Is signing a formal church membership contract a necessary expression of loyalty? Has the institutional church traded the freedom of life in Christ for institutional control? In this episode I explore how formal membership contracts — often loaded with behavioral clauses, doctrinal checkpoints, and institutional loyalty — distort the gospel of grace and reduce free flowing community to a legal transaction with rewards for compliance and punishments for non-compliance. Jesus brought us into a relationship, not a system. So why have countless churches made belonging conditional on paperwork?
This episode is from a livestream on the UnSunday YouTube page. If you prefer to watch the full video, it's available at https://www.youtube.com/live/l8rXJSo1Cl4?si=VKichdClrUhBPyUp and at https://www.unsunday.com/community-without-roll-call-exchanging-freedom-for-a-contract
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What happens when church becomes a breeding ground for control, fear, and manipulation? This episode of The UnSunday Show exposes the patterns of church bullying, from toxic leadership to spiritual abuse that often occurs when the institutional church abandons the New Covenant gospel of grace in favor of a mixed-covenant version of a gospel of their own making. This mixed covenant gospel is no gospel at all.
I'm excited to have Jeremiah Ryan join me as we explore the topic of church bullying, what it is, how to recognize it, and what to expect when it happens to you. You can find Jeremiah at The Way Ministries using these links:
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmMf-GnkloFWO1CUqNnFP6w
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088074741276
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_wayministries
This episode is also available as video. You can view it by visiting https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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I'm continuing the topic of women in the church and how historically, the church's view of woman has been harmful and abusive. It's not a good track record. This is the fourth of four episodes that I brought over from our Grace Cafe podcast to share with you here. In this episode we talk about headship and submission. We use 1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5 as the backdrop for our conversation and why we believe Paul's use of the word "head" (κεφαλὴ) wouldn't have meant authority or leader to the readers of his day.
Here are a couple of online articles that you might want to take a look at. The second one is more detailed and contains a lot of good references. Inclusion here doesn't imply our agreement with everything in the articles, but they are a good thought-provoking read.
Enjoy!
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This is part 3 of a 4-part series I'm doing on Women in the church that originally aired on the Grace Cafe podcast in 2023. In this episode we're going to take a careful look at 1 Corinthians 14:34-40. It's here that the passage says the law commanded women to be silent, therefore, women should not be allowed to speak when the body of Christ is assembled. The problem is, the law doesn't say that and even if it did, we (and the people Paul was writing to) are not under the law, so why does that matter even if it were true? We think there's something else going on here that needs to be talked about, so let's talk.
I'm continuing with the topic of women in the church that I started back in episode 108. More specifically, how the institutional church has weaponized certain verses in the New Covenant scriptures and used them against women without fully considering the historical and cultural context. This has resulted in needlessly silencing half of the body of Christ and opened the door wide for abuse of every kind.
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In this episode we continue talking about the topic of how the institutional box church misrepresents and misinterprets passages of scripture that mention women in the body of Christ. We take a look at the historical and cultural context of Paul's first letter to Timothy and specifically, 1 Timothy chapter 2. In giving his reasons for writing this letter to Timothy, Paul instructs him to dispel myths that had arisen in the assembly (1 Timothy 1:3-4). In chapter 2 of his letter we see Paul begin to dismantle some of those myths and those myths centered around the worship of the pagan idol, Artemis. The culture in Ephesus was heavily influenced by the worship of Artemis. Artemis was a female goddess of Greek origin and the worship and culture of Artemis was female centric. While males could participate in the worship of Artemis, women were dominate and men had a lesser role (kind of the opposite of what we see today in most churches).
Here are some of the myths Paul addresses:
We also need to keep in mind these important points:
Books mentioned in this episode:
I brought this episode over from the Grace Cafe podcast. It's part 2 of a 4-part series I'm re-posting here on the UnSunday Show. The link to the Grace Cafe podcast is below if you would like to see other episodes on this topic.
Enjoy!
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This is part one of four episodes I'm bringing over from the Grace Cafe podcast on the topic of women in the church and how institutional Christianity uses scripture out of context to silent women. Here's a breakdown of the episodes I'm bringing over:
This week and next, explore the question, did Paul command women to be silent in church? This episode is a much needed overview of what the New Testament says about women in the body of Christ. We look at several of the clear passages of scripture to lay a good foundation for this topic before jumping into the sometimes not-so-clear waters of 1 Timothy chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 next time. Grab your favorite beverage and listen in!
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Let's talk about what happens when we stop going to church. This is from the livestream that I did on May 4th, 2025 on YouTube. Here's the link in case you want to watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/live/CHWejf9tjwk?si=tQtWdw1Jzf3VubJe
You can follow the UnSunday Show on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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The video version of this episode is on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H89bdlfkwHg
In this episode I share a quote from Michael C. Kapler's book, Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee. This is an excellent book that I recommend without hesitation. You can find it on Amazon at https://bit.ly/3Rump8V
I'm thinking of doing a live video next Sunday on YouTube. Is that something you would like to see? Would you watch it? Let me know here: https://www.unsunday.com/contact/
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The gospel isn’t a group project. If grace is free, why do we try so hard to add to it? In this episode, I talk about how bringing nothing to the table isn’t a burden but is ultimate freedom. Grace apart from works is a death sentence for institutional religion that can't be tolerated there.
Let's talk about grace!
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Holiness Isn’t a Hustle. Many believers feel trapped in a cycle of performance, thinking sanctification is about sweating for Jesus. Too often, we’re taught that sanctification, or holiness, is about working harder, doing more, and proving ourselves to God. But what if it isn’t about striving to do more but about resting in what's already been done?
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"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her." -Charles Spurgeon
The pulpit is in the way. Pulpits have a long history of being an obstacle that is in the way of the Body of Christ functioning as God intends for it to function. When the Body of Christ is gathered together are we limited to the voice of one person behind a pulpit telling us their opinion of what to believe, what to do, or scolding us for doing it wrong? Or is every believer qualified to participate and contribute with their spiritual gifts, building up the Body of Christ?
In this episode, I share examples of how the traditional church mindset elevates the pulpit as the focal point of our meeting together and disables the Body of Christ by limiting participation to the elite few; pastors and church leaders.
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"I don't want to read my Bible anymore. Is there something wrong with me? I need to fix this!"
This is a common theme that happens when we leave the institutional box church. Many times, any desire to read the Bible disappears and we start to think there's something wrong with us that needs fixed. We tend to think that losing a desire to have a regular Bible reading schedule makes us disappointing to God and getting back to having a daily Bible reading experience is imperative.
But there's a reason we lose the desire to read the Bible when we leave institutional religion and it usually because the Bible has been weaponized against you in some way in order to prevent you from leaving. This is one form of spiritual abuse, so is it any wonder that you've lost the desire to read it?
Next week: Breaking the Pulpit Barrier: Freeing the Body of Christ
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Let's talk about Jeremiah 17:9 and his statement that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is it true? Are our hearts deceitful and wicked and not to be trusted or is there more to that description that needs clarification? Let's talk.
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Welcome to episode 100 of The UnSunday Show! I was so focused in this episode on what I wanted to say that I forgot to mention this is episode 100. Triple digits! Yay!!! This is the final episode on the subject of pastors, elders, and shepherds. In this episode I talked about how the word pastors, which only appears in Ephesians 4:11, was a result of church tradition. In every other occurrence of the Greek word translated pastors in Ephesians 4:11, it's translated as shepherds. We saw a few of those last week when we talked about elders in the body of Christ. This week we look at more occurrences of the same word and all are translated shepherds or shepherd.
Why is that? I believe a big part of the reason is because the translators allowed the structure of the institutional church around them to influence and direct their interpretation of ποιμένας (poimenas) to mean pastors instead of shepherds and in so doing, the institutional church system of a top-down authority structure was reinforced.
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This episode is a continuation of last week's as we turn our attention to the topic of elders in the body of Christ. Elders, overseers, shepherds, bishops, and pastors. How are these terms used in the New Covenant scriptures and are they related in some way? Let's sort these out in this episode.
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Do institutional church pastors have a special calling to be pastors? Let's take an honest look at this in light of the New Testament scriptures.
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This episode of the UnSunday Show is a conversation from the 2018 archives of The Grace Cafe podcast that Mike had with Mike Kapler of the Growing in Grace podcast. It centers around the content of Mike Kapler's book, Clash Of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through The Grace Guarantee. We talked about many topics that often lead to confusion for believers, including the Sermon on the Mount, the Prodigal Son, the Old Covenant, the New Covenant, and more. I'm posting this on both the Grace Cafe and the UnSunday Show.
Links we talked about in the episode:
I'm (Mike) bringing some episodes over from the old Grace Cafe podcast while I wait for my voice to heal enough to carry on a conversation.
Enjoy!
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I recorded this conversation with my wife on The Grace Cafe podcast but am posting it here as well. It's a short health update from yours truly. Push play and give it a listen and thank you for following my podcasts!
I was recently invited to speak on the Grace at Last podcast with Corinne Kinstler on the subject of women in the church. I would really appreciate it if you would give it a listen as well. My conversations with Corinne are always well-seasoned with grace and this one is no different. It's one I really enjoyed! Here's the link to that episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-at-last/id1689072652?i=1000655385359
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I was installing a couple of lights in my garage and when I opened one of the boxes, a paper fell out with the heading at the top that read:
FCC's Supplier's Declaration of Conformity
So naturally, my mind went to formal church membership because at its core, formal church membership is a declaration of conformity. So let's talk.
Links I mention to my previous episodes on church discipline:
Enjoy!
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I asked Trent Antle to join me on this episode of the UnSunday Show because I wanted to hear more his story and I wanted others to have that same opportunity. After 20 years as a pastor in the institutional church setting, Trent began to see through the facade of propped-up religion as his eyes were being opened more and more to the New Covenant gospel of grace. He eventually walked away, not from Jesus, but from the system of organized church. This is his story and I hope you'll be encouraged by it.
This episode is also available on video at https://youtu.be/jpfAKZ8PwPo
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Why is the modern church so captivated by the 10 Commandments when the New Covenant scriptures tell us plainly that the Law has been fulfilled and abolished? One reason is the theological systems we subscribe to that have the Law and the 10 Commandments as their centerpiece. One such system is Covenant Theology.
I also mentioned in this episode that we've combined the Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts for the UnSunday Show and the Grace Cafe podcasts into one account on each platform. You'll find us on these platforms at our new name of grace.podcasts. We hope to see you there!
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This episode is the audio I pulled from a video I just did. I came across a post in one of my social media feeds where a church had posted Joshua 1:8 as a memory verse for its people to memorize this week. The passage reads,
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)
Is it helpful to commit to memory a passage commanding that the Law of Moses be meditated on and that my successful meditation on the Law will ensure my success in life? You'll find links to the video below.
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Welcome to episode 91 of The UnSunday Show. In this episode I take a hard look at top-down authority and the use of honorific titles in the body of Christ. These things are not neutral and in fact, they do harm to the body of Christ by choosing to ignore the clear directives of Jesus concerning these important topics. In short, they prevent the body of Christ from fully expressing Christ to the world.
I also include a short update about my YouTube channel for those of you who follow me there. Be sure to listen to the end to catch that.
Links:
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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In this episode of the UnSunday Show, I ramble on about some important things that have been on my mind recently concerning institutional church and its inability to reflect the heart of Jesus and his kingdom in the world.
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This is a short announcement to let you know I was interviewed on the Grace at Last podcast and that episode is out! I had a great conversation there with Corinne Kinstler, host of the Grace at Last podcast as we talked about church, the New Covenant, and a host of other topics along the way. Go check it out at: https://www.lastministry.org/grace-at-last-podcast/022-what-i-should-know-about-church-with-mike-adamsnbsp
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