The Prayer Experiment is “written in a tone that blends the insights of Dallas Willard with the modern sensibility of John Mark Comer”, and the book encourages us to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day for an entire year. It explores how a consistent rhythm of praying the Lord’s Prayer can transform a person’s life by overcoming the feeling that prayer is just a dry, duty-based ritual. However, the kind of prayer life that Smallbone is promoting here sounds more gnostic at times than Biblical.

A friend of mine, who claims to be Christian and yet is a Democratic Socialist, attends the downtown Nashville location of Church Of The City (COTC). Matt Smallbone, of the legendary Smallbone Family, is the pastor of this church, so I was particularly interested in learning where my friend is getting her theology from. When I started my research into Matt Smallbone, I immediately became very concerned that he had fallen into some dangerous teachings, including spiritual formation (i.e., Catholic Mysticism) and Third Wayism. Below is the first of a multipart series on my concerns regarding Smallbone and how I feel his teachings are leading my friend away from Biblical Christianity.

Who is Matt Smallbone?

Matt Smallbone is the lead pastor at COTC Nashville and was the former bass player for Michael W. Smith. He is also the cousin of Joel Smallbone of the band for KING & COUNTRY. Both men are part of a larger family of Australian musicians who now live in the Nashville area. The Smallbone family moved from Sydney, Australia, to Nashville in 1991 after a financial crisis, and their story of faith and resilience is chronicled in the movie “Unsung Hero“.

Smallbone attended Western Theological Seminary (WTS) in Holland, Michigan. WTS is a moderate-to-progressive evangelical institution rooted in the Reformed Church in America. It is known for its focus on community, social justice, racial reconciliation, and its commitment to ordaining women in ministry, even as leaders over the church. In their Statement on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, a few points need clarification. Is WTS teaching open borders, multiculturalism, and the very divisive Critical Race Theory ideology of “white privilege” here?

. . . we commit to embodying our identity as a Reformed, evangelical, ecumenical community in ways that are alert to how our predominantly white heritage has shaped us, and we commit to seeking to eliminate ways that this heritage has distorted our presentation of the gospel and our community life.

We affirm that in the Old Testament, Jesus’ ministry, and in the New Testament church as it is empowered by the Spirit after his ascension, God crosses boundaries and welcomes those whom the majority culture regards as ‘strangers,’ such that distinctions remain, but walls of hostility and division are broken down. God, therefore, challenges thrones of unjust privilege such that all might have a chance to flourish.

We also reject notions of one-ness in Christ that tend towards the assimilation of diverse cultures within the dominant culture.1

Unfortunately, WTS also places a strong emphasis on spiritual formation, with required “Abbey” courses for Master of Divinity students, as described in the Formation at WTS Page.

Smallbone’s Mysticism

On the COTC website (this link is to an archived capture and the original has since been taken down), Smallbone shared that he is an Enneagram 7; thereby, indicating that he embraces the occultic and panentheistic tool of the Enneagram. Sadly, he also promotes Spiritual Formation,2 which is also based in panentheism (God in all and all in God). He even quotes the 17th-century Catholic contemplative mystic and monk, Brother Lawrence,3 who was known for receiving reminders from God to practice his contemplation and subsequently danced around violently like a madman.4 It is unclear whether Smallbone understands the problems with panenthism and Spiritual Formation or the Enneagram’s occult roots. Furthermore, COTC has female pastors on staff, including, at one time, Kristi McLelland of Williamson College.5 According to Marcia Montennegro, McLelland also uses the panentheistic tool of the Enneagram, and she supports Contemplative Spirituality.6

The Prayer Experiment

In April of this year, Smallbone released his first book, The Prayer Experiment: How Praying Like Jesus Realigns Everything – Our Thoughts, Our Hearts, and Our Posture Toward God and the World, which he dedicates to many people, including the Catholic mystic Brother Lawrence, and the spiritual formation guru John Mark Comer. The Prayer Experiment is “written in a tone that blends the insights of Dallas Willard with the modern sensibility of John Mark Comer”, and the book encourages us to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day for an entire year.

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