Practicing: Changing Yourself to Change the World

Written by Kathy Escobar

Narrated by Lisa Larsen

From the masses of young people spurning organized religion to faithful followers of Jesus, there is a deep hunger across gender, age, socioeconomics, and denominational backgrounds for practical, tangible ways to live a life of love, mercy, and justice in our divided, fragmented world. But where do we start? Its easy to feel overwhelmed by the worlds problems, with solutions to violence and poverty and oppression seeming so far out of reach.



But you have more power to change the world than you realize—and it starts with changing yourself.



In Practicing, Pastor Kathy Escobar inspires and challenges listeners with practical encouragement to live their faith through real action using ten transformational practices, including listening more, including the marginalized, advocating for justice, and mourning with those who grieve. By putting our hearts, hands, and feet behind our good intentions, we can transform our groups, our communities, and our world. Extremely interactive, relational, and practical, Practicing can be read alone or processed together with a group, church, or class.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705222980

Kathy Escobar

Kathy Escobar is the cofounder and copastor of The Refuge, a hub for healing community, social action, and creative collaboration serving in North Denver since 2006. She’s a pastor, spiritual director, speaker, organizational consultant, advocate, and author of several books, including Practicing: Changing Yourself to Change the World and Faith Shift: Finding Your Way Forward When Everything You Believe Is Coming Apart. She’s also co-executive director and founder of #CommunityHeals: Making Spaces for Transformation Accessible for All. Find out more at kathyescobar.com.

Reviews for Practicing

[foof2you · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book truly for the times that we live in now especially, Chapter 5 The Practice of Equalizing. We live in challenging times, deal with difficult people and experience difficult situations, this book will help. Kathy Escobar is a different kind of pastor, with a different take on the usual, typical responses from other pastors.

[pjmanley41 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book was an easy read but unfortunately, it did not really address the "practice" aspect I was hoping for. Most of the "practice" tips were simply questions such as you would find at the end of a book as suggestions for a book club discussion. It really wasn't what I had hoped.

[boyntonlodgeno236 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book builds upon the fact that it is difficult to effect meaningful change without realizing that you yourself will change in the process.

This can help guide those inclined to take such a path.

[mitchellray · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kathy Escobar writes with clarity and compassion. She is a nonjudgmental and progressive Christian, and her book is for anyone who wants to do the inner work required to prepare oneself for the work of changing the world. She delves into ten practices for fostering personal transformation to equip one for creating a more compassionate and just society. The practices include healing, listening, loving, including, equalizing, advocating, mourning, failing, resting, and celebrating. Each chapter includes questions for individual and group reflection, action steps, and suggested readings. This book is appropriate for anyone of any faith tradition or none who wants to strengthen his or her inner resources for confronting the challenges facing today’s world.