Season 11: Episode 10 | Joni Sancken | How is Gen Z Discovering Scripture?

Listen to Rev. Dr. Joni Sancken, Butler Chair of Homiletics & Hermeneutics at Vancouver School of Theology, being interviewed by CBS Ambassador, Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling. In this episode, they discuss how Joni uses Scripture to preach with honesty, courage, and imagination. They also explore Scripture’s voice in a world of doubt and trauma, why Jesus can’t be tamed, and how the parables are meant to disrupt and awaken us. 

In this episode, Joni and Andrew discuss: 

• Joni’s journey into preaching and they explore how faith, family, and church community shaped her calling, and look at how Scripture moves from the page to the pulpit. 
• What happens when congregations lose Bible fluency as they unpack Paul Wilson’s “Four Pages of the Sermon” as a way to move from trouble to grace. 
• They wrestle with the disruptive power of the Gospel and reflect on preaching with honesty in a world of trauma and uncertainty. 
• How Scripture gives us language when words fail. Joni talks about the space Scripture has for lament, questions, and encounters with God. 
• The “thin place” of preaching - where God moves between text, preacher, and listener and how the Church can reclaim a wilder, untamed Jesus. 
• The subversive power of the parables and how to preach them in ways that awaken instead of dull the imagination. 
• What’s Stirring in Gen Z and the Future of the Church? Joni and Andres explore Gen Z’s hunger for authentic faith and consider what this means for the future of the Church.

Read the transcript: biblesociety.ca/transcript-scripture-untangled-s11-ep10

Joni Sancken’s approach to preaching is interdisciplinary and theological. Sancken (PhD, Toronto School of Theology, Emmanuel College) holds the Butler Chair of Homiletics and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology. She was formerly Professor of Homiletics at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH where she served for a decade and Assistant Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA. She is the author of several books including, Stumbling Over the Cross: Preaching the Cross and Resurrection Today (Cascade, 2016), Words that Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls (Abingdon, 2019), All Our Griefs to Bear: Responding with Resilience After Collective Trauma (Herald Press, 2022,) and Getting to God: Preaching Good News in a Troubled World (co-authored) (Cascade, 2023.)  

Sancken is passionate about supporting and encouraging pastors and church leaders. She grew up in a Mennonite congregation near Champaign-Urbana, IL and is an ordained pastor in Mennonite Church USA. She is energized by ecumenical and religious diversity having studied, served, and worshipped in Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Canada, and United Methodist settings, and has completed training in the interfaith practice of scriptural reasoning. 

Sancken lives in Vancouver, BC with her Presbyterian pastor spouse, Steve Schumm, children Maggie and Teddy, and dogs Bella and Pax. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching low-stakes reality TV, and exploring the natural beauty around Vancouver.  

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