Podcasts from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Even though the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact have slipped down our news feeds with the cost of living crisis, the appointment of a new UK Prime Minister and the death of the Queen, and the Accession of King Charles to the throne, its effects are still felt by many and the task of pastoral follow up continues.     

To reflect on this we are joined by Andrew Dickson (PCI Congregational Life Development Officer); Michael Rutledge (Minster, Abbotts Cross PC), Mark Kernohan (Lifeline Counsellor and member of 1st Ahoghill PC).

The podcast also highlights a helpful Bible study resource, Daring to Hope: Experiencing the grace of Lament, produced by Bible Society NI, and an upcoming PCI morning conference Another look at pastoring our congregations with guest speaker Tim Witmer (author of the Shepherd Leader) in Assembly Buildings on Wednesday morning 5 October 2022. 

In celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into everyday language, Union Theological College is organizing a series of events called Bible for All to tell the story of how God’s Word in Scripture has come to us today, and equip people with resources and skills to get the most out of reading the Bible. To share more about this we are joined by Rev Gordon Campbell (Principal and Professor of New Testament at Union Theological College), Joy Conkey (Librarian at Union Theological College), and Rev Lesley-Ann Wilson (PCI Chaplain at Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre).

In the last episode before a summer break, regular podcast hosts Rick Hill and Neil Harrison take the chance to chat together. Their conversation focuses around the general theme of helping disciples of Jesus express their faith within every-day life, before the focus on introducing a new resource coming soon from PCI. The resource, Expressions, is an 8 session film series that seeks to help those meeting in a variety of church settings to connect themes from different passages of Scripture and open up conversations on how their faith expresses itself in everyday life and witness. The resource is a mix of downloadable on-screen Bible teaching, and stories from members of PCI, along with questions for discussion provided in this booklet. It will be available by mid-August from www.presbyterianireland.org/expressions

As annual events retake their familiar place in the calendar, next week the General Assembly meets in Belfast, from Wednesday, 22 to Saturday, 25 June. It will be the first time since 2019 that it has been able to meet in its usual month and manner, following a smaller in-person meeting last October.
In this episode we look ahead to next week’s gathering of ministers and elders with guests the Moderator of the General Assembly, Rt Rev Dr David Bruce, the Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, the Convener for the Council for Global Mission, Rev Dr Liz Hughes – who also gives us a glimpse of who we can expect from overseas and why their presence is so important - and Moderator Designate, Rev John Kirkpatrick, who will succeed Dr Bruce. This episode is hosted by Karen Jardine, PCI’s Public Affairs Officer.
Further information on the General Assembly, each day's business, and media relations activity, can be found here: www.presbyterianireland.org/ga22  

This episode was recorded at the church planting conference, ‘A time to plant’, organised by the Council for Mission in Ireland that took place earlier in May in Dundalk. The conversation captures much of the energy, enthusiasm, and spirit of the day including some short reflections from a few individuals as well as an interview with keynote speaker Scotty Smith from Nashville Tennesse, and Tom Gilliam who is the co-convener of PCI’s Church Planting Panel.

If you find yourself asking, 'Where have all our leaders gone?' then this conversation is worth a listen. Here, Rick Hill chats to David Thompson from the Council of Congregational Life and Witness and Christine Craig, elder elect in Kilbride Presbyterian and together they discuss themes like personally approaching people to serve, developing a leadership pipeline, and helping younger leaders to grow. Much of David’s input offers a big picture view of volunteering in church service at this time, while Christine shares some more personal insights of what this has looked like both in her life and in her congregation. A PCI resource called ‘Opening up to God’ is also pointed to towards the end that might be helpful to Kirk Sessions in the coming months.

It is increasingly apparent that there is a growing generational gap within women’s ministry that makes it more and more difficult to build an effective ministry to women of all ages. How can we think differently about women’s ministry and what approaches can we adopt to help us grow deeper together? To give an insight into how we, both individually and corporately can do this better, we draw learning from experiences of women’s ministry in this conversation with Pauline Kennedy, Amy Summerfield the guest speaker at the forthcoming PW Annual Conference, Deborah Sloan, a member of Orangefield Presbyterian in Belfast, and Linda Beattie from Joymount  Presbyterian in Carrickfergus.

This week’s episode seeks to shine a light on the experience of refugees in Ukraine and the response on the ground by the Hungarian Reformed Church. We hear from Rev Nigel Craig, PCI Global Mission Worker in Hungary and Réka Gilicze who works with Hungarian Reformed Church Aid. In addition, the Moderator Rev David Bruce, shares a number of ways congregations can respond including supporting the Moderators Appeal for Ukraine which was launched recently. This episode is hosted by Neil Harrison, PCI Congregational Witness Development Officer.

This conversation flows out of a recent event held in Assembly Buildings for young adults called NOW. This evening event focused on the themes of discipleship, church engagement, and friendship to help the 18-25-year-olds present reflect on these important issues. Two of the speakers from that event, Zara Miskimmin (Made for More) and Chris McBurney (Christian Unions Ireland) shared with Rick Hill some of what they spoke about, as well as reflected more generally on wider themes of ministry to young adults. This might be an episode to share with young adults in your own congregation!

The world of education has been increasingly in the spotlight, with all that the last couple of years has brought compounding and exacerbating existing challenges. Education is also part of PCI’s DNA – through the role of transferor governors and boards of management alongside the people in our pews who serve as school leaders, teachers, classroom assistants, support staff and other roles.
 
In this podcast Dr Andy Brown (2nd Broughshane PC and Convener PCI’s State Education Committee), Colin Berry (The Mall PC, Armagh and Principal Markethill High School) and Ruth Dalzell (2nd Comber PC and SUNI E3 worker for North Belfast & Newtownabbey) talk to Karen Jardine (PCI Public Affairs Officer) about why local church engagement with schools matters, and how it can be done.