The Rule of Life Builder is a free web tool from Practicing the Way that helps you craft habits and rhythms patterned after Jesus, a Rule of Life for you and your community.^1 Whatever your stage of discipleship, it is designed to help you build a life centered around Jesus.^1
You log in, open My Rule of Life, and drag and drop spiritual disciplines into daily, weekly, and monthly practices.^1 Each practice comes with suggested activities, or you can create your own, and the plan can cover the whole of life, including exercise, sleep, and family rhythms.^1 When you finish, your Rule lives on a dashboard you can edit, and you can download and print it as a physical reminder for you and your community.^1 The nine practices at its core are Sabbath, prayer, fasting, solitude, generosity, Scripture, community, service, and witness.^2
John Mark Comer founded Practicing the Way after nearly two decades as founding pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, where the church ran a five-year initiative around spiritual formation under the same name.^2 He stepped away to create simple, beautiful formation resources for church communities around the world, and today he develops new practices and courses while church planting in the Santa Monica mountains outside Los Angeles.^2 In a podcast interview, Comer explained the idea behind a Rule this way: "Our abiding in Jesus, our discipleship to Jesus, needs a trellis. It needs a support structure to hold our life up, to index our growth in the right direction, to keep us from sin, and to really just increase our capacity for growth."^3 The ministry offers free resources so churches can apprentice in the way of Jesus: be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did, supported by The Circle and other givers.^2 Practicing the Way is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its resources are 100% free.^4
A companion Rule of Life podcast hosted by Comer walks through the ancient practices, one practice per season.^5 Missionary teams have used the builder to shape shared team rhythms.^6
Notable:
- Comer's book Practicing the Way, which grew out of the same five-year Bridgetown initiative, was named the ECPA 2025 Christian Book of the Year.^7
