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Making Room for the Conversation

Making Room for the Conversation

Last updated on: August 11, 2026 at 9:30 am by Jeff McLain

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Making Room for the Conversation 2026-08-11T00:05:54-04:00 Jeff McLain

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I have been writing on this Lead a Quiet Life blog on Patheos since October 2023. It was just a year or two before that 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 was impressed on my mind and heart as a way of life. Over the past three years, I’ve explored this way of life through a simple church way, Lead a Quiet Life as Resistance, Reading in the Trenches, Sacred in the Everyday Chaos, Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People, The Holy Work of Parenting, My Pilgrimage, and Theology in the Wild.

Throughout those past three years, I have also worked through several series, including Hard Conversations, Advent, Bible Study Essentials, Four Walls of Gratitude, Reading Shelf, Sojourn, This Is the Lord’s Table, and more. I am getting ready for some new series in the months ahead.

If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to Lead a Quiet Life here on Patheos and have new posts delivered to your inbox. I’d love to have you along as we continue the conversation.

I Want To Do More Than Just Write

Though I’m currently blogging only once or twice a week, I’ve been thinking about what it means to do more than simply put information into the vast space that makes up the internet. I want to be present in places where the Lead a Quiet Life conversations need to happen—or where they might already be happening.

Patheos has been an important home for my writing, and it will continue to be. I’m not leaving Patheos, nor planning to stop writing here. However, over the past few years, it is undeniable that Substack has continued to grow into a community—not simply of writers and bloggers, but also of people who want to engage in meaningful conversations and who are looking for better ways of practicing their faith.

There seems to be as many people conversing as blogging.

A while back, I signed up for Substack, but I wasn’t able to fully plug in. Overall, I want to be present in fewer places online, not more. Then for a while, I was posting just some small reflections and updates. Mostly linking back to this blog and my blog on JeffMcLain.com. Lately, though, as Substack proves to be growing and not just a flashy trend, I’ve been thinking about it again. I want to attempt to join the conversation.

One of the things I’ve appreciated most about writing on Patheos is the opportunity to hear from readers. When readers send an email or leave a comment, I am most encouraged. I feel like we are pushing towards a better way of life together. Too many times, though, a blog post can sometimes feel like the end of a conversation. I write something, you read it, and then we move on to the next article. Sunday mornings can feel a lot like this too. There is a sermon, it is heard, and then we move on to the next one the next week. I never wanted to just have a corner on the web that is full of my reflections.

Substack may have additional opportunities, though my main blog posts will still be here.

Conversation Was Always the Invitation

From the beginning, Lead a Quiet Life has invited readers to rediscover a slower, deeper way of faith rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the ordinary rhythms of Christian life. That was always meant to be a conversation. The invitation I find in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 needs to be wrestled with together. I think it provides a culture-resistant and faithful way of being present to God and to others. It may even offer a vision of renewal for those who are disillusioned with Christianity but still hopeful about what following Jesus could look like in a chaotic world.

At the end of the day, that is the invitation I want to extend. I want to help others hear it, too, and then wrestle with what it means together.

What would it mean to lead a quieter life? To live at a slower pace? To rediscover a simple life and a simple faith? To embrace a kind of downward mobility in a culture that constantly calls us toward more—and in a church that can sometimes seem obsessed with growth, influence, and excess?

I don’t have all the answers. But I believe these verses, and the conversations they invite us into, can help us begin asking better questions about what it means to follow Jesus faithfully in the world we actually inhabit.

That’s part of why I’m starting to build a community on Substack around Lead a Quiet Life.

A Glimpse Into What I’m Writing

I am interested in conversations about leading a quiet life, prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, spiritual formation, ancient Christian practices, simple Jesus communities, and what it actually looks like to follow Jesus in ordinary life.

Substack gives me another place to have those conversations with you.

If you follow me on Substack, you’ll see glimpses of the things I’m writing here on Patheos and over at my personal site, JeffMcLain.com.

Sometimes that might be a shorter version of a Patheos article.
Sometimes it might be a thought that isn’t quite long enough for a full blog post.
Sometimes it might be something I’m thinking through before it becomes a larger piece.

And, importantly, it gives us a place to interact.

I don’t want Substack simply to become another place where I publish things at you. I want it to become a place where we can talk about them.

So if you’ve been reading Lead a Quiet Life*here on Patheos, I’d love for you to join me there, too. I’m also going to step into this growing community on Substack and see what kind of conversation we can have together.

Subscribe to Lead a Quiet Life on Substack and join me there.

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About Jeff McLain

Jeff McLain is a Doctor of Ministry Student on the Lord’s Prayer at Kairos University, Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission, and a pastor at River Corner Church. Mobilized by 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, Jeff blogs about recovering a rooted Christian way of life through the Lord’s Prayer, ancient habits, leading a quiet life, and simple Jesus communities. You can read more about the author here.

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