Rethinking Preaching, Mental Health, and What Church Is For- w/ Skye Jethani

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2019

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How sermon-centric church models are limiting spiritual formation—and what we should consider doing instead. In this episode, Mike Erre, Tim Stafford, and Bonnie Lewis serve up laughter, listener mail, and meaningful critique as they unpack everything from naming conventions to how churches center around teaching rather than transformation. Plus, Mike sits down with Skye Jethani (Holy Post podcast, With God Daily, author of "With") to tackle his recent article challenging the long-held assumption that preaching should be the church’s primary method of disciple formation.

From mental health feedback to listener encouragements, free events, and a rich discussion about ecclesiology in the digital age, this conversation will challenge you to seriously reconsider what church is for and what participation actually looks like for Jesus followers today.

Key Takeaways:
• The Problem with Sermon-Centric Models – Why dedicating 50–80% of church resources on a single weekly teaching moment may no longer serve the mission of forming disciples.
• Preaching vs. Teaching – Skye and Mike unpack the biblical and functional differences between proclamation (preaching) and instruction (teaching), and why conflating the two can be harmful.
• Faith Formation in a Digital World – Given the immense access to podcasts, videos, and devotionals, is Sunday still the most effective day for learning?
• What Gathering Could Look Like – Exploring more holistic and participative alternatives for congregational life: meals, small groups, application-centered learning, and communal responses.
• Listener Feedback – Important discussions around mental health language, being vulnerable in Christian communities, and how the words we use shape our engagement with one another.

Guest Highlights:
Skye Jethani – Author, speaker, podcaster, and former pastor, Sky shares his critique of the sermon-centric church model and explores healthier and more sustainable ways the church can disciple people in today’s cultural and technological landscape. His Daily Devotional at WithGodDaily.com has become a vital spiritual practice for many.

Resources Mentioned:
• Heated Conversation: Why We Changed Our Mind (Women in Ministry Event) – [Eventbrite Link]
• Q Commons Costa Mesa (Free Event) – [QCommons.com → Costa Mesa]
• With God Daily Devotional App – withgoddaily.com
• "With" by Sky Jethani – Amazon
• Sky’s Article: “The Case Against Sermon-Centric Sundays” (Premier Christianity) – Premier Christianity

Be part of the ongoing conversation around reimagining church for Jesus-centered community and formation. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow the Voxology Podcast on your favorite platforms.

As always, we encourage and welcome discussion as we pursue Jesus together. Email your thoughts to [email protected] and join the community on Facebook and Instagram.

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Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

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.

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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

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody.
0:05.2	Welcome to the Vox podcast with Bonnie.
0:07.4	What's your middle name?
0:08.7	Gail.
0:10.1	Bonnie Gail Lewis.
0:11.9	Yep.
0:12.9	Timothy John Stafford.
0:16.2	And yours truly Michael Carl, Erie.
0:20.4	And what would be great is I feel like a guy named Carl would marry a woman named Gail.
0:27.3	You know what I'm saying?
0:28.6	I mean, if those are the first names, I think that has potential.
0:33.3	Like I think I could go for, like I could be, someone could call me Gail.
0:37.2	Someone could call you, Tim, John.
0:39.1	And I think both of those would pass.
0:40.7	But I don't think anyone would believe it if I said your name was Carl.
0:45.4	Really?
0:46.1	Yeah.
0:46.5	You don't seem like a Carl.
0:47.7	You don't.
0:48.2	Well, I, well, Carl was my dad and my grandpa and Nate's middle name now. So it's kind of like, it's here, guys.
0:57.3	It's here. It's not going anywhere. It's not going anywhere. So Michael Carl, which is, I don't know,
1:04.5	if you're a walking dead fan. I was going to say Carl. Yes. You know that Carl gets pronounced
	...

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