Topics

Resources

Feel free to copy and share the below meme as an easy way to bring awareness to this issue.

Key items of concern from John Mark Comer.

*note: if any links below are broken, or I'm missing anything, please let me know.

  • Comer has sold Richard Rohr through his website.
    • These quotes are from the book that Comer provides:
      • “I again offer the Enneagram as another of the endlessly brandished swords of the Holy Spirit. The Enneagram, like the Spirit of truth itself, will always set you free, but first it will make you miserable!”
      • "We cannot be timid about this clear teaching of Jesus after centuries of Christians fighting over their formulations and rituals while unable or unwilling to see God in one another, in other races, in other religions, in the poor, in the earth, in the weak in every form. We cannot be timid about this clear teaching of Jesus after centuries of Christians unable to hear God in the pain of their enemies, in the suffering of the other, in the “paganism” of those whom they colonized and killed in the name of God."
      • "The Enneagram is more than an entertaining game for learning about oneself. It is concerned with change and making a turnaround, with what the religious traditions call conversion or repentance. It confronts us with compulsions and laws under which we live—usually without being aware of it—and it aims to invite us to go beyond them, to take steps into the domain of freedom."
  • Comer has also sold Ruth Haley Barton on the same site, who is a known advocate of Richard Rohr and the Enneagram.
  • Comer has incorporated the Enneagram into his primary ministry, “Practicing the Way.”
  • In the same article, he provides this:
    • “Richard Rohr defined sin this way: “Sins are fixations that prevent the energy of life, God’s love, from flowing freely. (They are) self-erected blockades that cut us off from God and hence from our own authentic potential.””
  • Comer teaches that we can say and do ALL that Jesus said and did, seemingly without qualification regarding Jesus identifying as God:
    • "If you are an apprentice of Jesus, your end goal is to grow and mature into the kind of person who can say and do all the things Jesus said and did."
    • He repeated the same message in Practice the Way episode 4, also missing the same qualifications.
    • This would include things like calling ourselves the I am or speaking of our own authority instead of through His authority. It would also include an expectation for doing miracles similar to the NAR expectation, even though biblically miracles weren't common outside of affirming specific messages.
    • I realize that, if asked, he probably would add those qualifications, but it's a bad indicator he either didn’t receive, or didn’t act on, any pushback during book writing or the video production regarding this point.
  • Comer teaches us to work out our prayer life in line with our "type". In the book, he specifies MBTI for the type:
    • "work with your personality, not against it; tailor your practice to your Myers-Briggs type and stage of life, but find your secret place. Go there as often as you can. Prioritize it. Fall in love with it, with God. Without quiet prayer, your life with God will wither; with it, you will come alive to the greatest joy of life: a familiar friendship to Jesus."
    • In the Practicing The Way site, he specifies:
      • "Below is a table we find extremely helpful. It ties together the exercises we’ve already done - Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and the Habit Audit, and gives some helpful suggestions about how to move forward on your spiritual path."
    • Followed by:
      • "Read and pray over the table, based on your Meyers-Briggs number
      • Take note of their suggestions for your “spiritual path” (spiritual disciplines that you need to focus on to grow and mature into a healthy balance of personality)"
    • The table presented is described as:
      • "An application of C.G.Jung’s Theory of Psychological Types and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Our aim is a balanced, centered spirituality. Note: These words are meant to facilitate and suggest understanding; not to define, or limit understanding, or stifle individuality."
      • "Finding your Spiritual Path and Following your Spiritual Path were developed to help individuals and groups use C.G.Jung’s observations about psychological type as a way to find their individual and group journeys toward wholeness. The words and phrases are meant to open you to new aspects of this search. If you have comments and suggestions to share with the author, please send them to CAPT P.O. Box 13807, University Station, Gainesville, Fl. 32604 and they will be forwarded to the Reverend Earle Page. ©"
  • In Comer’s interview with Nieuwhof, he spends a substantial amount of time talking about Jungian ego/shadow psychology as a foundation for his ministry decisions. (see Marcia Montenegro’s assessment of Jung and the New Age.)
  • Comer quotes “The Cloud of Unknowing,” a known mystic text, in Practicing the Way. (see Marcia’s research on the book).
  •  
  • There are also concerns about his cohost, Tyler Staton:

  • Staton himself advocates for the Enneagram.
  • Comer and Staton talk about the "deepest reality with me", language that sounds much like what Richard Rohr teaches.


If you'd like to add anything, or have corrections or recommendations, just reach out.