Cage-Stage Comerism

Pitfalls and partnerships in the fourth wave of evangelicalism

The first time I listened to a sermon from John Mark Comer was around 2013 or so. He was preaching through Philippians; his church was still called Solid Rock Church. It was a confusing time in my life. I was about midway through my deconstruction. He wasn’t yet a major influence on my faith, but I occasionally enjoyed his preaching more than most other evangelical preachers on offer, especially in that time period.

Over the next few years, his influence on my faith grew, particularly after he released Garden City in 2015. Around that time, he started preaching many of the core ideas that would eventually become The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and Practicing the Way, both the book and the nonprofit. It was these sermons that unlocked a whole new vision of what it meant to be Christian for me. These sermons would prime me to seek help to reconstruct my faith. That’s a story for another time.

But somewhere in the slow transition from deconstructed exvangelical to reconstructed evangelical, there was period of time when I was familiar enough with what Comer was teaching to be able to say what he said but didn’t know it well enough to really understand it or handle the concepts and theology well. I distinctly remember a dinner I had in mid-2016 with some friends that I dearly love but, especially at the time, had some theological differences with. Some controversial doctrines came up and I kept repeating something along the lines of, “It’s not about believing the right things! It’s about the way of Jesus. It’s a lifestyle.” It didn’t take long for the conversation to spin out of control, feelings were hurt, and most of it was due to my immaturity and inability to handle these concepts. I didn’t know it, but I was becoming a cage-stage Comerist.

4th Wave Evangelicalism

Recently, Trevin Wax wrote about the three waves of evangelicalism that have influenced all of us in America whether we know it or not. They are Spirit-filled Worship, Seeker-Sensitive Church Growth, and Gospel Centrality. He proposed that a potential rising fourth wave is the Comer-led spiritual formation movement. I think he’s right. It’s quieter than other options that some might pick like Christian nationalism or deconstruction, but as some have rightly pointed out, John Mark Comer is just about the only Christian author many young people read anymore. His books and sermons are gaining Lewis or Keller-like popularity among Millennial and Gen Z Christians. Like me in 2013-2015, many young Christians are finding Comer and his teachings a breath of fresh air in an evangelical culture that feels like it’s been compromised by hype, power, and secularity.

If it’s not obvious, I think this is a good thing. There are about five things I can point to that the Holy Spirit has significantly used to help my faith flourish, and Comer’s ministry is one of them. And yet, my concern is that those who are newer to Comer’s teachings will hit the same cage-stage Comerism that I hit. Just as there was a needed correction in Reformed circles to help cage-stage Calvinists, I think there will also be a need to help people move through cage-stage Comerism as the wave continues to grow.

Here are a few things I would offer:

1. Doctrine matters. If you actually listen to Comer’s teachings, I think he would whole-heartedly agree. But when you’re first introduced to the formation paradigm and the way of Jesus, it becomes easy to think that what you believe doesn’t matter because it’s all about what you do. This is a false dichotomy. In fact, it’s pretty much the entire premise of Comer’s book, Live No Lies. “Teaching” is also the top of his intentional spiritual formation triangle.

   Yet, for some reason, people tend to adopt the practicing the way framework and forget that doctrine and theology is still a crucial part of it. If people fear that this framework is a slippery slope into progressivism, it’s precisely here that it gets slippery. You see people hiding behind “the way of Jesus” to avoid dealing with doctrine all the time. This is wrong. I fell into this as well as evidenced by the story I told above. It took actually learning theology for me to understand its importance and where it fits into all of this. I don’t think the people at the forefront of the spiritual formation movement are losing the gospel or are stuck in doctrinal ditches, but I do think some people who listen to them and have misheard them who ended up there.

2. It’s not about the practices; it’s about intimacy with God. Probably the worst takeaway someone could have from Comer’s teachings is that if you just do the practices, then you’re doing Christianity. This is false. There will be seasons when you do the practices and you get nothing out of them at all. There will be seasons where you are too busy to do the practices in the way that you want to (ask me how I know with a 3-year-old and 3-month-old). Doing the practices is not the goal. The practices put you in a position where your heart is open and receptive to the Holy Spirit and his work in you. The goal is to grow in our intimacy with God. The practices are a means to do that.

3. It’s not about self-actualization; it’s about transformation. I’m afraid that some people are turning to the practices looking for some sort of unwavering inner peace, or to become their best selves, or find some fulfillment that they feel is lacking. The problem is that this still makes the practices about you. It turns the practices inward and uses them as tools for the self. If that’s what you’re using the practices for, then you definitely won’t get much out of them. The goal is not to self-actualize, it’s to surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit’s work that transforms you into the character of Christ. The practices are profoundly God-centered. Making them self-centered distorts them from worship of God to the worship of self.

4. Talking about spiritual formation doesn’t do anything. You actually have to do stuff. You have to make time to read your Bible and pray. You have to go to church. You have to live in community. You have to sit in silence. You have to read books. You have to serve others. You have to share the gospel. Spiritual formation doesn’t just happen in theory; it happens in your real life. This isn’t the opposite of what I just said in the other points. This isn’t works righteousness. You’re not a bad person if you don’t do these things. But if you spend your time talking about spiritual formation and aren’t doing the things that spiritually form you, you’re spinning your wheels.

5. You still need the gospel. The gospel-centered movement got this right. You don’t graduate from the gospel to spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is how the gospel you believe in your mind gets into your heart, soul, and body. We can never simply assume grace or take grace for granted. Grace and salvation are more than aids on the way to something else. They are the foundation of our entire lives in Christ.

Integrating Waves 3 and 4

This fifth point is where I feel the most tension. Trevin points this tension out in his article.

“Several younger friends of mine feel a fruitful tension in both the third and fourth waves, with a desire for more structure and liturgy and a distaste for hype and performance. They want to hold on to the radical message of grace and acceptance and not slide back into the chains of moralism or behavior management, but at the same time, they’re looking to incorporate more rules and rituals—more spiritual structure—in their walk of faith.”

The gospel-centered camp and the spiritual formation camp currently feel like two completely separate camps. I want this to change. These two camps might have differing theological distinctives, yet they hold the gospel in common and their strengths complement each other. You need the gospel-centered movement to preserve the gospel and you need the spiritual formation movement to apply the gospel to your life. These camps should be building relationships and working together, not side-eyeing, jabbing, and ignoring each other.

The place where these things can most come together is in the local church. Individual churches have the opportunity to learn the most from these waves and integrate them in the life of their church. Churches have the unique ability to keep the gospel central in everything they do while also aiding people in their formation through the spiritual disciplines that move the gospel from mere information or imitation and into their imagination and, ultimately, intimacy with God. I know it’s possible because it’s happening in my church. But I also know finding churches like that is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Integrating these waves is important because the gospel-centered movement mitigates cage-stage Comerism by reminding you that everything is about Jesus and everything you have you receive from him by grace through faith. Likewise, the spiritual formation movement mitigates the cage-stage Calvinism of the gospel-centered movement by reminding you that the gospel isn’t something merely for the intellect, but it is God’s transformative work in you, and that God has provided us with means of grace by which he brings about that transformation. Integrating these waves helps to balance out the places where they might have overcorrected while also learning from what is best about each wave. I think the church would be a healthier place if the Kellerites and the Comerites worked together.

Formed by the Gospel

I feel indebted to both Keller and Comer. May their tribes increase. But, as an early adopter and fierce advocate of Comer’s framework, there are ditches to be avoided and cages to be opened here too. As his tribe does indeed increase and this fourth wave sweeps through evangelicalism, I hope people understand that no movement has the corner on the mysteries of God. We need each other and the wisdom that each wave brings. More than being swept up in a wave led by one person or another, let’s be swept up into the ocean of God’s grace.

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I’ve written a book about deconstruction. It’s called Walking Through Deconstruction: How To Be A Companion In A Crisis Of Faith. It’s deeply personal, but it’s not a memoir. It’s an attempt to serve the church, to help the church understand what deconstruction is, what causes it, and how to walk with people who are experiencing it.