All church articles
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ArticleLight in the darkness? What the Church can offer someone suffering with depression
Apologist Joel Furches explores the relationship between Christianity and psychiatry, and asks why Christians suffer from depression when they are promised joy?
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Shows#120 James Emery White: Is online church the way forward?
What are the dangers of online and how do we navigate them? How can we respond to AI? What is TikTok spirituality and why should we engage with it? How has the digital world impacted our relationships? Is online church just watching TV or is a hybrid model the only way forward? Dr James Emery White, author of Hybrid Church, explores questions around digital outreach and Church.
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ArticleOut of darkness: How dabbling in demonology led to discovering Jesus
Former atheist Chris Adam experienced a difficult, chaotic childhood and was drawn to witchcraft and demonology to gain control over his life. Researcher Jana Harmon shares how his life changed dramatically after reading the Bible
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ShowsUnapologetic #116 Nicola Morrison: A trip to church saved my life
Nicola Morrison, an editor and former BBC reporter, has experienced many highs and lows in her personal and professional life. She shares her struggles with childhood trauma, mental health difficulties and career setbacks. Following a failed attempt to take her own life, Nicola visited a church, which changed the trajectory of her life forever. You can read more of her story in Victory is My Name.
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ShowsGen Z's Faith Crisis: why young Christians are saying goodbye?! with Mary Jo Sharp and Harry Amos hosted by Billy Hallowell
Although the number of nones in the USA has flatlined in recent years, deconstruction is still on the mind of many young people. This week a Christian apologist - raised without any religion, and a Christian who moved to agnostic atheism debate how we can reengage young people.
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ShowsUnapologetic: #115 Michael Lloyd: Culture wars, creativity and relativism
Could a decline in creativity and beauty be why the Church has become increasingly irrelevant and unlikeable? What are culture wars and how should we respond? Is relativism flawed and what is the alternative? Does human creativity point to God? Rev Dr Michael Lloyd, principal of Wycliffe Hall, shares his thoughts about culture, creativity and The New Renaissance Project.
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ArticleIs atheism rational? How a physicalist atheist discovered Christianity
Mason Jones was convinced there was no phenomena that could not be explained apart from what’s physically observable. Here, researcher Jana Harmon described how Mason grew unsatisfied with the limitations of his atheism and discovered the rationality of a Christian worldview
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ShowsMatters of Life of Death: Abusive relationships and coercive control in church
Society has been on a long and slow journey in recent decades into a richer and more sympathetic understanding of how abuse and coercion work within relationships. We are much better at both identifying and prosecuting this kind of abuse, and at being more attuned to the needs of victims and understanding why they find it difficult to just walk away.
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ShowsMatter of Life & Death: Q&A: Did ending Roe v Wade actually save unborn children’s lives, and have we got food culture wrong in church?
Our first topic in this Q&A episode is a recent study which found that in 2023, the first full calendar year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion, total abortions actually increased. Despite 21 states enacting full or partial abortion bans, more women not fewer are ending their pregnancies. How can this have happened, and what might it tell the pro-life movement about its tactics and priorities if it seeks to make abortion not simply unlawful, but unthinkable?
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Why have anti-abortion activists accidentally banned fertility treatment in Alabama?
Alabama’s Supreme Court has ruled that embryos in deep freeze, stored as part of IVF treatment, can be considered as legal children. This unexpected judgement has prompted many clinics to shut their doors, fearing lawsuits, as the storage and eventual destruction of surplus embryos is standard practice in IVF.
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ShowsUnapologetic #95 Jay Y Kim: Doubt and deconstruction
Jay Y Kim, a pastor in Silicon Valley and author of multiple books including Listen, Listen, Speak, shares his experience of losing and rediscovering his faith. What are some of the reasons people leave the Church or aren’t even remotely interested in the first place? What should we do with our doubts? How do we ensure everyone feels welcome?
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ShowsUnbelievable? Where is God to be found when you are told your cancer is terminal? Steve Legg, Allan Finnegan and Andy Kind
Where is God to be found when facing the no-joke reality of a terminal diagnosis for cancer? Two comedians, who are both Christians, are facing just this challenge. This discussion between Steve Legg and Allan Finnegan hosted by Andy Kind will transform the way you think about terminal illness. This uplifting show explores why two men in the prime of life feel closer to God than before they received their devastating diagnoses.
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ArticleMichael Gungor’s deconstruction: Can we keep the baby when we throw out the bathwater?
Erik Strandness reflects on a show featuring musician Michael Gungor and pastor Evan Wickham on millennials, music and mystical deconstruction
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Should single Christians use dating apps if they strike out at church?
A listener has emailed in his dilemma off the back of our recent series of episodes: His small evangelical church teaches a traditional Christian message on relationships and marriage, yet offers single members like him no opportunities to meet like-minded women. Is it OK for him to turn to dating apps to fish in a deeper pool, or are the apps unavoidably commodifying his sisters in Christ and conforming him to secular cultural ethics on relationships?
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Gender gap in church: Onward Christian Soldiers, the only man in a room full of women, Bonhoeffer’s ‘cheap grace’ and Christian dating apps
In this episode we look at what evidence there is for the idea of a gender gap in church, and then discuss what may have caused it. Are men and women fundamentally so different they worship God and are discipled in radically different ways?
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ArticleHow should we engage with people who are deconstructing?
Whose fault is it when people deconstruct? What can we do about it? How do we help them to move forward? Erik Strandness reflects on deconstruction and reconstruction following an Unbelievable show on this topic
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ShowsUnbelievable? Why do women often feel unequal to men in the church? with Liz Cooledge Jenkins and Andy Kind
Today on Unbelievable? Andy Kind hosts the first part of an occasional series on the topic of women in the church, how women are portrayed in the Bible, and questions around women in ministry. Why do women often feel unequal to men in Church? There are plenty of differing views and we will cover a number of them in the coming months.
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ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Pregnancy crisis - A constructive Christian response, heads versus hearts, paternalistic gynaecologists, and ambiguity in the ultrasound clinic
Today we’re returning to a classic episode from our back catalogue, with special guest Sophie Guthrie-Kummer from Choices, a Christian crisis pregnancy centre in London.
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ShowsUnapologetic #85 Andrew Gosler: Coming to faith through Dawkins
Rev Andrew Gosler, professor of Ethno-ornithology at Oxford University, shares how working in the same department as Richard Dawkins and reading his publications eventually led him to become a Christian. Plus, he shares a fascinating story about answered prayer.
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ShowsUnapologetic #76 Sarah Irving-Stonebraker: How do we find meaning?
In the second part of their discussion, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker shares how she moved from atheism to agnosticism, ending up in a church. What is meaning? How do we find it? Does Christianity have anything to say to our cultural moment?
