The Changes Ahead Podcast

After experiencing PTSD, Sarah explored her own trauma story and, from that experience, offers amazing insights for us as followers of Jesus into how we can better support people on the spectrum of mental wellness and what the posture of the church and those of us who make it up should be towards each other as we all seek to integrate our bodies, minds and faith journey.

Jo is back to help us navigate conversations around porn, a topic that is too often ignored in church spaces. How do we have healthy conversations and give space to ask questions and figure out how to respond.

What does our response to the climate crisis require of us as individuals and faith communities? How does this response relate to loving our neighbours? In this episode, we hear from Chloe about her passion for sustainable living and how her discipleship impacts her study, future, church engagement and activism in the community.

What lenses do we bring to reading scripture? What are we missing by not considering the lenses different people bring to it? Jaimee offers us crucial insights into what a feminist lens offers the church today, including reflecting on the objectification of women that happens all too frequently in our church spaces. Jaimee’s reflections truly show us that feminism is good for everyone!

In this episode, we listen to Lindy’s story of leaving a high-demand religious context. We get to hear what that process was like; the trauma experienced both inside the high-demand space and the trauma of leaving. If we let it, the story can also hold a mirror up to our practices to identify any red flags. We also hear the hope of healing the Christian community can bring.

We’re joined by fellow podcast host Andy Dickson from ‘Down to Earth Conversations’, who gives us an incredible vision for the simplicity of bringing a little bit of heaven down to earth by focusing on people first, embracing creativity, and always working towards what is just.

We start this new season hearing from Jess about her experience with politics as a Youth MP and how that impacts her view of faith and church alongside the vital importance of meaningful representation and relationships so that all might thrive within faith communities.

As we begin to wrap up the first season of this podcast, we hear from two pastors who have listened to every previous episode. Together they highlight one of the themes that has been clear throughout all of the earlier conversations: of taking the time, and having a posture to listen to voices which bring challenge and critique.

In recent times there has been some tension between the media and Christian faith. In this episode we talk to an award-winning journalist about how their faith intersects with their work in journalism, and explore together what the church can learn from those who are working in the media.

In this episode, we speak to Halee and Rui, an entrepreneurial couple who are seeking to serve their community through sustainable business, alongside learning from people who are often not heard from in church that offer different and new insights into who God is.

In light of the release of the Pathfinding report on the ARISE church, and Jaimee’s own reflections on its implications for the wider church, we unpack with Jaimee what it might look like if we were to take the 92 recommendations seriously. We’re invited to turn the spotlight on ourselves and consider our part to play as we wrestle with what the church is and who we are aspiring to be in Aotearoa today.

As someone who loves Jesus and is following the Spirit’s call to a different way of living, Nicole wonders if church as we know it is really it? Is church really what we get from the radical life of Jesus? She helps us imagine what could be and invites us to step into the unknown future ahead of us, without being weighed down by the pressures of the past.

It is no secret that the church in the West is in decline and there seems to have been unending talk about the church needing to change. Despite this, the number of sustainable alternatives or even smaller changes to what most would be familiar with as church is tragically low. This podcast is capturing thoughts of people who can see the Changes Ahead of us. Together we’ll be challenged, provoked even, by the views of people who are thinking about how the church might thrive going forward. So we invite you to join co-hosts Cathy Marston and Steven Goulstone as we imagine the Changes Ahead. This minute-long introduction sets the scene for what is to come.