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Practicing the Way of Jesus


To say that this book was read would be a misnomer. This is a book that you experience. That is on purpose by author Mark Scandrette. The title of this book is Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love.


I experienced this book with a small group at my church. The book comes complete with study guide in the back, giving a schedule for which chapters to read and in what order. There was thought put into this. The basic premise that Mark puts forth is the idea that the Christian life is not one lived while sitting in a pew, but one that is lived out.

Mark divides the book into 5 main sections. These are areas that he believes all of us must work on in growing deeper in our faith. Those areas are: Identity, Purpose, Security, Community and Freedom/Peace. He wrote one chapter on theory and one on practice for each area.

One of the first things I said when I read the first chapter was that the book scared me. I believed it was gong to be too fanatical in its approach. The experiments, as Mark calls them, were designed to push, but were not beyond comprehension or capability. Many times, it took our group just collectively talking out the fears and then pushing forward.

Filled with successes and failures, this book certainly did not hold its nose up in the air. Mark was unapologetic that not everything happening in the Church is helping Christian growth. He works a bit more with those who might call hemselves post-congregationalist, but he is not a hater of the Church either.

There are very practical steps for believers in every stage of faith. It's come as you are, but don't become content on staying there. Weird, right? It sounds similar to how Jesus called us originally.

You can check out this book for yourself over at Likewise Books, a division of InterVarsity Press. 
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