As we begin to wrap up the first season of this podcast, we hear from two pastors who have listened to every previous episode. Together they highlight one of the themes that has been clear throughout all of the earlier conversations: of taking the time, and having a posture to listen to voices which bring challenge and critique.

What is it like to be exposed to new and vastly different ways of thinking to what you are used to? When we realise that there is always more than one way at looking at an issue, a question or truth, how do we reconcile that with our previously held perspectives. In this episode we hear from recent Carey Baptist College Pastoral Leadership graduate, Sacha Olson, about what her journey in these spaces has been like.

In recent times there has been some tension between the media and Christian faith. In this episode we talk to an award-winning journalist about how their faith intersects with their work in journalism, and explore together what the church can learn from those who are working in the media.

How can science and faith co-exist? How can science inform our faith? With the concerning implications of climate change for now and future generations, and if care for the planet is something humans are responsible for, where is the church in those efforts? We speak with Brook about his journey of expansion and his passion for working to reduce the impacts of Climate Change.

In this episode, we speak to Halee and Rui, an entrepreneurial couple who are seeking to serve their community through sustainable business, alongside learning from people who are often not heard from in church that offer different and new insights into who God is.

In this episode we talk to Sarah about what it’s like to join a church without having grown up in one and the inevitable questions that come up in that process. Can we say, we’ll try to be like Jesus, instead of promising we definitely will be? What about how the church has contributed to the shame that some adolescents feel, and what can we do about it?

In light of the release of the Pathfinding report on the ARISE church, and Jaimee’s own reflections on its implications for the wider church, we unpack with Jaimee what it might look like if we were to take the 92 recommendations seriously. We’re invited to turn the spotlight on ourselves and consider our part to play as we wrestle with what the church is and who we are aspiring to be in Aotearoa today.

Are we just downloading information into people, or is it about journeying together to be formed in Christlikeness? In this episode Caleb reflects on his experience from his time pastoring and in his present role lecturing on the function of discipleship and how both church and theological institutions can either help or hinder that process. How too does the monocultural structure of the Western church contribute to a more ideological rather than character formation focus?

As someone who loves Jesus and is following the Spirit’s call to a different way of living, Nicole wonders if church as we know it is really it? Is church really what we get from the radical life of Jesus? She helps us imagine what could be and invites us to step into the unknown future ahead of us, without being weighed down by the pressures of the past.

In this first episode of The Changes Ahead Podcast, your hosts, Cathy and Steven chat together about why this podcast exists, and reflect on their hopes for what Changes Ahead there are for the church.