5 Podcasts for Ministers

5 Podcasts to Help Religious Leaders Build Their Skills

Rainer on Leadership
The Way Home
Social Media Church
The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: Lead Like Never Before
5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols

Podcasts for ministers can be a great way to nourish their faith, build their leadership skills and stay connected to the Christian world. To find the ones worth listening to, however, they’ll need to sift through hundreds of titles and zoom in on the hosts with something meaningful to say.

1. Rainer on Leadership

Created by Thom Rainer, the founder of LifeWay Christian Resources, Rainer on Leadership is a practical podcast that takes a nuts-and-bolts approach to the subject of leadership. Instead of trying to inspire his listeners with grand proclamations on faith, he encourages them to focus on the little details and everyday challenges of being a religious leader. Episodes center around things like staffing, funding, programming, recruiting volunteers and retaining membership in church programs. If you’re trying to build a congregation from the ground up, this is the podcast for you.

2. The Way Home

The Way Home describes itself as a melting pot of “church, community and culture,” and its eclectic episodes certainly live up to the claim. Host Daniel Darling interviews everyone from self-help authors to children’s cartoon animators as he tries to explore what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century. He’ll teach listeners how to apply their values to media, politics, family, volunteerism and life in general. This is a great podcast to spark ideas for future sermons.

3. Social Media Church

Faith has become increasingly digital, and no one knows this better than the hosts of Social Media Church. Jay Kranda is an online pastor who delivers sermons through the Web, and Nils Smith is an innovation pastor whose entire job is to think outside of the box. Together, they tackle subjects like marketing your church online, optimizing your website for search engines and using social media to spread the word about community projects. Some of the episodes are highly technical; others are meant for newbies who have never used an app in their life. There’s a little something for everyone regardless of their comfort level with computers.

4. The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: Lead Like Never Before

The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast is aimed at pastors, ministers, church leaders and faith-based youth counselors who want to improve their leadership skills for the sake of their congregation. Some of the lessons are directly related to religion; others take a broader approach to subjects like trust and communication. There are a lot of lessons to be mined for the present or future leader, so pull up an episode like “Why Young Adults Are Walking Away from the Church & What You Can Do About It” and start listening.

5. 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols

While many Christian podcasts try to inspire action for tomorrow, 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols focuses on days gone by. It dives into the history of the church and delivers short, easily-digested lessons on the people, places and events that have shaped religion throughout time. Not only will it help you learn more about Christianity, but you can also take its lessons and incorporate them into your ministry.

These are just five titles that can help church leaders with personal and professional growth. Podcasts for ministers aren’t the only faith-based broadcasts out there, but they can be a valuable resource for spiritual shepherds thinking about the future.