With All Due Respect

Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen debate the positives and negatives of being cooped up in one country.

The With All Due Respect team then interview Stephen Liggins, author of Travelling the World As Citizens of Heaven.

And don't miss their take on a travelling film that brings out the spiritual advantages of being somewhere else.

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The slow winding back of COVID-19 restrictions means that small groups of Christians are able to gather for worship once again. Yet for the majority of the world, church services will continue to a remote affair for several months to come.

Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen consider what worship looks like behind closed doors, and in particular what role singing plays.

Is making music to God an essential part of relating to Him? Or a cultural add-on that's nice but not necessary? Musician and worship lecturer Tanya Riches joins Michael and Meagan to puzzle out the truth, with all due respect.  

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Megan and Michael have both experienced and observed bullying in the Christian church, in a variety of cross-denominational contexts.

They begin by discussing why it is that the church can become a 'safe place' for this harmful behaviour, and whether or not theology or gender make a difference.

Then they welcome Stephen McAlpine to the program to share his personal experience. Stephen was the victim of a bullying scandal  involving the former CEO of Acts 29, Steve Timmis, during his involvement with The Crowded House church network in the UK.

Finally, with all due respect, Megan and Michael offer a range of approaches to ensure bullying doesn't find a home in your Christian community.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like any good Christian response, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen begin with the theology underpinning so many COVID-19 actions.

Step two, is to ask the question, 'How should Christians live in a time like this?' What are Michael and Megan doing, both in ministry and their personal life? And what might they advise others to consider?

Finally, it's off to the virtual movies to provide listeners with a title worth watching in trying times like these: A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood.

LINKS

• An example of the 'God will look after you' response
• The article that inspired A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, Can you say Hero? from Esquire Magazine

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In this easter episode…

With the deaths of the Abdullah children, Hannah Clarke and her kids still fresh in the minds of Australians, hosts Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask, 'Just how comfortable are we with the idea of forgiveness?'

Michael and Megan then talk to Esther Scott, whose missionary father Graham Staines and brothers were murdered in India.

And we discuss the obscenity of forgiveness as we contemplate the enduring popularity of the song Amazing Grace.

Megan and Michael consider the variety of Christian responses that have been offered to the Corona Virus - from 'Jesus will fix it' to 'It's every one for themselves' - and ask how our doctrines should inform our decisions.

Just because the word 'heresy' has fallen out of fashion, doesn't mean it has ceased to exist.

Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen kick off season three of With All Due Respect, turning their attention to this thorny topic.

Their examination begins with a look at the Netflix movie The Two Popes and how it presents a recent clash of theologies in the Catholic church.

Then in For Arguments Sake, Megan and Michael discuss how heresy is currently defined, where it's likely to turn up in the church and what 'heresies' the media has found interesting - including the Christian angst over Israel Folau - as well as how we should go about dealing with heresies when we find them.

Finally, what heresies do Megan and Michael find personally attractive? Well, tune in to find out...

Links for this episode

• The Two Popes, on Netflix and the trailer on YouTube
• Our Favorite Heresies of 2018: Experts Weigh In, from Christianity Today
• The Salt podcast on The Eternity Podcast Network

Join in the discussion online
www.facebook.com/groups/WADRbyEternityNews/

We kick off by diving into a satire of the Church of England – the oldie but goodie BBC series The Barchester Chronicles. According to Megan: "The drama, humour and delight of the series is the church politics. For anyone who's been in a church, it's very familiar."

Can you have a voice of influence without playing party politics? As a "reluctant participant" in church politics, Megan gives her reasons for being involved in the Baptist Assembly, while Michael gives a personal perspective on the Sydney Anglican Synod. Yes, the discussion does turn to women's ordination.

And, as the Sydney Anglican Diocese prepares to elect a new Archbishop in August 2020, our hosts address the new realm of church politics where "the gloves are off".

Links related to this episode: 

• Episode 1 of Barchester Chronicles, especially the conversation at 44:55 - 45:05:
  Dr Grantly: "My father in law can be a very difficult person."
  Bishop Grantly: "He has persistent bouts of Christianity."

• Episode 3 of Barchester Chronicles, especially the conversation at 7:31-7:34:
  Mrs Grantly: "We could pray."
  Dr Grantly: "There are times when I’m ashamed of my prayers."

• Article by Michael Jensen on Eternity: The art of godly church politics

• Book by Michael Jensen: Sydney Anglicanism: An Apology

About Barchester Chronicles
The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by Anthony Trollope, set in the fictitious English county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester. The second in the series, Barchester Towers, is the most famous. The first two novels were adapted as a TV miniseries  – The Barchester Chronicles – by the BBC in 1982, in which Alan Rickman is the "odious evangelical" Obadiah Slope, Nigel Hawthorne plays Archdeacon Grantly and Donald Pleasence as the "naive but lovely" hero, Reverend Harding.

Join in the discussion online
www.facebook.com/groups/WADRbyEternityNews/

Megan and Michael welcome "ecotheologian" Mick Pope into the studio to talk about climate change. Recorded before Australia's bushfire crisis worsened, this episode tackles big questions such as "is climate science watertight?" and "what's more important – climate action or evangelism?"

Our hosts discuss the theology behind climate action and whether or not the church should get involved in this "political" issue.

Also in this ep, an exploration of 2040 – an Aussie hybrid feature documentary by award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film). The film explores what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we put our minds to it now.

Links related to this episode: 

• Mick Pope's books: A climate of justice: Loving your neighbour in a warming world; A climate of hope: Church and mission in a warming world (written with Claire Dawson); and All things new: God's plan to renew our world
• New York Times article by Richard A. Muller: The conversion of a climate-change skeptic 
• Pope Francis' letter on the environment and human ecology: Laudato Si
• Eternity article by Mick Pope: A letter to my fellow evangelicals about the environment
• Eternity article by John Sandeman: Climate change versus the Bible
• Example of recent media treatment of ScoMo's Pentecostal faith relating to climate change: Scott Morrison's religion and the bushfire crisis (Independent Australia)
• ABC News interactive article: See how global warming has changed the world since your childhood
• Christian Today article by Third Space's David Robertson: What is the truth about the Australian bushfires?
• Religion Unplugged article on what US evangelicals believe about climate change: Why many evangelicals believe climate change is a hoax
• The Gospel Coalition article on how evangelism leads to care for the environment: Review: ‘Is God Green?’ by Lionel Windsor
• 2040 film

Get to know our guest

Dr Mick Pope – self-described "ecotheologian" – has a PhD in Meteorology from Monash University, and lectures in meteorology and climate. He is currently studying a master's degree in theology and is Professor of Environmental Mission at Missional University. He is co-author of A climate of hope: Church and mission in a warming world, and author of A climate of justice: Loving your neighbour in a warming world and All things new: God's plan to renew our world.

Join in the discussion online

www.facebook.com/groups/WADRbyEternityNews/

We revisit episode 7 of With All Due Respect:

In For Argument's Sake, Megan and Michael tackle some holiday-themed sticky questions: Is Easter better than Christmas? Should we really be giving Christmas presents?

Megan points to an essay by G.K. Chesterton on the theology of Christmas presents. Find out why the duo think material gifts can be quite an important tradition, with a theological basis.

Michael suggests that Christmas is a display of God's abundance. It's also an ideal that can often be a terrible judge on those who don't match that ideal. And so, says Megan, "our abundance must not be a selfish abundance ... it should flow out onto the lowly, the unloved ... the lonely."

In a new Q&A segment, Megan and Michael answer a listener question: As two leaders in conservative denominations, how does the Holy Spirit move in your own lives? How open are you both to the prophetic and to signs and wonders? -- asked by Kirsty Farrugia (who also has her own podcast!)

Megan and Michael unpack what 'conservative' might mean in that question, running through their own denominations (Megan: Baptist, Michael: Anglican) and the variety of 'types' you can find in those denominations. Then they get straight into speaking in tongues, dreams and visions. Have either of them experienced such things? And do they think it matters if they haven't? Tune in to find out.

Check out some of the other suggested questions, here.

Then, in Marg and Dave, Megan and Michael review Christmas carols! What is the theology and background of the carols we sing every year.

Hint: they're not sure about Away in a manger ... of course Jesus cried as a baby!

They've created a Spotify carols playlist, for your listening pleasure. Check it out here. And here a few helpful resources to get deeper into the background of some of the most popular carols:

• Hark! the herald angels sing
• Mary, Did you know? (an example of the kind of discussion around this carol)
• O Come All Ye Faithful and the Jacobites
• Silent Night and war