Staircase to Nowhere: A Ministry and Culture Podcast

Jesus commands us to make disciples, teaching them to obey everything he commanded. This means discipleship is experiential, lived out in real life—more like trade school than a classroom. In today’s show, we talk about ways we have experienced this in the church and discuss a helpful way to think of discipleship from John Mark Comer’s new book Practicing the Way.

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Practicing the Way

Celebration of Discipline

Rediscovering Discipleship

Strictly banter.

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The gospel is for every culture in every time and place, so who is our culture? We discuss one of the leading ideologies of American middle-class mass-culture, expressive individualism. In today’s episode, we talk about what is it and how we share the good news of Jesus with our neighbors who hold it. 

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The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

What pops into your head when you think of church? Pews and preaching, songs and coffee? Is that thing essential to church as commanded by Jesus and described in the New Testament or is it just an artifact of our cultural setting? We talk contextualization, the basics of church, and how it gets played out in different settings

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Church Circle
No Place Left tools

In American culture, we often measure the success of a church through the 3 B’s: buildings, budgets, and butts in seats—even though we know that’s not the best indicator of spiritual growth and health. So what is?

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Today on the show, we are sharing some final thoughts and reflections on our deconstruction conversation. We talk a little bit about how to engage lovingly with our friends who have deconstructed, we respond to some listener mail, and we share a few final thoughts before landing the plane on the series.

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Bonus episode! Join the wives of the pod as they discuss ministry, work, marriage, and more! Have thoughts or feedback? Let us know!

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This week, we are having a conversation about fundamentalism and we are joined by a very special guest, Sam’s mom. We try to answer some big picture questions regarding christian fundamentalism and try to navigate why people are drawn to a fundamentalist worldview. We also try to offer some ways forward to those who feel like they have been hurt by fundamentalist communities.  

Shiny Happy People
David French Article

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The cat is out of the bag, the church is full of toxic leaders. At least it feels that way sometimes. Lots of people are raising alarms and pointing out how messed up some of our pastors are and it’s causing a lot of people to ask hard questions. Why do communities dedicated to following Jesus produce leaders that turn out to be narcissistic and abusive? What’s wrong, and what needs to change? Join us as we share our experiences, thoughts on church architecture, and reflect on the hope we still hold even in the midst of so much dysfunction.

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Converge Article

This week we are discussing The Great DeChurching, a book highlighting trends in what the authors suggest is “the biggest religious shift in American history”. In this book, authors Jim Davis and Michael Graham ask and answer questions like, who is walking away from the church, and what’s causing them to leave? Their study finds that while millions of Americans have left the church, many of them are still open to spiritual things. We discuss their findings and try to consider a way forward. How can we encourage people to consider Jesus in an age that is increasingly anti-religious?

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Resources:

The Great DeChurching

The Good Faith Podcast: Interview with Michael Graham

Think Biblically Podcast: Interview with Ryan Burge

The Great DeChurching Q&A