Mid-faith Crisis

We carry on our discussion about churches and church leadership. Do churches need visible locations? How do we preserve their communal identity without creating barriers that keep others out? And, crucially, when Jesus said 'where two are three are gathered' does that include rabbits? Also, we reflect more on bad behaviour in the church – but in this case on how many clergy are on the receiving end of bullying by church members. Which is why we have declared this Sunday to be the international 'Be Kind to Clergy' day!

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In keeping with his theme, Joe has been nature churching. We discuss his experiences so far, what makes something 'church', the importance of your spiritual trellis and whether some churches turn the tricycle of faith into a unicycle.

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We have a think about Pentecost. What was it all about? Was it really the birthday of the church? Is it an eschatological thing? Actually, what even is an eschatological thing? Nick, has a three-point sermon, and naturally, each point begins with the same letter. Also an interview with Lisa-Jayne Lewis, our very own Eurovision correspondent.

Following his year of wisdomness, Nick wrote an article on wisdom. We discuss whether the church downplays wisdom in favour of revelation, the steps we can take to intentionally gain more wisdomness and the need, as Nick puts it, to 'Squeeze the tube of your mistakes for the toothpaste of wisdom'.

In a feedback-fuelled episode, we chat about heresy, gratitude, and the circuit board of love. Is heresy just speculation that is not the official speculation? Do we have to score 100% on our exams to get into heaven? Also, we think about whether sin is better viewed as separation and Nick gets rather agitated about how we read the Bible. Again.

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Brian McLaren talks about his new book, 'Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart'.

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This week we discuss the relationship between human skills and endeavour and the work of God. Or as Nick put it, 'Why does God get all the praise when I did all the work?' Does the fact that we live in a God-filled universe mean that the Divine should get all the credit? Or, by dismissing humanity's input are we actually devaluing the fact we are made in the image of God? And if that sounds too deep, there's a lot of custard.

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There's a lot about depth this week. We talk about dusting off the Bible and reading more deeply, and how the mid-faith crisis can be accompanied by different emotions, including the desire to go deeper. Oh, and Nick has been down a well. As if that wasn't deep enough we discuss our target demographic, Joe's bulging portfolio and the way in which so much of the church has taken Jesus' teaching on leadership and done the complete opposite. Warning: contains anger, bewilderment, grief and elephants.

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We thought it was time to revisit the stages of faith – which is really what this podcast is all about. Joe takes us through his understanding of the six stages, but as well as exploring the crisis itself, we also look at the signs which tell us that we might be emerging into a newer, deeper faith. Also, Joe has a theme and Nick might still be recovering.

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It’s our new year themes episode. Joe’s had a bad week so is behind with his homework. Nick has broken his Lenten fast from anger in a spectacularly ill-judged way. And we have thoughts about beetroot.

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Previous theme episodes