007 | Discipleship, The Church, and The Family with Zach and Eric
Description
How can the church and family work together to make faithful disciples?
In this episode of The Richard Eng Podcast, Richard sits down with Zach Davis and Eric Herman for a practical conversation about Christian discipleship, biblical education, parenting, and the local church.
They explore what it means for the church to become a hub of Christian education without replacing the family’s essential role. Their conversation covers the importance of forming a biblical worldview from childhood, helping parents become confident disciple-makers, and creating teaching that is both memorable and theologically deep.
Richard, Zach, and Eric also discuss why churches need more than age-specific programs. Genuine spiritual formation happens through intergenerational relationships in which mature Christians mentor younger believers, families share life together, and the entire church encourages one another toward greater faithfulness.
Whether you are a parent, pastor, ministry leader, or Christian seeking to grow, this episode offers practical encouragement for building stronger families, healthier churches, and a culture of lifelong discipleship.
006 | Beliefs Need To Be Fed
Christian beliefs do not remain strong through neglect. C. S. Lewis wrote that our beliefs must be fed—a warning that helps explain why some people do not argue their way out of Christianity so much as slowly drift away from it.
In this episode, Richard explores how God uses Scripture, worship, Christian community, service, and the repeated practices of the local church to keep truth alive in embodied people. He also examines the competing “feeds” shaping our attention, why online content cannot replace Christian community, how physical spaces support discipleship, and five practical rhythms for nourishing your faith.
A scene from Lewis’s The Silver Chair brings the episode together and illustrates how our environments, habits, and practices shape what feels believable to us.
005 | Why Biblical Illiteracy Is A Worldview Problem
Biblical illiteracy is usually treated like a knowledge problem: Christians don’t know enough Bible stories, doctrines, or verses. But what if the problem goes deeper than that?
In this episode, Richard looks at Ephesians 4:17–24 to show why Scripture is not merely giving us information, but renewing the way we see reality. When Christians are not formed by the truth of Christ, they are still being formed by something else.
This episode explores why an unrenewed mind cannot produce a faithful walk, why culture is always discipling us, and why learning Christ changes more than what we know.
This episode is sponsored by Logos Bible Software. Check out Logos through my affiliate link here:
Affiliate disclosure: If you use this link, it helps support the podcast at no extra cost to you.
ND Bible Conference
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004 | Can Information Produce Transformation?
In this episode of The Richard Eng Podcast, Richard explores one of the most important questions in Christian education and discipleship: if people know more, will they actually become more like Jesus? Scripture gives us a more nuanced answer than many assume. Information alone cannot produce transformation, but transformation requires information.
Drawing from James 2, Matthew 7, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 2, Ephesians 4, and other key passages, Richard explains why biblical knowledge matters, why knowledge by itself is not enough, and why experience must always be grounded in truth. Along the way, he interacts with common misconceptions like “I don’t need theology, I just need Jesus,” “doctrine divides,” and the idea that powerful spiritual feelings are automatically evidence of truth.
003 | The Difference Between Education and Ideology
What is Christian education really for?
In this episode of The Richard Eng Podcast, Richard argues that education is never neutral. Every system of education is forming students according to some vision of what is true, what is good, what is beautiful, and what it means to be human. The question is not whether children will be shaped, but who will shape them — and toward what end.
Richard explores the difference between education and ideology, showing that true education helps students live according to reality, while ideology reduces reality to a preferred narrative. If Christianity is true, then Christian education is not indoctrination — it is formation in the world as it actually is.
002 | How to Create a Successful Sunday School Program
Why do so many Sunday School programs struggle? It is usually not because churches picked the wrong curriculum. It is because they started with curriculum before clarifying their vision for discipleship.
In this episode of The Richard Eng Podcast, Richard explains how to create a successful Sunday School program by starting with clear ministry goals, a systematic teaching plan, and a multi-year discipleship strategy for kids, students, and adults. Rather than chasing the “perfect curriculum,” churches need to ask what kind of Christians they are trying to form. A strong Sunday School ministry should teach Scripture and doctrine, help believers understand the times, equip parents and teachers, and connect biblical truth to real life.
Richard also discusses how churches can evaluate curriculum wisely, build a core-and-electives model for adult Sunday School, avoid nostalgia-driven ministry, train teachers, and lead curriculum changes without letting familiarity override faithfulness.
001 | Why Sunday School Declined—and Why We Need It Again
Sunday School didn’t disappear because Christians stopped needing formation. Over the last few decades, church rhythms have thinned, small groups have often replaced classes, and many believers have grown suspicious of knowledge itself—as if information and transformation are enemies. But Scripture never pits teaching against discipleship. We cannot obey what we do not know, and the church cannot form mature Christians without intentional biblical education.
In this episode of The Richard Eng Podcast, Richard explores why Sunday School declined and why the local church needs to recover its teaching ministry for a confused age. This is not about reviving a nostalgic program from the 1950s; it is about reclaiming a necessary function of the church: helping Christians think biblically, live faithfully, and apply the truth of God’s Word in real life, in real community, with real people.