The Church Times Podcast

John Humphrys was the first reporter on the scene of the Aberfan disaster. Wednesday (21 October) marks the 60th anniversary of the disaster, in which 116 children and 28 adults died when slurry from a hillside coal-heap slid on to the Welsh village, burying classrooms at Pantglas Junior School.

On the podcast, this week, Mr Humphrys speaks to Libby Purves about his memories of Aberfan and how witnessing such suffering made him unable to believe in a merciful God. This leads to a wider discussion about whether belief is possible in the face of suffering.

John Humphrys was a presenter of Today on Radio 4 from 1987 to 2019 and presented the BBC’s flagship Nine O’Clock News from 1981 to 1987. His books include In God We Doubt: Confessions of a failed atheist (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007).

Libby Purves is a journalist and author, who has written for The Times since 1982. She was a broadcaster on Radio 4 for 40 years. She is the author of 12 fiction and non-fiction books, including That Was Midweek That Was: The story of a radio programme 1979-2017 (Songsend Books, 2017).

This episode is produced by Alexis Condon.

Read this week’s featured headlines here:

• Attitudes to Christianity and Britishness reflect deep anxiety, Theos report says: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/16-october/news/uk/attitudes-to-christianity-and-britishness-reflect-deep-anxiety-theos-report-says

• Churches appeal to Ukrainians to stand firm: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/16-october/news/world/ukrainian-church-leaders-urge-faith-and-resilience-amid-russian-attacks

• And the Church Times is now on TikTok! Follow our official account for news updates, behind the scenes content, and more. Find us at: www.tiktok.com/@thechurchtimes

Picture credit: Alamy

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Revd Steve Chalke is a Baptist minister and the founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust. He recently co-founded the We Are United campaign, which aims “to create at least 1,000 Festive Tables of Welcome across the country in the month-long run-up to this Christmas”.

On the podcast this week, Ed Thornton visits Steve Chalke at Oasis St Martins Village in South London, a hub for community transformation. Mr Chalke talks about the role of faith-based groups in delivering social change, his new voluntary government post as Enrichment Ambassador for Civic Engagement, and about the We Are United campaign.

Read his Church Times article about the campaign here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/comment/columnists/steve-chalke-let-s-choose-connection-over-division

Read more about We Are United here: https://peopleunite.org.uk/

Steve Chalke’s books include:

• A Manifesto for Hope: Ten principles for transforming the lives of children and young people (SPCK, 2023).

• The Lost Message of Paul: Has the Church misunderstood the Apostle Paul? (SPCK, 2019).

• Being Human: How to become the person you want to be (John Murray Press, 2016).

Read this week’s featured headlines here:

• Bishops decry Green motion on Zionism: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/news/uk/bishops-and-british-jewish-leaders-voice-concern-about-green-party-motion-on-zionism

• Our door is open to church voices, say Conservatives: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/news/uk/our-door-is-open-to-church-voices-say-conservatives

• The last temptation of TikTok: interview with Pippa White: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/9-october/features/features/the-last-temptation-of-tiktok

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

“I think it’s really important to recognise that we’re all made differently,” the Archbishop of Canterbury says. Since being diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 15, it has shaped her educational and professional experiences, including her time as Chief Nursing Officer and as the Bishop of London.

Before the start of Dyslexia Awareness Week, on this week’s podcast, multimedia reporter Amelia Braddick sits down with Archbishop Mullally at her office in Lambeth Palace to talk about her experiences of dyslexia. Drawing on her faith and ministry work, the Archbishop reflects on how she came to see neurodiversity as part of human difference, rather than as a flaw.

Their conversation covers:

• Diagnosis and faith

• Coping strategies

• Strength and creativity

• Church inclusion

This year, Dyslexia Awareness Week runs from 5 to 11 October, focusing on dyslexic adults and their experiences of work and the workplace. Read more about Dyslexia Awareness Week here.

Read this week’s featured headlines here: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events

• Emotional PM sets out his stall at first Labour Party Conference in office: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/news/uk/emotional-pm-sets-out-his-stall-at-first-labour-party-conference-in-office

• Synod hopefuls set out stalls as voting begins: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/news/uk/synod-hopefuls-set-out-stalls-as-voting-begins

• How 'dem dry bones' speak to today’s world: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/features/features/how-dem-dry-bones-speak-to-todays-world

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Last week, the Festival of Preaching welcomed around 300 clergy and lay preachers. The event brought together inspiring talks and workshop from well-known preachers from around the world.

In today’s episode, we’re bringing you one of the lectures from the festival: Colin Heber-Percy asks: Is writing a sermon like caging a bird?

The Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy is Team Vicar of Savernake in Salisbury diocese.

He is the author of Lost in the Forest: Finding joy in losing your way (Octopus Books £10.99 (Church Times Bookshop £9.89). You can read our review here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-lost-in-the-forest-notes-on-not-belonging-from-the-english-countryside-by-colin-heber-percy

He is also a writer and screenwriter, and has written numerous articles on faith and film, the philosophy and theology of cinema.

Read this week’s featured headlines here:

• Muslim scholar in awards débâcle deserves apology from Lambeth Palace, says Moderator of Church of Pakistan: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/uk/muslim-scholar-in-awards-d%C3%A9b%C3%A2cle-deserves-apology-from-lambeth-palace-says-moderator-of-church-of-pakistan

• End ICE deal, say faith leaders: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/world/end-ice-deal-say-faith-leaders

• Churches spear US lawsuits: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/news/world/churches-spearhead-us-lawsuits

• Good Money Week: Better ways to spend – from housing schemes to microfinance:

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/features/features/good-money-get-a-home-to-call-your-own

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/25-september/features/features/good-money-from-small-seeds-to-nurturing-growth

If you enjoyed today’s talk, you can also listen to Colin Heber-Percy in conversation with Dr Andrew Rumsey, now Bishop of St Albans, from the 2023 Festival of Faith and Literature: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/14-april/audio-video/podcast/colin-heber-percy-in-conversation-with-andrew-rumsey-at-the-festival-of-faith-and-literature

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Five years ago, the Revd Marcus Walker co-founded the Save the Parish campaign. The Revd Dr Stephen Cherry, former parish priest, cathedral canon, and college dean, sat down recently with Fr Walker in the vestry of his church to find out what the issues are and to dig a little deeper into the theology that is behind the concerns.

Among the topics discussed:

• When and why Fr Walker first decided that the parish needed to be saved.

• Why he believes that stipendiary clergy are so vital.

• How he responds to critics who say that Save the Parish is standing in the way of initiatives to deal with the Church of England’s attendance crisis.

• What would success look like for Save the Parish?

Fr Walker is the Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, in the City of London. He is chairman of the Save the Parish network and a member of the General Synod. He is a monthly columnist for the Critic Magazine, and an occasional columnist for The Times, the Telegraph, and the Spectator.

Dr Cherry is an Emeritus Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. His most recent book, Unforgivable? Exploring the limits of forgiveness, is published by Bloomsbury. Read our review here. He presents the podcast Encounters with King’s College Chapel: https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/encounters-kings-college-chapel-podcast

This episode is produced by Neil Koenig.

Picture credit: Geoff Crawford/Church Times

Stories mentioned at the end of the podcast:

• Opponents welcome Commons’ rejection of ‘dangerous and unworkable’ assisted-dying Bill: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/news/uk/opponents-welcome-commons-rejection-of-dangerous-and-unworkable-assisted-dying-legislation

• Church in Wales Governing Body: Detailed paper outlines future funding issues: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/news/uk/church-in-wales-governing-body-detailed-paper-outlines-future-funding-issues

• Interview with Jackie Pullinger: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/18-september/features/features/lifetime-given-to-prayer-protection-and-hope

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

“We don’t do God,” the former government communications director Alastair Campbell once told an American reporter who asked Tony Blair about religion. The phrase has come to signify the idea that, in the UK, religion should be kept out of public life.

On the podcast this week, staff writer James Macintyre sits down with Alastair Campbell at his home in north London to talk about his enduring interest in faith. Their conversation covers:

• What he meant by saying “We don’t do God.”

• Why he is proud to be a “pro-faith atheist”

• His private Bible studies with the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at Lambeth Palace

• Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on humanity and AI, Magnifica Humanitas

Today, Campbell remains a well-known public figure. He co-presents the hugely popular podcast The Rest is Politics, is Editor-at-Large of The New World, and campaigns on mental health.

He is the author of a number of books, which include:

• But What Can I Do? Why politics has gone wrong and how you can help fix it (Penguin, 2023).

• Living Better: How I learned to survive depression (John Murray, 2020)

• Eight volumes of Diaries about is time working in government

Stories mentioned in the podcast:

• ‘I was probably the only atheist in the room’: Alastair Campbell on Bible studies with Justin Welby: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/news/uk/i-was-probably-the-only-atheist-in-the-room-alastair-campbell-on-bible-studies-with-justin-welby

• Churches marking 25 years since 9/11: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/news/world/churches-marking-25-years-since-911

• Education: Is AI a threat or an opportunity for young people?https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/11-september/features/features/education-is-ai-a-threat-or-an-opportunity-for-young-people

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Picture credit: Alamy

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Symposium series concludes this week with a talk by the Bishop of Edmonton, Dr Anderson Jeremiah, and a response by Dr Anna Rowlands, the St Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.

The title of the talk is: ‘The Radical Act of Common Life: Finding “Us” in a World Drifting Apart.’

The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times.

Read more about the Symposium: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society

Dr Jeremiah became Bishop of Edmonton in 2024. He is the first Dalit, and the first presbyter ordained in the Church of South India, to be appointed Bishop in the Church of England. He was the first lecturer in World Christianity in the department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, and is a globally recognised Anglican Theologian with research interests in the lived facet of World Christianity, and its theological, political, and missional engagement in the wider society. He is the author of Community and Worldview among Paraiyars of South India (Bloomsbury, 2012).

Professor Rowlands is also the Vincentian Chair in Social Justice at St John University, New York. She is an ecumenical lay canon of Durham Cathedral and the Chair of the UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice, and a Member of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development. She is the author of Towards a Politics of Communion: Catholic social teaching in dark times (Bloomsbury, 2021). Her current book project is on three women social philosophers read as political theologians: Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Gillian Rose.

Picture credit: Diocese of London

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Symposium continues this week with a talk by the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, and a response by the church historian the Revd Dr Jeremy Morris.

The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times.

Read more about the Symposium here

Dr Francis-Dehquani’s books include:

(SPCK, 2025). Read our review here

Cries for a Lost Homeland: Reflections on Jesus’ sayings from the cross (Canterbury Press, 2021). Read an extract here

Dr Morris’s books include:

A People’s Church: A history of the Church of England (Profile Books, 2023). Read our review here

To Build Christ’s Kingdom: An F. D. Maurice Reader (Canterbury Press, 2007)

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Picture credit: Diocese of Chelmsford

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Our new four-part series, The Symposium, continues this week with a talk by Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow of Theos, and a response by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

The talks were given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,”, organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times.

Other speakers at the event, whose talks will appear on the podcast in the coming weeks, include:

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford

The Revd Dr Jeremy Morris, church historian, former national C of E adviser on ecumenical relations and former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

The Bishop of Edmonton, Dr Anderson Jeremiah, a globally recognised theologian

Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University

Read more about the Symposium here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society

Dr Spencer hosts the podcast Reading our Times. His books include:

The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What are we disagreeing about?, written with Hannah Waite (OUP, 2025).

Magisteria: The entangled histories of science and religion (Oneworld, 2023).

The Evolution of the West: How Christianity has shaped our values (SPCK, 2016)

Dr Williams’s books include:

Solidarity: The work of recognition (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Do We Have the Right to Die? , written with Brenda Hale (Vintage, 2026).

Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious (SPCK, 2025).

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

A new series, The Symposium, begins this week, with a talk by the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Andrew Rumsey.

The talk was given last month at the event “Public faith, common good, Christian social order,” and was organised by St John’s College, Cambridge, in conjunction with the diocese of Ely and the Church Times.

Other speakers at the event, whose talks will appear on the podcast in the coming weeks, include:

Dr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford

Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow at the think tank Theos

Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University

Read more about the Symposium here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-research/leading-thinkers-discuss-faith-in-a-fractured-society

Dr Rumsey’s books include:

Parish: An Anglican theology of place (SCM Press)

English Grounds: A pastoral journal (SCM Press)

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader