The Practicing the Way Course is designed to help get you started on the journey of spiritual formation, help you get unstuck if you’ve stalled, or just guide you into taking your next step. Ultimately, its goal is to guide you toward living as an apprentice of Jesus: to be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did.
Practicing the Way is a video-based resource designed to help us think more deeply about what it means to follow Jesus in our everyday life. As well as the video session, there will be worship, discussion and different spiritual exercises.
Our hope is that this course will shape us this year as we seek to deepen the wells of faith in our community and we will explore one of the sessions a month at our Sunday Nights in the Gathering Grounds, usually on the 4th Sunday of the Month at 7:30pm.
There are also spiritual exercises you might like to use during the week, and if you are in a Life Group there are follow on activities.
Don’t worry if you miss one of the sessions, you can watch the video online from the previous month.
John Mark Comer has written a book of the same title, which can be read alongside the course (recommended readings are provided each week). You can purchase online, or you can purchase from the Gathering Grounds for €20. You can also purchase a course manual online (or download on for free), although this in not necessary.
Further videos and resources are available at practicingtheway.org
Following Jesus: Jan 25
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 1st-century practices of rabbis and apprentices, practices that inform our understanding of how to follow Jesus today.
Formation Part 01: Feb 22
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.
Formation Part 02: March 22
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.
The Practices: 26 April
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.
Meeting God in Pain and Suffering: 29 June
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.
Healing from Sin: 27 Sept
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.
Crafting a Rule of Life: 25 October
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.
Life Together: 22 Nov
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.