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Made of Stories
Made of Stories episodes
- In Conversation with Brian McLaren
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In this special episode, recorded at the 2024 Greenbelt Festival, PCN Britain’s Chair Simon Cross sits down for a conversation with the American theologian and author Brian D McLaren.
A former college English teacher and pastor, Brian is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is Dean of Faculty for the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico. Greenbelt 2024 was Brian’s seventh appearance at the festival.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
27 min - Tim
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Tim Evans has spent the last three decades working with people and communities in the margins, including being CEO of Worth Unlimited, and being a foster carer. Tim is a co-Director of Red Letter Christians UK, and has either chaired or just been on several other charity boards and set up a number of social enterprises.
In this episode, Tim tells how he journeyed from evangelical conversion at University into Christian work via the YMCA and Youth for Christ, and then going on a journey into a more progressive, inclusive form of faith.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
22 min - Richard
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In this episode, Richard Tetlow gives examples from his life of the joys of embracing difference. As he puts it, “The principle of meeting difference was basic to my upbringing.”
Richard is a clergyman with a particular interest in interfaith friendships. He is also one of PCN Britain’s trustees. Now retired as vicar of Ladywood in Birmingham, Richard came from a background in social and community work, with a particular interest in encouraging friendships between people of different faiths. Richard still lives in Birmingham, where he is convenor of a PCN-affiliated group.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
18 min - Evie
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In this episode, we meet the Revd Dr Evie Vernon O’Brien, recently appointed as the Racial Justice Director for the Church of England in the West Midlands.
Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Evie has had both faith and social activism as major influences in her life since childhood. She was ordained as a deaconess in the Church in the Province of the West Indies in 1980, and worked in inner city parishes in Kingston and with the ecumenical Caribbean Conference of Churches, the Association of Development Agencies and the Caribbean Voluntary Counselling and Testing programme. Since moving to the UK, Evie has worked at the Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies, and with Catholic AIDS Prevention and Support (CAPS). She has been a vice-chair of Inclusive Church since 2023.
Evie talks about her life in Jamaica and her work in the Midlands, and shares some valuable insights on how churches can work towards achieving racial justice.
NOTE: Evie’s position at the CofE was terminated shortly after this episode was recorded. However, we felt that her life story and the work she had been doing are worth hearing about and learning from. And so with her approval, we are running this episode as it was made.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Additional music by George Luke (with help from Dubmatix loops)
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
24 min - Ash
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Originally from Australia, Ash Barker now lives in Winson Green, Birmingham and has spent over 30 years living and serving on the front line of urban poverty. Ash leads Seedbeds, an initiative focusing on growing leaders and communities into fullness of life.
In this episode, Ash shares inspiring stories from an eventful life lived across three continents. Along the way, he gives some valuable pointers to anyone who is looking to get involved in tackling poverty and inequality in our inner cities.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
18 min - Alex
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Alex Clare-Young is a pioneer minister based in Cambridge, passionate about advocating for the inclusion of, and social justice for, all people. Alex is co-chair of the Open Table Network, a trustee of Inclusive Church and a consultant for One Body One Faith and member of Creating Sanctuary.
Alex is interested in curating safer spaces for those who are marginalised or oppressed in society and put off by church. In this episode, Alex tells of their experiences whilst transitioning, and talks candidly about inequality and insecurity in one of Britain’s historic university towns.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
24 min - Introducing Made of Stories
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According to the American poet and author Muriel Rukeyser, “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”
At PCN Britain, we share Muriel’s enthusiasm for the power of stories. And in this series, we’ll introduce you to six remarkable people – each with amazing stories to tell. Stories of discomfort. Stories of loss. Stories of change. Stories of finding faith, and of growing in it. Each story comes with loads of inspiration and encouragement; never preachy but always illuminating. Welcome to Made of Stories.
Produced by George Luke
Audio mixing by George Luke
Music by Andy Long
Copyright © PCN Britain, 2024
3 min
About Made of Stories
From the publisher's feed
A podcast from the Progressive Christianity Network Britain, following on from its Made of Stories film series
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It is said that physically, we are all made of stars. The atoms of carbon that form our bodies come from outer space, the same particles form plants and animals. In other words, we are not only made of stars, we consume them too. But that is to speak only of the physical: the stuff we can see, touch and smell.
We are made of much more than that, we’re made of memories, of friendships, of loves lost and found, of ideas and hopes, and of dreams of what could be. Which is to say that we’re made of stories.
We’re made of the stories that were told by our grandparents, of the stories dreamed by our parents, of the stories overheard in the playground by our childhood selves, and the multi-layered stories pondered in our adult minds. And no matter how much we might try to systematise these stories, to put them into databases and analyse them, to write enormous tomes about them or to examine them under some kind of microscope, our stories are always too complex and too wily to be fully pinned down. Stories are a collection of experiences, each one seen through a lens which has itself been altered by the multitude of the other experiences we have been through. And every time we hear a story, we hear it in the light of the sum of all of our experiences. In other words, we are not only made of stories, we consume them too.
The Bible of course is full of stories, and the church is full of different ways of understanding each of them. A progressive approach to Christianity must take this into account, it needs to recognise the validity of individual stories.
In this project we’ve tried to give space for story: We wanted to hear people’s voices, and then to give space for you to consider those stories in the light of your own. That way, perhaps we can get past an obsession with who made the stars, and pay attention to who made the stories.