About Ethan Merck

Ethan Merck is a writer, artist, poet, and teacher living in the Middle East. In his writing & speaking he applies the hope of the inner workings of the gospel to believers’ everyday struggles. Ethan teaches the Word regularly, and is involved in coaching and counseling.

He is currently writing two books: Union with Christ Primer, an e-book laying out the surprising concreteness and sufficiency of our Union with Christ; and Gospel Gaps, a guidebook helping strugglers escape common barriers in understanding & applying the gospel in their sanctification.

Ethan serves on staff with The Charles Simeon Trust as Workshops Manager for West Asia, training the next generation of biblical expositors.

As a gospel minister and lay counselor, Ethan has taught and ministered on staff at several churches. He has a Level 1 Biblical Counseling certification with ACBC, and is trained in Le Rucher “Exchange at the Cross” debriefing. He is also Inter-Cultural Intelligence (ICI) certified.

On his Instagram page (@insidethegospel) Ethan shares weekly thought pieces, challenges, and encouragements to grow in living by faith in Christ, along with hand drawn illustrations and poems.

In his spare time, Ethan enjoys hiking, camping, reading fantasy/sci-fi, watching American football, whittling, listening to podcasts, and spending time with his beautiful wife and three energetic kids.

Some Illustrations & Writing

Small ice chunks bob in waves near the tip of a stable, submerged iceberg. One chunk asks the small visible tip of the iceberg, "How are you so stable?" Under the surface, the iceberg is labelled, "IN CHRIST."
A chart titled "How Sanctification Works," with a general movement from "Mind Set on the Flesh" to "Mind Set on the Spirit." This grows over time through realizing you cannot live on your own, you cannot fix yourself, and you are already a new creati
A person sits slumped on their knees in front of the cross, with a hammer in one hand and a nail in the other. Jesus looks down from the cross with nailed arms wide open. Caption written under picture reads, "I fall down to my knees with a hammer in
A chart with two sides, divided by a line. On the left side at the top is written "Living by the Flesh." Under that is written "God" at the top, then a dashed line, and under that, "Me." A line starts rising up from "Me" toward "God," then spirals do
A wave looms over several small buildings built of small stones on a beach. One is built on the sand. It has flags that say "Self Reliance" and "Human Wisdom." A voice comes from it, "Look what I built for you, Jesus!" The wave is about to destroy it
A slightly rumpled necktie next to this sentence, "Legalism is just your old, unsaved man dressed up in church clothes, working another self-salvation project."
Old style black typewriter on a white background
Inside the Gospel project logo