test everything against Scripture, and stay rooted in the true gospel.
If this book has been recommended to you, or if you’re already reading it, this episode will help you evaluate it through a clear theological lens.
Consider the Lillies, by Johnny Ardavanis
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If Richard Roar, a Greek Orthodox, and a charismatic had a baby, I feel like it would be |
| 0:05.8 | John Mark Comer. It would be this book. And when we transgress God's law, we have sinned |
| 0:11.6 | against a holy God. That is what sin is. It's not the word that we use to name the felt |
| 0:18.4 | experience of the human condition? |
| 0:25.4 | But I think, as we'll see, I radically disagree with the way that he qualified the gospel. |
| 0:29.2 | So I think even though I agree with him, if you get the gospel wrong, you're going to get discipleship wrong, which is exactly why I think he's gotten discipleship wrong in this book. |
| 0:44.0 | Well, hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Unshaken Faith podcast. This is one that a lot of people have been waiting for. I think between the three of us, Natasha, Melissa, and I, the person we get |
| 0:48.8 | asked about the most is John Mark Comer. So today we're going to be reviewing his book, |
| 0:52.8 | practicing the way. But first, |
| 0:54.4 | I want to acknowledge that, Melissa, I don't know if you know this or not, but you are our first |
| 0:59.5 | guest to ever. You are the first person to ever guest on the Unshaken Faith podcast. So I want to ask |
| 1:05.8 | you, you know, what are you going to do with this honor? First, I expect something in food as a reward. |
| 1:15.1 | Okay. Feel free to, yeah, I mean, I love chocolate. There's that. I had metal. You did send me a |
| 1:21.6 | potato through the mail once. I got a potato too. Did she send you a potato too? I got a potato too. Yeah. When you guys write books, |
| 1:31.1 | I always say, oh, congratulations. Here's your potato. It's just a unique way of congratulating you. |
| 1:36.7 | I love it. I love it. I'll take a potato. That'd be great. |
| 1:40.6 | Well, we'll try to send you something better through the mail than a potato. But we're really glad you've joined us because I think you have a unique perspective to bring to this conversation. You know, sometimes when I'm reading a book, there have been times when I've said, Melissa, I'm picking up some language here that you might know from your past as being a, you know, an ex-new thoughter slash new ager. Maybe just before we get into this book, super |
| 2:01.6 | briefly, give our audience your background in case anybody is unfamiliar with you. |
| 2:06.4 | Sure. Yeah. I always say I became a Christian at 16, grew up in what I thought was a Christian |
| 2:12.3 | household. It was actually related to the new thought philosophy, which I had no idea was a word until recently |
| 2:20.3 | wrote a whole book about it. And I came out of that and realized kind of what it was in |
| 2:25.1 | 2011, but I thought it was New Age. It wasn't. There are two different buckets of spirituality. |
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