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The Compassion Practice

The Compassion Practice is a four-step, contemplative practice that cultivates self-compassion, nurtures self-healing, and releases our capacity for compassionate action towards oneself and others.

The Compassion Practice is not an education program. It doesn’t teach compassion as an idea, a feeling, or even a commandment. The Compassion Practice embodies compassion as a practice and a way of life. It’s a spiritual pilgrimage to recalibrate one’s reactive PULSE to the steady heartbeat of the Sacred Source of compassion. Essential to the Compassion Practice is the affirmation of the belovedness of all people, including oneself, incorporating a “U-turn” to address personal fears, longings, woundedness and obstructed gifts. The Compassion Practice asserts that compassion is not complete until it is expressed in concrete action intended to ease the suffering and promote the flourishing of oneself and of others, drawing both into right relationship with appropriate accountability.

BELOVED Compassion Network (BCN) provides immersive experiences of the Compassion Practice to individuals, leadership teams, congregations and communities.  Our 25-hour curriculum teaches the theology, psychology, and neuro-physiology of the Compassion Practice and facilitates the spiritual/contemplative practices that embody engaged compassion.  The Compassion Practice experience is offered in multiple formats including online an in-person gatherings facilitated in multi-week series, 3 day-long retreats, or 2 multi-day retreats.  (On-site retreats and “retreat-in-place” options are available.)  BCN offers one-day introductory experiences as well.  For those interested in becoming a Certified Facilitator of the Compassion Practice, BCN offers a 75-hour training program to qualified candidates.

Participants in the Compassion Practice workshops, retreats and 4-12 week series will:

Cultivate Self-Compassion by

    • reclaiming their own belovedness
    • learning to sit in and savor Sacred Presence
    • strengthening resilience by anchoring in God and others and practicing flexibility

Nurture Self-Healing by

    • creating internal, safe space for grounding, inspiration and empowerment for the journey
    • welcoming, befriending, learning from, and healing inner reactivities
    • discerning effective compassionate action to ease their pain and promote their flourishing

Cultivate Compassion for Others by

    • rediscovering the belovedness of others, even difficult others
    • learning to set aside internal reactivities in order to behold others as they really are
    • understanding empathically the inner reactivities of others
    • discerning effective compassionate action to ease the pain and promote the flourishing of others and themselves.

Empower and Sustain Justice and Caring Ministries by

    • sourcing motivation and ongoing support for difficult work from their compassionate core
    • releasing from their compassionate core the presence and power of The Beloved who holds the universe in infinite compassion

Testimonials

Why the Compassion Practice

With so many “compassion education” programs available, why does BCN facilitate the Compassion Practice? Here are what we consider our “Top Five” reasons why:

  1. The Compassion Practice is not an education program. It is a spiritual pilgrimage to recalibrate one’s reactive PULSE to the steady heartbeat of the Sacred Source of Compassion.
  2. he Compassion Practice affirms the belovedness of all of people . . . including oneself.
  3. The Compassion Practice incorporates a “U-turn” to address personal fears, longings, woundedness and obstructed gifts.
  4. The Compassion Practice asserts that compassion is not complete until it is expressed in concrete action that is intended to ease the suffering and promote the flourishing of oneself and of others – drawing both parties into right relationship with appropriate accountability.
  5. The Compassion Practice does not teach compassion as an idea, a feeling, or even a commandment. The Compassion Practice embodies compassion as a way of life.

The Compassion Practice was created by Frank Rogers, Jr. (PhD), along with Andy Dreitcer (PhD), and Mark Yaconelli (PhD) from the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology. Dr. Rogers has published three books on the Compassion Practice:

  • Practicing Compassion (2015)
  • Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus (2016)
  • Cradled in the Arms of Compassion: A Spiritual Journey from Trauma to Recovery (2023)

A fourth book, The Pulse of Life: Exploring the Power of Compassion to Transform the World (2023), edited by Aizaiah Yong and Eric Kyle, contains 12 essays about the impact of the Compassion Practice and Dr. Roger’s life witness.

Recommendations in Recent Publications

BELOVED Way (DOC) and BELOVED Compassion Network were recently recognized for its work facilitating and training in the Compassion Practice in two recent books:

  • The PULSE of Life: Exploring the Power of Compassion in Transforming the World, edited by Aizaiah Yong & Eric Kyle (2023), pp. 64, 143.
  • Staying at the Table: Being the Church We Say We Are, by Rev, Terri Hord Owens (2025), pp. 63-34.

Witnesses to Transformation​

I discovered the Compassion Practice during a time of transition in my ministry and life. The uncertainty of what would follow seminary graduation and ordination alongside an extremely challenging season in my family left me spiritually dry and stuck in depression and anxiety. The Compassion Practice brought me into deeper relationship with myself and with God. When I invited Jesus to tend to my garden with me, I was able to bear fruit again for my family, friends, and ultimately the youth and hospital patients I now serve.
Rev. Rachel Cooley Shawler (she/her)
Rev. Rachel Cooley Shawler (she/her)Interfaith Chaplain & Pastor
As compassion within me has grown, my capacity to extend compassion toward others has grown in kind. I have more interior freedom to see others through the lens of compassion and understand that they are people with interior wounds and trauma. It helps me to understand that their behavior in this moment, however difficult or even deplorable it may be, makes sense to them given their life experiences; and if I had been exposed to those same life experiences, I would act similarly. Like me, buried within them is an intact compassionate core capable of holding and healing their wounds.
Dr. Seth Schoen (he/him)
Dr. Seth Schoen (he/him)Co-Founder, Racial Resilience, Facilitator of Compassion-Based Social Action
The Compassion Practice was life changing. For the first time, I had concrete tools I could use to live The Gospel I so deeply believed in – Love God and love my neighbor as myself. It not only made sense and aligned with my beliefs, but it also provided me with actual tools I could use to LIVE my beliefs – to walk my talk, if you will . . . Through the Compassion Practice, . . . we can truly see the Divine in our neighbors, in all their messy humanity, and when we look in the mirror, when it's hard to see it in ourselves.
Rev. Michelle “MJ” Johnston (they/them)
Rev. Michelle “MJ” Johnston (they/them)Life Coach & Spiritual Director, Priest of the Apostolic Sacramental Church
I am always eager and open to finding new skills, new tools, new ways of going deeper in my spiritual maturity and development. The Compassion Practice is exactly that kind of experience – learning how to spend time with the holy in order to deepen our own spiritual relationships, but also to strengthen our understanding of compassion that we must have for ourselves so that we are better able to show compassion for others. This is not a kumbaya type of compassion, but the strength to encounter and ground ourselves in the holy, even in moments when anger or fear or any other kind of human emotion would tend to knock us off our square.
Rev. Terri Hord Owens (she/her)
Rev. Terri Hord Owens (she/her)General Minister & President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Former Dean of Students, Divinity School at the University of Chicago
Former Pastor, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Downers Grove, Illinois