Two Minute Tuesday: Lessons Learned Writing About John Mark Comer
In the age of TLDR and doom scrolling, Two Minute Tuesdays are short posts, random thoughts, and wonderings—something between a Substack note and an essay—meant to be read in roughly two minutes.
The essay I wrote about my concerns with the direction John Mark Comer is headed in Practicing The Way has gotten way more engagement than anything else I’ve written. I thought the fever around Comer was over, but apparently not. Here are some lessons I’ve learned since writing the essay.
I need to write better. I had no idea how much attention this topic would get. I should have been clearer, taken more time to define things, and used more explicit examples from his writing. Far smarter writers than me have written better pieces on this topic. Daniel Schreiner’s review at 9Marks is one of the best and most concise. Also,
work on Spiritual Formation is excellent and points to some of my concerns.The comment I kept seeing was, “You’re evangelical and/or reformed, and that’s why you think this way about Comer.” Your theological tradition for sure influences how you view spiritual formation. However, I thought I made it clear that I’ve listened to and read Comer for at least 10 years and found him engaging and helpful. I’ve known we have theological differences for years, and that doesn’t concern me. I like to read broadly.
My concern with Practicing the Way in particular is he seems to be headed outside of the Protestant tradition, and even more concerning, maybe outside of Christian tradition. I don’t think he’s there yet, and I could be wrong. I’m just concerned about the direction.
Anytime you write something critiquing someone who helped people, especially someone as likable as Comer, people are going to pushback. Comer has helped many people see their need for spiritual formation and met them where they are with his engaging and conversational style. Praise God for that. I tried to be as careful and gracious as I could expressing my concerns. If you’re a believer, we’re family, and we’re going to disagree sometimes. We should read things critically and test them against scripture.
I mentioned Rob Bell in my article, and people did not like the comparison. However, Comer is clearly influenced by early Bell. Just read Velvet Elvis. Many people found Rob Bell’s early work helpful and engaging. All that to say, people change. I pray Comer doesn’t go the same route as Bell. The Bible calls us to be discerning.
I should have better defined modern Gnosticism and its connection to Practicing the Way. There were some snarky comments and Substack Notes about this. It emphasized that definitions are extremely important when discussing things like this. Just to clarify, I didn’t call Comer a gnostic. I said I’m afraid the more mystical practices could lead to Gnosticism. This concern is less about Comer himself and more about what his readers might reduce his teaching to outside of a local church under faithful elders.
Very few people seem to understand modern Gnosticism or how it has crept into the American church. Peter Jones and Michael Horton have done some good work on this. I promise I didn’t pull it out of thin air, and I plan on writing about it more since there seems to be little knowledge of it out there. I find it interesting and concerning.
I should have also done a better job defining “contemplation.” I wasn’t referring to self-reflection in general, but to the practice of “contemplative prayer” that Comer teaches. Kyle Strobel does an excellent job explaining the difference between contemplation and “contemplative prayer.”
I didn’t expect the original essay to spark so much conversation, but these are conversations worth having.