Podcasts from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Welcome by the Moderator.

Everyday disciples are not immune to illness, and struggle. But is pastoral care just for the minister and elders? Or for trained professionals? What does it look like to restore care which not only loves, but equips and builds disciples in your local church?

Dr. Tim Huey works as a GP in Templepatrick and one day per week is engaged in biblical counselling ministry in his home church of Whiteabbey Presbyterian. He is an elder, leads a home group and convenes the discipleship working group in his church. He is married with four children.

‘Music in the local church’ was originally developed as a three week course, but this is the supersonic version in two seminars. To get the balance of the material, it is best to come to both sessions, if possible, on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.

Part 2 (Wednesday afternoon) will look at choosing songs, rehearsing and arranging music for congregational worship. There will be time for Q&A, some interaction and maybe even a song or two.

Jonathan Rea is Creative Director of New Irish Arts, which aspires to be an artistic presence in the church and a Christian presence in the arts. Best known for their concerts with the New Irish Choir and Orchestra and New Irish Youth Choir, the group also records albums and broadcasts regularly. Jonathan studied music at Cambridge, winning the Rima Alamuddin prize for performance. He taught music for 15 years in Bangor Grammar School, but is now combining his work in New Irish with a busy freelance career as conductor, pianist, arranger, producer and occasional contributor to BBC’s Thought for the Day. Jonathan’s passion is to use music to point people to God.

Along with millions of others, we believe that sport is something to celebrate and enjoy. God has created each one of us with gifts and abilities to glorify and worship Him in all areas of our lives, including sport (Romans 12:1-2). Sport can also be a challenging environment as a Christian. How can we encourage sportspeople to see the opportunity they have to worship God in sport and to point others to Christ through the way they play? In this seminar, we will focus on equipping sportspeople in our churches to make Jesus known and give practical examples of how churches have supported youth/adult sportspeople seeking to share the gospel and life with teammates.

Allen McCluggage is a staff worker with Christians in Sport in Northern Ireland, he plays rugby for Grosvenor RFC and is part of Village Church in Belfast.

This session will support, equip and inspire those who recognise God’s heart for families within their churches. We will consider what the scriptural responsibility of the church family is. Based on in-depth research amongst churches and Christian families, we will explore a wealth of practical ideas for how churches can best support discipleship in the home context. We will also explore together how to make best use of small windows of time, how to engage families most effectively within our churches and how the church can empower Christian parents. Ultimately, how can we pass our faith onto the next generation most effectively?

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are followers and learners of a good shepherd who is our perfect model of care. But is ‘caring’ not just for the specialists? What does Paul mean when he writes to the Corinthians of ‘every member care’ in the body of Christ? And what would it look like in practice? This seminar and discussion aims to consider how we can grow in what Jesus called the defining characteristic of His followers – “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The world has changed and so has mission. In this seminar, we will look at some of the changes affecting mission today, and examine our role in getting our own congregations excited about mission. We will share our own experiences with ‘missionaries’ and teams, and ask how we can make mission a more integral part of our church life. We will look at how we can better support the missionaries we already know of, and how we can better use short-term mission trips to enrich the lives of those who go on them and those who don’t, not to mention those who host them. We will think about the increasing number of people from other faiths who now live on our doorstep, and on how we can engage with them.

Few subjects cause as much disharmony in the church as the issue of music and praise. But is it all purely a matter of taste? Are there theological considerations we need to apply? What about the non-musical elements of worship? Given the strong emphasis on preaching in our tradition, and the time spent by preachers in preparing this aspect of the service, how much time should we spend putting together the other elements? In a culture where the ‘worship leader’ has assumed a prominent role in many emerging churches, what biblical principles govern this role. How can we encourage creative artists and musicians in a way which neither relegates their contributions to the periphery of worship nor elevates their role beyond what is appropriate? This seminar looks at the biblical and practical issues surrounding the putting together of corporate worship services within the PCI tradition.

The rapid changes in our culture often leave Christians feeling confused and vulnerable. We need to raise up disciples of all ages who can think biblically about the issues of our time so that they can serve God faithfully and share the gospel confidently. We need to get beneath the surface of how people live and speak to understand how behaviour reflects ultimate beliefs that are either true or false. This seminar will explore the centrality of transformed thinking to whole-life discipleship. It will present a biblical worldview that challenges alternative ideas and provides a foundation for confident faith and persuasive evangelism. We will explore together both what this means for individual Christians and how, in practical terms, teaching in our churches can develop disciples who engage thoughtfully in the world.