David Gate joins Will Small to discuss his new book "A Rebellion of Care" and what it means to stay tender in a world that often seems to demand hardness.

David Gate is a poet, writer, and visual artist who grew up in London and now lives in Asheville, North Carolina. His work centres around care for the individual and the nurture of community, and his Instagram poetry has touched thousands with its accessible wisdom and raw honesty. This conversation explores the poems and essays within David's book as well as the process and thought behind them. 

Read the Book: "A Rebellion of Care: Poems and Essays" by David Gate

Follow David: Instagram @davidgatepoet | Website: davidgatepoet.com

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Bradley Jersak is a theologian, author, and Principal of St. Stephen's University. His books including A More Christlike God, A More Christlike Word, and Out of the Embers have helped countless people navigate faith transitions and discover a more expansive understanding of the gospel. This conversation explores some of the pivotal movements in Brad’s story as well as his views on things like penal substitutionary atonement, hell and the very character of God. If you've ever struggled with images of a God who seems angry, distant, violent or retributive, this is a conversation for you.

 
Some of Brad's (many) books we mention in this conversation:

A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel
A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way
Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction
Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

Study with Brad and the team at St. Stephen's University: 

https://www.ssu.ca/

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About This Series Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear in This Episode: The closing panel discussion of Future Church Conference exploring how the church might move beyond divisive culture wars toward more constructive engagement with complex social issues.

About the Panelists: Will Small is joined by Jarrod McKenna (nonviolent activist and Common Grace founder), Josephine Inkpin (transgender priest and activist), and Mikenzie Ling (Wiradjuri woman and First Nations consultant in the Uniting Church of Australia) to discuss why and how the Church ought to transcend Culture War rhetoric and embody a better way forward.

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

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About This Series Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Josephine Inkpin's keynote on what it means to 'trans' the Church beyond gender alone. 
• A powerful closing poem from Boy Renaissance

About the Speaker: Josephine Inkpin is a priest and activist, and a leading voice in Australia for LGBTQ+ inclusion in faith communities committed to a genuinely ecumenical approach. 

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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About This Series Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear: Jarrod McKenna makes the case for nonviolence as central to following Jesus amidst the serious challenges of life on planet earth in our current moment. 

About the Speaker: Jarrod McKenna is a peace activist, pastor, and founding director of Common Grace. He's a co-host of the Inverse podcast and a pastor at Steeple Church. He challenges the church to embrace Jesus' radical call to nonviolence in a world marked by conflict and division. Listen to more of Jarrod's story on this episode of Spiritual Misfits.

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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What might it mean to meet God in the darkness, as well as the light? 

Carolyn Meers guides us through a contemplative and poetic reflection coinciding with the winter solstice. 

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

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About This Series Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear in This Episode: Radhika Sukumar-White explores what it means for the church to actively work against racism and create genuinely diverse communities.

About the Speaker: Radhika Sukumar-White is a Minister of the Word at Leichardt Uniting Church, and a friend of the Spiritual Misfits pod! Go back and listen to this earlier episode with her to hear more of Radhika's story and reflections: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1925719/episodes/13938060

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

About This Series Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear in This Episode: Shane Clifton shares his story and reflections on whether the Church has a future, and what kind it could be

About the Speaker: Shane Clifton is Associate Professor of Practice in the School of health sciences at the University of Sydney, on the leadership team at the Centre for Disability Research and Policy. 

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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About This Series 

Over six weeks, we're sharing keynote talks and discussions from the second Future Church Conference, held at the Tram Sheds in Glebe. This gathering brought together church leaders, pastors, and Jesus-followers passionate about creating safer, more inclusive faith communities.

Whether you're leading church, leaving church, unsure about the whole thing, or just curious about what the future might hold, these conversations explore what it means to reimagine church for everyone.

Conference Posture Future Church Conference invited participants to adopt three key postures:

• Lean in - Sit with discomfort and ask why certain ideas trigger us
• Listen - Hear vulnerable ideas from speakers and connect with each other
• Look forward - Focus on future possibilities rather than past wounds

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Opening welcome from Joel Hollier, on behalf of the Future Church team
• Acknowledgement of Country from Mikenzie Ling (Wiradjuri woman, Uniting Church First Nations Strategy and Engagement Consultant)
• Keynote from Gershon Nimbalker exploring the church's historical DNA of caring for the poor

About the Speaker: Gershon Nimbalker is National Director of Common Grace, a movement of Christians passionate about justice. He traces how caring for the poor was central to church identity throughout history and challenges both conservative and progressive Christians to reclaim this calling.

Learn more about Common Grace: https://www.commongrace.org.au/

Learn more about Future Church Conference: https://futurechurchcon.com/

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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In this episode of Spiritual Misfits, Will Small continues his "Reclaiming the Language" series with Karina Kreminski, exploring whether the word "mission" is still helpful for progressive Christians or too entangled with colonising mindsets. Karina shares her journey of integrating missiology and mysticism. Together they explore how mystical practices might offer a more humble, attentive approach to engaging with the world that transforms both traditional understandings of mission and ourselves.

In This Episode

• The tensions and problematic history associated with the word "mission"
• Why Karina chooses to "qualify rather than abandon" mission language
• The concept of "mission in reverse" and mutual transformation
• How mysticism provides a framework for encountering "that which is beyond" in everyday life
• Practical approaches to ordinary mysticism through paying attention and slowing down
• The challenges of maintaining spiritual practices in our distraction-filled digital age
• How small, courageous acts might be our path to meaningful change

"The one thing that's been consistent is I've always believed in that which is beyond." - Karina Kreminski 

About Karina Kreminski

Karina Kreminski works for Uniting Mission and Education and is the co-founder (along with her husband Armen Gakavian) of At the Edges Publishing, a community dedicated to nurturing emerging Australian writers. She is passionate about Fresh Expressions of church and finding the sacred in everyday life. Karina is currently working on a new book about ordinary mysticism, following her previous work "Urban Spirituality: Embodying God's Mission in the Neighbourhood."

Resources Mentioned

• "How to Do Nothing" - Jenny Odell
• "Stolen Focus" by Johann Hari
• The Light Phone - A minimalist phone designed to reduce digital distraction
• Centring Prayer practice as taught by Thomas Keating
• At the Edges Publishing - https://www.attheedges.com.au/
• Fresh Expressions - https://www.nswact.uca.org.au/resources/fresh-expressions/

Connect with Karina

• Instagram: @karinakreminski
• Substack: https://substack.com/@karinakreminski

Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.

The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguide

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