The Roots for Churches podcast

'Lots of people were treating social media like a big advert for their church.'

So how can churches share faith online in a way that feels authentic?

Hannah Mudge, Senior Digital Communications Manager for the Church of England, shares practical, free advice for churches of any denomination, from simple first steps to sharing faith online without it feeling like a sales pitch. She explains why the mission field is now online, who churches should try to reach, and how to match your message to the right platforms.

Melanie Cave and Hannah explore what digital evangelism really means, what newcomers look for before visiting a church, how to start small on social media, using phone video, photo consent and copyright, and how to know if your online outreach is bearing fruit. 

The episode offers practical, achievable advice for small churches: start simple, prioritise where your audience already is, use short video and real stories, keep sites and pages updated, and follow consent and copyright best practices. Resources, templates and training (Digital Labs) are highlighted to help churches get started.

Overall it’s a how-to conversation for building connection, measuring impact, and using digital tools with creativity and care to welcome people into church life.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

2:10 What is digital evangelism?

5:40 The minimum digital presence for a church

8:59 Answering people's questions about faith

12:16 Where small churches should start

20:06 Copyright, photo permissions and consent

24:25 Video on a phone: what works

30:01 Reaching your local community

35:29 Can digital engagement lead to faith?

41:25 Handling negative comments

44:14 Reaching different generations

48:39 Being a digital ambassador for your faith

50:06 Top priorities, Advent and Christmas 🔗

Links

Roots Reimagining Evangelism article by Hannah, Elliot and Zoe: https://www.rootsforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/articles/re-imagining-evangelism/digital-engagement

Free Design Resource Canva: https://www.canva.com/nonprofits/

The Way UK- Digital evangelism connecting with young people https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3hhd27F5hnRLeoyujML5WQ

Digital labs: [LINK]

Social media templates: [LINK]

Denominational seasonal content: [LINK]

🌱 Roots for Churches: Rootsforchurches.com

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The current conflict between Hamas, Israel, and now Hezbollah, regularly fills our news screens. As we intercede for peace in our church prayers, the Psalms and Old Testament readings often seem to endorse Israel’s return to possess the land and God's triumph over Israel's enemies. This raises the uncomfortable question: Does Scripture validate Israel's current military actions? How do we reconcile Jesus' teaching to love our neighbours and pray for those who persecute us with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East?

John Parr, an Anglican priest with years of academic and personal experience, joins us to explore these challenging questions. John shares insights from his studies in Latin American liberation theology and his visits to the Holy Land, where he engaged with both Jewish and Palestinian communities. Together, we delve into the complexities of interpreting biblical promises about land and how they relate to modern geopolitical realities.

We discuss the historical and cultural context of the Old Testament scriptures, the varied interpretations within the Jewish and Christian traditions, and how the New Testament teachings of Jesus might guide us today. This episode is a thoughtful examination of how we as Christians can understand and apply ancient texts to contemporary conflicts, striving for peace and reconciliation in a divided world.

Read John's article on the Roots for Churches website.

This episode was initially released 6 August 2024, and has been rereleased in 2026.

Melanie Cave talks with Cath Livesey of Accessible Prophecy about what 'prophetic' means and how churches can make space for listening to God in a healthy, accountable way. They explore how to discern prophetic words, avoid relying on a few prominent voices, and help the whole church participate. Cath shares practical frameworks and starting points for building a culture rooted in discipleship, humility, Scripture, and shared discernment.

00:00 - Meet Cath Livesey and the conversation’s focus

Show Notes:

Cath's Article https://www.rootsforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/articles/prophetic-voices

www.rootsforchurches.com

https://accessibleprophecy.com/

What does it take to move from polite conversation to a friendship you can depend on? In this episode of the Roots for Churches podcast, host Melanie Cave talks with Sheridan Voysey, founder of Friendship Lab, about loneliness, adult friendship, and the role churches can play in helping relationships grow deeper.

Sheridan shares the personal moment that first made him reflect on his own friendships: during an adoption seminar, he was asked who he could call at 2 a.m. if things went wrong. That question sparked a journey that eventually led to Friendship Lab—a research-informed initiative helping people develop the skills to make and sustain friendships.Together, Melanie and Sheridan explore why friendship doesn’t always happen organically in adult life, how small, intentional steps can help relationships grow, and why church community doesn’t automatically become close friendship. They also discuss the Christian theology of friendship, the importance of mutuality across generations and differences, and how churches can make space for genuine connection.

00:00 Welcome and why friendship matters

someone you can talk to, depend on, grow with, and enjoy.

acquaintance, casual friend, friend, close friend, and “2 a.m. friend.”

be specific, invite negotiation, and express your desire to connect. Rather than “We should get together sometime,” suggest a plan and a time, while leaving room to find something that works for both of you.

it is equal, mutual, and freely chosen.

Sheridan Voysey is the founder of Friendship Lab, an initiative focused on loneliness and adult friendship. In this conversation, he discusses the research and practical skills behind Friendship Lab, as well as its six-week course for churches.

www.friendshiplab.org/churches

In this episode, Melanie Cave speaks with the Reverend Dr. Mark Griffiths about how churches can share faith with children and young people. Drawing on his research into Robert Raikes and the beginnings of the Sunday School movement, Mark reflects on how children’s ministry can go beyond teaching or asking for a one-time decision. He makes the case for combining education with opportunities for children to encounter God, grow in community, and take an active role in sharing faith.The conversation also explores peer-to-peer evangelism, intergenerational church, and how adults can model open, everyday conversations about faith.

Key takeaways:

- Act on the needs you see. Robert Raikes began the Sunday School movement after noticing children in his community and finding a practical way to serve them.

- Take a holistic approach to children’s ministry. The early Sunday Schools combined learning, faith, and community rather than separating children’s spiritual lives from their wider development.

- See faith as a journey. A child’s faith may grow through many experiences and relationships; it cannot always be reduced to one moment or decision.

- Make room for encounter, not just education. Children need opportunities to pray, reflect, and speak to God themselves—not only hear adults talk about faith.

- Equip children to share faith with one another. Peer-to-peer conversations can help children express and deepen what they believe.

- Model ordinary conversations about God. When adults speak naturally about their faith, children can learn that it is something they can share with others, too.

- Connect children’s ministry with the wider church. Mark highlights the importance of children seeing adults worship and taking part in a shared, intergenerational community.

- Look beyond attendance figures. Churches may need broader ways to recognize discipleship and ministry happening outside Sunday services.

Chapters:

00:00 – What do we mean by sharing faith with children?

00:31 – Meet Mark Griffiths and his PhD research

01:13 – Why Mark set out to question the Sunday School model

03:11 – The Sunday School movement’s early reach

05:38 – Robert Raikes, prison reform, and “vice is preventable”

10:44 – Sunday School and the growth of the church

18:52 – Making space for children’s own prayers

22:50 – The role of peer-to-peer evangelism

28:12 – Normalizing conversations about faith

38:49 – Mark’s Sunday School experiment in Milton Keynes

41:32 – Raikes’s approach to following up with absent children

43:30 – Connecting children’s ministry with church life

47:43 – Intergenerational ministry and discipleship

Show Notes:

Mark's article https://www.rootsforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/articles/creating-confident-christians

www.rootsforchurches.com

Intergenerational Church Starts with Theology, Not Tactics

In this conversation, Melanie Cave speaks with Tanya Yuen about her doctoral research on how churches engage children, participation, and ecclesiology. They explore why many churches have a strong theology of children but still struggle to reflect it in practice, especially when structures default to hierarchy, age segregation, or simply “doing church” rather than being church.

Tanya shares how her background as a pastor shaped her research interest, especially as she noticed children were often treated as an add-on rather than full participants in the life of the church.

Her research began with the assumption that senior pastors lacked a theology of the child, but she found many pastors could articulate beautiful theology very well. The deeper issue, Tanya argues, is the gap between what churches say they believe and how they actually structure worship, ministry, and participation.

Ecclesiology, in simple terms, is the church’s understanding of who it is and how it lives that out in practice.

A major question in the conversation is whether churches are organized around teaching, hierarchy, and efficiency rather than belonging, mutuality, and shared participation.

Tanya distinguishes between children being present in church and children truly participating as they are, not just in adult-designed roles.

The discussion raises the possibility that a church can have a good intergenerational program but still not be genuinely intergenerational at the level of theology and culture.

Tanya reflects on Trinitarian theology as one possible lens, suggesting that if the Trinity is assumed to be hierarchical, that assumption may shape church life in subtle ways.

She shares examples where children genuinely shaped worship, including an eight-year-old praying over a woman with cancer and children expressing worship through dance and instruments in a shared worship space.

Melanie and Tanya both emphasize that structure matters, but structure alone is not enough. The real question is whether people sense that their presence, voice, and offering matter.

The conversation also explores intercultural church life, especially in multilingual Chinese Baptist contexts where language differences can either divide or become a place for creative shared worship.

Tanya closes by emphasizing that churches should measure faithfulness, discernment, and alignment between belief and practice, not just attendance or retention.

Theology of the child — What churches believe about children’s spiritual value, agency, and place in the body of Christ.

Ecclesiology — How a church understands itself and what that means for worship, leadership, and participation.

Trinitarian lens — A theological way of thinking about mutuality and relationship, raised as a challenge to hierarchical church structures.

Being church vs. doing church — The difference between treating church as a program to run versus a shared community to embody.

00:00 - Tanya’s pastoral background and research on children in church

05:32 - The gap between theology and church practice

06:55 - Ecclesiology, hierarchy, and age-segregated structures

09:38 - Children’s participation, belonging, and influence

14:52 - Trinitarian theology, mutuality, and power

25:50 - Being church versus doing church

31:49 - Intergenerational ministry: conviction or retention?

38:35 - Why the whole congregation needs to share this vision

45:06 - Intergenerational and intercultural church life

51:50 - Rethinking church values, metrics, and faithfulness

Shownotes:

www.rootsforchurches.com intergenerstionsl

Article series: https://www.rootsoforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/all-age-support

Melanie Cave speaks with historian and writer Professor Sarah C Williams about her book 'When Courage Calls', which explores Josephine Butler’s life, activism, and deep prayerfulness. The conversation traces how Butler became a leading voice against the Contagious Diseases Acts, why her work was so controversial, and how her faith shaped every part of her public witness. Sarah shares how researching Butler unexpectedly became a meditation on prayer, courage, grief, and Christian imagination. The episode also connects Butler’s 19th century campaign to present day questions about sexual abuse, pornography, political stamina, and what it means for the church to pursue justice with both conviction and humility.

Key topics

- Sarah C Williams explains how a childhood love of history led to a lifelong academic and writing career, with a passion for helping Christians learn from the past.

- Butler’s significance is introduced through her leadership in exposing Victorian prostitution and challenging the laws that targeted marginalized women rather than men.

- The Contagious Diseases Acts are unpacked in detail, including compulsory examinations for suspected women, incarceration in lock hospitals, and the double standard built into the system.

- Melanie and Sarah discuss why Butler was considered radical, not just because she addressed prostitution publicly, but because she did so with spiritual seriousness and moral clarity.

- Butler’s courage is shown in her public speaking, social ostracism, physical threats, and attacks from both society and parts of the church.

- Sarah highlights Butler’s refusal to separate prayer from action, describing her as someone who prayed daily, organized prayer meetings, and grounded political work in communion with God.

- The book’s structure was shaped by Butler’s own method, especially her use of narrative and biography to invite others into the experience of prayer rather than define it abstractly.

- Butler’s suffering, including depression, burnout, grief, and intense rage, is presented as part of her credibility and her ability to identify with others in pain.

- The conversation reflects on how Butler’s long campaign took 16 years, offering a model of stamina, focused calling, and patient persistence in justice work.

- Sarah suggests that Butler’s legacy speaks directly to current issues such as sexual abuse and internet pornography, especially because she was never squeamish about naming hard realities.

Chapters

00:01 — Melanie introduces When Courage Calls and why Josephine Butler’s story matters.

00:25 — Sarah’s background and love of history

01:15 — Why Sarah was drawn to Butler and why her legacy still matters.

02:21 — A history lesson on The Contagious Diseases Acts that Butler fought against and why they were unjust.

04:36 — Why Butler was considered radical

11:22 — The courage Butler showed in public speaking and the threats she faced.

17:44 — How Butler’s prayer life shaped her campaigning and leadership.

29:34 — A discussion of Butler’s suffering, burnout, and emotional honesty.

32:21 — What courage looked like in Butler’s life and why stamina matters.

37:08 — How Butler’s example speaks to modern justice issues, prayer, and political imagination.

Show notes:

where to get Sarah's book, When Courage Calls https://standrewsbookshop.co.uk/product/when-courage-calls/?srsltid=AfmBOopk0vK3dBc89SxzYN_c8YpazaUwFR_IFG2YfNQl04ebKXUp5s1F

www.rootsforchurches.com

In this episode of Roots for Churches, Melanie Cave speaks with Dr Tamara Knudson about stereotypes of women in the Bible and how the Old Testament lectionary readings invite us to look again. Together, they explore Rebekah’s story, the women who help bring about the Exodus, and the ways our assumptions can turn complex biblical characters into side characters or simple moral examples.Tamara, who holds a PhD in Old Testament and has worked as a Visiting Scholar at BibleProject, shares how careful attention to the text can reveal women’s agency, courage, and importance to the biblical story. She and Melanie also consider what this means for preaching, personal Bible reading, and teaching children.

00:00 — Welcome to the conversation

www.rootsforchurches.com

Tamara's Article: https://www.rootsforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/articles/female-stereotypes-rebekah

Melanie Cave speaks with Dr. Jared Neusch about the hard parts of the Moses story—the plagues, the death of the Egyptian firstborn, and the parting of the sea resulting in the death of the Egyptian army—and how to approach these passages with children and congregations, without flattening its tension. Jared explains why he starts with Jesus as the clearest revelation of God, then works back into the Old Testament with that lens in place. They also unpack how Passover foreshadows Jesus, why modern readers get stuck on historicity, and how to talk with kids honestly about troubling Bible stories without giving them a shallow or deceptive faith.

00:00 – Introducing the challenge of Exodus violence for adults and children

Melanie Cave speaks with Will van der Hart about what churches can learn from crisis response in moments like the 7/7 bombings and the Grenfell Tower fire. The conversation focuses on trauma, presence, and the long-term pastoral work needed when a community is shaken by grief, distrust, and loss. There. ispractical guidance on ways churches and leaders can prepare Will shares hard-won insight from years of ministry and emergency response, including why the church must resist the urge to fix everything, why timing matters in trauma care, and how presence can be a form of faithful resistance.

Key words

crisis response, church, critical event planning, death, mortality, trauma, presence, pastoral care, grief, trust, boundaries, resilience, community, collaboration, Grenfell Tower fire, 7/7 bombing, leadership

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction: what churches learn from crisis

00:31 – Lessons from 7/7 and emergency response

01:32 – Grenfell, trauma, and community mistrust

03:02 – Why rushed help can do harm

05:22 – Trust, relationships, and local credibility

10:30 – The emotional cost of caring

14:02 – Presence, boundaries, and long-term support

21:08 – Why presence matters more than fixing

33:48 – Presence as rebellion; called, not driven

42:31 – Preparation, partnerships, and planning ahead

Show Notes:

www.rootsforchurches.com

Will's article https://www.rootsforchurches.com/worship-and-learning-support/articles/responding-to-community-crisis

Clergy Support Trust https://www.clergysupport.org.uk/