Episode 049 - Church, Stop Acting Like a Hot Topic—or, Building a Church People Actually Want To Go To (With Kevin Makins)

Why would anyone bother to go to church? I don't mean why would Christians bother. I mean, if someone outside of the church was thinking about getting involved, why would they? What might it look like to build a church that people attend because it's meaningful to them, not out of obligation or habit? What would a church look like that was truly loved by its neighborhood?

Show Notes

The Nones: Where they came from, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going, by Ryan Borge

Article: OK, Millennial. Don't Blame Boomers for the Decline of Religion in America, by Ryan Borge

Kevin's Book: Why Would Anyone Go to Church?

Scroll down for a full transcript of this episode.

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More about My Conversation Partner

Kevin Makins is a writer, speaker, and maker of things, who is also just a regular pastor, serving at Eucharist Church, in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Find Kevin at www.KevinMakins.com

Learn more about his church: https://eucharistchurch.ca/

See Kevin's short films about being human and his 60-min one-man show, "Holy Shift."

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinmakins

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinmakins/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevinmakinsstuff

Today's Sponsor

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More from Marc

Get The Anchor Prayer: A Prayer and Process for Remaining Grounded in a Chaotic World - This little book is free for you by opting in to my email list.

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Discovering your Authentic Core Values: A Step-by-step Guide

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Transcription

Marc Schelske  0:00  

Hey friends, I'm Marc Alan Schelske and this is The Apprenticeship Way, A podcast about spiritual growth following the way of Jesus. This is episode 49. Church stop acting like a hot topic! Or maybe a better title is "Building a church people actually want to go to."

TODAY’S SPONSOR

Today's podcast is made possible by My Summer Inflation Sale. You heard me! Life has gotten expensive, hasn't it? Gas, groceries, it's all a bit much. Now, Christina, my wife, is a teacher. And so the normal gig is that our family is without a second paycheck for a couple of months every summer. In past years, we've budgeted to cover that. But this year, the dramatic increase in prices of essential things has just outpaced our budget. So I'm looking for some extra income. So if you've ever thought about buying something I make, now is an excellent time. So what could you get? Any and all of my books, my online courses, and of course for some people, there's the work that I do to support writers. See it all with special summer inflation sale prices at www.MarcAlanSchelske.com/ Summer-Inflation-Sale. Those prices will be available until August 1. So act fast, I've got some bills to pay.

INTRODUCTION

I grew up in Ohio, the American Midwest, in the 1980s. And in that place and time, everyone went to church, everyone I knew. The only question was how into it were you, but everyone went to church. Fast forward through two recessions (maybe three now), the 9-11 attacks, a pointless 20 Year War, a housing bubble (or two), and a global pandemic that shut down in-person gatherings for, in some cases, a year or more, and the world has changed. The assumption that everyone goes to church is just no longer true, especially where I live here in the Pacific Northwest.

Ryan Burge wrote a book called "The Nones" about t...