Inspired to Act

Series 3 of Inspired to Act is coming very soon! Diane and Will have already been in studio listening and learning.  Here's a quick reminder of just some of the great conversations we had in Series 2.

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

Mark Houston, Director of The Link Family and Community Centre in Newtownards sits down with Diane and Will.  Mark's an engineer, a family man, and a musician, having been in bands with some remarkable names. He's also been plumber, pastor and peacemaker in communities with paramilitaries in their midst, and has learned much about knowing the battles to fight, and the battles to walk away from.

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

"Peacemaking isn't easy" says Rev Tony Davidson as he tells Diane and Will about almost 30 years living and working in the city of Armagh, taking risks for peace.  He saw gradual changes in hearts and minds and finally peace did come.  Although there's always a cost, he wouldn't have it any other way. That's why Tony calls himself a "wounded healer".

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

Darren O'Reilly really doesn't look like a monk.  Yet he's a member of a religious community in County Antrim, a "Brother".  He's also an experienced youth worker used to making connections and building relationships across many traditions.  He's a former academic with a love for studying theology.  As he tells Diane and Will, his own journey of Christian faith  is one of constantly joining up the dots...

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

In the 1980s, the Rev Useni Sibanda flew home from his UK studies to Zimbabwe, not long after it achieved independence. A civil war was raging, and inflation was rampant.  You could easily hand over a trillion dollar note for just one egg.  Now Useni works with the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, a Christian advocacy organisation addressing social, political, economic and humanitarian issues affecting the country's poor and vulnerable communities. What might we learn from a group which is never party-political, yet never afraid to speak truth to power? 

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

The Archdeacon of Derry, Robert Miller, looks after three Church of Ireland joint parishes, Christ church, St Peter’s Culmore and Muff.  He's a peacemaker, mediator and community activist, as well as part of the team producing the Walled City Passion every Easter.  But he tells Diane and Will one special secret - how the Christian life should be  "like a really well-made hot chocolate"...

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

The former UTV journalist Jude Hill now works in the charity sector, but still makes time to produce and present her own ground-breaking podcast about peace and reconciliation.  Diane and Will hear all about the imminent new series of "Peace by Piece", as well as understanding the faith motivation that made a teenage girl from a County Antrim village move to an interface area of Belfast and start to help people tell their own stories in their own way.

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

Rev Dr Lesley Carroll joins Diane and Will to discuss what has motivated her during an extremely varied career, as a Presbyterian Minister, working in Victim Support, as Prisons Ombudsman, with the Equality Commission and the Consultative Group on Dealing with the Past. She also discusses her new role with the ICRIR, the much-criticised Independent Commission For Reconciliation and Information Recovery. For Lesley, it all comes down to how any Christian loves their enemies, and becomes a peacemaker.

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

In the first episode of a brand new series of Inspired to Act, Thrive Ireland's Director, Diane Holt, and co-presenter Will Leitch welcome back David Porter.  His career has spanned working for missionary societies, helping set up ECONI (Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland), and working for some years as Chief of Staff for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.  Now a Visiting Professor at Coventry University, his insights into national and religious identity are profound. "See a challenge in your path?" says David.  "Pick it up".

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

Diane Holt and Will Leitch are back with a new series from Thrive Ireland for 2024-5!

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Produced for Thrive Ireland

In association with The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council