Didomi

In this Didomi Podcast episode, Wissam al-Saliby interviews Canon Dr Andrew Smith, Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham of the Church of England. Dr Smith shares, “We are not called to tolerate our neighbour or to respect him. I am commanded to love him!”  But what does it mean to show Muslims, Hindus and followers of other religions in the United Kingdom that we love them? And how did the peacemaking efforts that Dr Smith has led since 2000 influence his response to this month’s tensions in his city and to the violence that erupted between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester and Birmingham in the UK?

Show links:

https://thefeast.org.uk/

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On 13 September 2022, Azerbaijan launched an all-out assault on the Republic of Armenia, killing hundreds in what seemed a prelude to an invasion. It was the latest round of violence against this tiny nation, known for being both the "first Christian nation" and the victim of the 20th century's first genocide. A ceasefire has paused the fighting, but Armenians live in fear of the next attack.

We are privileged to discuss this recent developments crisis from Craig Simonian, an Armenian-American pastor, theologian, and development specialist. He serves as the Director of the World Evangelical Alliance's Peace and Reconciliation Network in Yerevan, Armenia.

Join us as we hear from Craig about how he pursues his Christian calling to peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness in the midst of an ongoing conflict, weighed down by past trauma and facing an uncertain future.

The hosts for this episode are Wissam al-Saliby, Director of the Geneva Office of the World Evangelical Alliance, and Joel Veldkamp, Head of International Communications, Christian Solidarity International.

Show links:

https://csi-usa.org/no-more-armenian-genocides-the-world-must-restrain-azerbaijan-and-turkey/ 

https://evangelicalfocus.com/world/18639/armenians-pray-that-god-will-uphold-the-sovereign-borders-and-end-the-conflict-with-azerbaijan/ 

https://www.reconciledworld.net/ 

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Ruslan Maliuta serves as Network Strategist at OneHope, a global ministry that helps children engage with God’s story. He is also on the Global Leadership Team of the 4/14 Window Movement and serves on the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly Committee.

Ruslan is also Ukrainian.

In episode 15 fo the Didomi Podcast, Wissam al-Saliby and Matt Jones interviewed Ruslan in order to understand how to pray and live as peacemakers and ambassadors of Christ when faced with the evil of war and its destruction.

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via our newsletter, Twitter @didomi_co, and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at [email protected]. Sound editing was done by Fabio Khoury Muller. Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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“Every Sunday, we bring our waste to the Lord, so why not as a church bring our physical waste to the Lord at the same time,” said a pastor in a church in Accra, Ghana, running a plastic waste recycling program. Why is creation care essential for him? And why are creation care and climate change important for me as a Christian? Is there anything that we can do about it? Is there tension between the Christian narrative on action for creation care and the other narratives about fighting climate change? How are Evangelical churches building momentum after COP26 and ahead of future global gatherings? 

To answer all these questions and more, Wissam al-Saliby and Joel Veldkamp interviewed Matthias Boehnig for Episode 14 of the Didomi Podcast. Matthias is the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Permanent Representative to the UN in Bonn and the WEA Sustainability Center director, also in Bonn (Twitter @mkboehning).

Wissam al-Saliby is the WEA Advocacy Officer in Geneva (Twitter: @walsaliby). Joel Veldkamp Head of International Communications for Christian Solidarity International (Twitter @JoelVeldkamp).

For more information on the episode's subject:

October 2021 Didomi Podcast interview with Dr. Chris Elisara, Director of the WEA Creation Care Taskforce
WEA Sustainability Center website

WEA SC webpage: #WhatCanWePrayFor">#WhatCanWePrayFor 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://podcast.ausha.co/didomi?s=1

Twitter @didomi_co 

Instagram @didomi_co  

Sound editing was done by Fabio Khoury Muller. Music was generously provided by artist C4C. 

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When it comes to abortion, many of us may hesitant about the best way to engage faithfully. Pro-choice and pro-life advocates can be loud, combative and assertive. In many countries, the issue is extremely divisive. And yet, while keeping in mind that the battle is the Lord’s and that He is sovereign, we are called to speak truth and justice in the public sphere with humility and grace.

In part one of a two-part interview, Didomi podcast co-hosts Manal El Tayyar and Matthew Jones ask medical doctor and ethicist Calum Miller some difficult questions to help equip us to better engage on the topic of abortion. It is our hope that this episode and the next one equip us to understand what roles we, as a church and as Christians, need to play to care for women who are faced with one of the most difficult choices in life.

Dr Miller graduated from the University of Oxford Medical School in 2015, and currently works as a medical doctor in the UK. He holds a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies and teaches Philosophy at the University of Oxford, where his research focuses on abortion policy in practice.

Based in Lebanon, episode co-host Manal El Tayar is the Regional Fragile States and Peacebuilding Advisor with TearFund. Based in Geneva, episode co-host Matthew Jones is a human rights advocate working to strengthen civil society space across Europe and the South Caucasus.

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via our newsletter, Twitter @didomi_co and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at: contact at didomi.co. Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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In November 2021, 20,000 people will come together in Glasgow, United Kingdom, at the COP26 climate talks hosted by the United Nations. Among the conference participants is Dr. Chris Elisara, Director of the Creation Care Taskforce at the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), and Associate Director of WEA's Sustainability Center in Bonn, Germany. Chris has over 20 years of experience working in the creation care movement.

Chris shares with Wissam al-Saliby @walsaliby about WEA and Evangelical engagement at COP26, the Christian Climate Observers Program, the outcomes they are hoping for from COP26, church mobilization in support of creation care and against climate change, and his prayer requests.

Show notes:

WEA Creation Care Taskforce Website https://www.weacreationcare.org 

WEA Sustainability Center https://wea-sc.org/ 

Climate Vigil Campaign https://www.climatevigil.org

Christian Climate Observers Program COOP http://www.ccopclimate.org 

CCOP Newsletter subscription link https://climatecaretakers.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=804df820a2b6bb42a96e4b2ea&id=c31dbf3409 

WEA Clean Energy Initiative https://www.weacreationcare.org/project-20-25  

Climate Tracker https://climateactiontracker.org/ 

Economic simulations and climate impacts https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/

Connect with the Didomi Collective via:

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://podcast.ausha.co/didomi?s=1 

Twitter https://www.twitter.com/didomi_co

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/didomi_co 

Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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A pastor, two priests and three sheikhs show up together in a busy street in Sidon, South Lebanon. Listen to Bassem Melki as he tells us what happened next!

Bassem also shares how he and two Lebanese Evangelical leaders took the bold step to start interfaith peacemaking, the theological foundations behind their initiative, and the fruit they have seen for God’s Kingdom. We also ask Bassem about his work with pastors from the Evangelical community to research on reconciliation within Lebanon’s Evangelical churches.

And, as in every episode, we ask for prayer requests.

Bassem Melki is dean of faculty at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, PhD candidate studying Arab culture and contextual biblical peacemaking, and was the pastor of a Church of God congregation in Beirut for 17 years.

The show co-hosts are Michael Mutzner (Twitter @michaelmutzner), and Wissam al-Saliby (Twitter @walsaliby).

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via our newsletter (subscribe here!), Twitter @didomi_co and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at [email protected]. Music was generously provided by artist C4C. 

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On September 26, Swiss voters will decide whether gays and lesbians have the right to marry and form a family. Those in favor of “marriage for all” are very likely to win as they represent the majority of the population.

In episode 10 of the Didomi Podcast, Marc Jost will share with us why he’s campaigning against “Marriage for All,” how Christians can speak truth with grace in a polarized context, and how we can pray for him, for the churches and for Switzerland. Marc is General Secretary of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance and Chair of Interaction – Christian Evangelical NGOs platform. Twitter @marcjost.

Episode co-host Manal El Tayar joins us from the Lebanese mountains, and updates us on the situation in Lebanon and shares with us her prayer requests. Manal is the Regional Fragile States and Peacebuilding Advisor with TearFund.

Additional co-hosts are Wissam al-Saliby, Advocacy Officer with the World Evangelical Alliance, based in Geneva, Twitter @walsaliby, and Arie De Pater, Brussels Representative for the European Evangelical Alliance, Twitter @ariedep.

For more information:

‘Marriage for all’ referendum is about the rights of children, say Swiss Christians, 31 August 2021 

Crisis Group – Lebanon Crisis Digest, August 2021

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via our newsletter, Twitter @didomi_co and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at [email protected] . Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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Saul was a violent radical. On the road to Damascus, Saul encountered Christ and was transformed. He became the Apostle Paul, and played an integral role in the formation of the early church. Not far from Damascus today, this narrative is playing out again and again.

To learn about modern-day Pauline conversions, we interviewed Scott Gustafson. Scott is researching the world-view change phenomenon among former Muslim refugees in Lebanon and the Levant and the deradicalization of some violent extremists among them. Scott has extensive experience in the Middle East as a practitioner and consultant with faith-based charities and churches in humanitarian relief and mission work. He has lived and worked in the region for nearly 20 years. 

To explore further our episode topic, we invite you to read Scott's articles: Preventing That Which We Fear: The Church’s Role in Countering Radicalization, in Evangelical Missions Quarterly; A Case for Missiological Engagement in Counter/Deradicalization, in the Journal for Deradicalization in the Winter 2020/2021; Short articles by Scott on Acts211.org. Follow Scott on twitter @SonofaGustaf.

The show co-hosts are Michael Mutzner (Twitter @michaelmutzner), and Wissam al-Saliby (Twitter @walsaliby).

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via our newsletter (subscribe here!), Twitter @didomi_co and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at [email protected]. Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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On 4 August 2020, Beirut witnessed one of the the biggest non-nuclear explosions the world has ever seen. Lebanon is enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, which, according to the World Bank, ranks in the top 10, possibly top 3, most severe crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century. In addition, Lebanon has the largest refugees-to-population ratio, with over one million refugees from Syria, Iraq and Palestine.

In this context, what does church and ministry look like? Amid chaos – power cuts, fuel and medicine shortages, runaway inflation, etc. - how can the churches and Lebanese Christians share the hope we have in Christ? And how can we pray for the churches and for Lebanon?

Wissam Nasrallah, Chief Operations Officer of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD), joins us from Lebanon to answer these questions. LSESD’s vision is to see communities transformed and churches flourishing both in Lebanon and in the wider Middle East and North Africa region for the glory of God.

For more information on the ministry of LSESD, and to read some of Wissam Nasrallah’s reflections, visit: Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development https://www.lsesd.org/author/wissam-nasrallah/  and Arab Baptist Theological Seminary: https://abtslebanon.org/author/wnasrallah/ 

The show co-hosts are Joel Veldkamp, Head of International Communications for Christian Solidarity International (Twitter @JoelVeldkamp), and Wissam  al-Saliby, Advocacy Officer for the World Evangelical Alliance (Twitter @walsaliby). 

Stay up-to-date with Didomi podcasts via Twitter @didomi_co and Instagram @didomi_co. We appreciate your feedback via email at [email protected] . Music was generously provided by artist C4C.

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