An Open Letter to the Spiritually Homeless: Finding Hope in the In-Between

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2019

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A heartfelt message for those who no longer feel at home in the American evangelical church, Mike Erre delivers an unfiltered and compassionate reading of his letter titled “An Open Letter to the Spiritually Homeless,” originally written for Q Commons in Costa Mesa. Speaking directly to spiritual exiles—those disillusioned yet still drawn to Jesus—Mike offers solidarity, honesty, and hope in the midst of uncertainty and reconstruction.

This episode is a sacred pause for anyone wrestling with deconstruction but unwilling to abandon their faith entirely. It’s an invitation to embrace life in the in-between, to encounter a God not confined by temples or traditions, and to recognize your wandering as sacred space full of purpose.

Key Takeaways:
• Spiritual Homelessness Defined – More than church-switching or faith doubts, this homelessness is the ache of those disillusioned by what American evangelicalism has become but still captivated by the beauty of Jesus.
• Naming the Grief and the Longing – Mike voices the sorrow, anger, and isolation felt by many who still long for community, depth, and integrity in their faith practices.
• Prophetic Critique of Evangelical Systems – A direct call-out of failures in leadership, exclusionary practices, political allegiances, and the silencing of questions within the church.
• A Homeless God for a Homeless People – Exploring Jacob’s encounter with God in an ordinary place (Genesis 28), this reflection reframes our wandering as a place of divine encounter and transformation.
• Hope in Deconstruction – Jesus himself confronted and deconstructed broken religious systems. Mike reminds us that God is often at work dismantling what no longer serves, preparing us for something new.

Resources Mentioned:
• Genesis 28 – The story of Jacob’s unexpected encounter with God at Bethel.
• Q Commons – Q Ideas

This is an invitation to the spiritually displaced to know that they are not alone—and to reimagine faith on the road with a God who refuses to stay confined. Share this episode with someone who’s been hurt by the church or is wrestling with their place in it.

Subscribe to the Voxology Podcast, leave us a review, and follow us on social to stay connected to this growing community of Jesus followers navigating the messiness together.

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Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
https://www.timothyjohnstafford.com
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi everybody, Mike Erie here.
0:05.6	Welcome to the Vox podcast.
0:07.1	I'm flying solo today for reasons that will soon be obvious.
0:11.6	I wanted to share something that I initially wasn't going to share, but I had written it for Q Commons, which was an event we did in Costa
0:23.6	Mesa several weeks ago. And Q, if you're not familiar with it, is kind of like TED Talks for
0:31.1	Christians, pushing conversations, staying curious. We'll actually have the audio from that, from our Q, local speakers.
0:41.0	There's a national lineup of speakers and there are local speakers at the various locations,
0:46.3	you know, throughout the world for Q.
0:47.7	And I was one of the local speakers at an event in Costa Mesa.
0:52.1	And the topic I was speaking on was spiritual homelessness,
0:56.6	which is the topic near and dear to our hearts at the Vox podcast. But what I ended up doing,
1:05.0	after talking with a friend, I wanted to not talk about spiritual homelessness as much as just talked to those who were spiritually
1:15.4	homeless. And so I ended up writing a letter that I literally just got up and read aloud
1:21.4	at the conference. And I had no intention on making that public other than just releasing the audio from the episode.
1:28.9	But there was such great feedback.
1:33.1	And a lot of people asking for a copy of it that we thought, okay, well, we'll just release it as its own thing.
1:41.3	And, you know, for those it helps, fantastic. Otherwise, we'll be back to sort of regular
1:47.3	episodes later in the week. Now, so all I'm going to do with this episode of the podcast
1:53.7	is I'm going to read the letter that I read at Q Commons. And then we'll attach it or have it
2:00.7	on our website or something if in
2:02.3	case you're interested in it but there was this was meant to be read aloud
2:08.7	that's why we're not just released in the letter by itself and it was purposefully
	...

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