Mark Scandrette, Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love. IVP Books, 2011.
Referenced in: Missional Lifestyle, Discipleship, Spirituality – Spirituality and Social Ministry
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Scandrette describes a path toward spiritual formation based on intentional participation in a spiritual community and engagement in following the commands of Jesus in real life. This is over against “methods of spiritual formation that are individualistic, information driven or disconnected from the details of every-day life.” His philosophy is that we need “a path for discipleship that is more like a karate studio than a college lecture hall.” Thus he offers “a practical approach to spiritual formation that is about Scripture, action-focused, communal, experiential, and connected to real world challenges and opportunities.” (14-15) Scandrette calls his movement, the Jesus DoJo.
This follows the advice Scandrette received from Dallas Willard, that to experience the kingdom of God “a group of people should get together and simply try to do the things that Jesus instructed his disciples to do.” (15) He continues:
“We don’t enter the kingdom of God merely by thinking about it or listening to one another talk about it. We have to experiment together with how to apply the teachings of Jesus to the details of our lives. …It seems like what we need is a spiritual dojo – space where we can work out the vision and teachings of Jesus together in real life. In Japanese the word dojo means “place of the way” and is used to describe a school or practice space for martial arts or meditation. Theoretically, a dojo could be created for any skill or discipline. …The important distinction is an active learning environment, where participation is invited and expected. …You can’t learn karate just by watching, and we can’t learn to follow Jesus without practicing to do what he did and taught.” (16)
Later, he describes specifically what is meant by a Jesus dojo.
A Jesus dojo, or community of practice, is (1) an experiment, (2) inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, (3) in which a group of people commit time and energy to a set of practices, (4) in conversation with real needs in our society and within ourselves, (5) and reflect on how these experiences can shape the ongoing rhythms of life.” (16)
His model is based on actually experiencing the spiritual life in five areas, as described on his site:
- Identity
- Purpose
- Security
- Community
- Freedom and Peace
Scandrette expands on each of these practices in the second half of the book. The first half of the book defines the essential perspectives behind the practices.
From the Publisher
Take a casual survey of how people practice their faith, and you might reasonably conclude that Jesus spent his life going door to door offering private lessons, complete with chalkboard and pop quizzes. We think about God in the comfort of our own minds, in isolation from one another; meanwhile the world waits for a people to practice the way of Jesus together.
Mark Scandrette contends that Jesus has in mind something more lively for us: not a classroom so much as a kingdom, where our formation takes place not only in our heads but in our hearts and our bodies, and in the company of one another, in a way that blesses the world we’ve been entrusted with.
In Practicing the Way of Jesus, Scandrette draws from his experience as a spiritual director and leader of an intentional community, as well as the best contemporary thinking on kingdom spirituality, to paint a picture of life lived together, in the way of Jesus—which is another way of saying life lived to the full.
About the Author
Mark A. Scandrette is the founding director of ReImagine, a spiritual formation center based in San Francisco. He has extensive experience providing leadership in churches and community-based organizations and has been a minister, writer and spiritual teacher for twenty years. Scandrette lectures frequently with the U.S. Center for World Missions, leads retreates and workshops, mentors pastors and leaders and provides life coaching and spiritual direction. He is the author of Soul Graffiti (Jossey-Bass, 2007) and a contributor to several other books.
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