The Changes Ahead Podcast

How can the experience of place-based institutions such as Sister Cities and Rotary Clubs inform where the church is at in 2025? Taylor shares from his research and offers some challenging insights and questions for us as the church.

Treating people with respect and without judgment when we disagree might be one of the hardest things to do, especially in our increasingly polarised world, society and church. Using personal stories and giving practical tips, in this episode, Hazel guides us in the art of disagreeing well.

Welcome to Season 4! We're starting with a compelling conversation with Bethany, who shares her journey of embracing authenticity in Wellington’s creative arts scene. She unpacks the dynamics of expressing her faith and identity as both a performer and a follower of Jesus.

As we close out 2024, we’ve got a couple of special guests commenting on what stood from the last year or so of episodes. Have a bit of fun with this AI review of The Changes Ahead Podcast! See you in 2025.

With the reality of less and less children and young people in our churches, perhaps it is time to listen to those who work directly with these generations – along with those generations themselves. Sarah is a Youth Development Worker calling the church to respect, uphold and value the voices and participation of children and young people as the church of today.

In this episode Sean, Cathy’s husband and Steven’s long-term mentor, shares from his decades of working with young people the importance of being present in people’s lives in order to speak into them before challenging followers of Jesus to embrace a faith that is not going to leave us comfortable and safe.

Anashuya shares her experiences of leadership and miraculous healing and how she has been and is being formed by both spaces. Ana invites us to think about what the future of the church might look like and where we are looking for its leaders. She shares the questions and wrestles that being ill and experiencing healing have raised.

With the recent release of Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light, the final report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care, we reflect with Jaimee on its implications, why it is so important to engage with this as churches and the desperate need for change in our spaces to do everything in our power to ensure abuse is no longer something anyone experiences in our spaces.

What does mutual flourishing look like within relationships, and why is this an important change that is needed in our church narratives? Hear the story of two people figuring it out and seeing each other thrive as they seek the best ways for each other to live into and out of their gifts.

Why do so many young people in New Zealand experience homelessness, and why should the church be interested in being a part of the solution? Aaron Hendry has some ideas backed up by over a decade of working in this space. He is a youth development worker, writer, podcaster, and advocate for social justice who has a challenge for those of us with ears and hearts to hear.

Sometimes, it can be hard to see what the Spirit is up to in the church, but for Paul Fletcher, who spends most of his time beyond the walls of the church he leads with people who are on the margins of society, the activity of the Spirit is far more evident. We can learn a lot from those experiences if we are courageous. Paul’s work also involves selling Common Good Coffee; it’s three times as good as regular coffee, a business that, simply by us drinking a great cup of coffee, supports people in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

Without stopping to think, it could be easy to assume that slavery is a thing of the past, but in this conversation with Sarah, we will find out just how prevalent it is and why the church should get involved in working to eradicate slavery from the world. Welcome back to season 3 of The Changes Ahead Podcast!

We've reached the end of another season, and to wrap it up, Cathy and Steven reflect on The Changes Ahead that we've heard this year and are trying in our church spaces through the lens of the recently released Wilberforce 'Faith and Belief' study. Thanks for being on the journey with us for another year!

When expectations don’t match reality, what is going to get us through? For Nat, a small business owner and mother of two, the values that underpin why she started her business sustained her in the professional and personal space she was in. As Nat shares her story, we get glimpses into how faith, parenting, business and church intersect to drive her forward and could speak to some of the changes ahead necessary for the church.

Why are you voting the way you are going to this week? How does faith inform the way you vote? Answering these questions can be tricky, but we reckon they're important ones to try. Since it’s election week, we thought we’d have a chat about what this means for us with Brook, someone who is passionate about engaging positively and faithfully in the political process.

As someone with interests in the sciences, alongside studying law, Arunan helps us wrestle with what faith looks like in the post-Christian world he is living in. While holding a deep commitment to the benefits of the church to society, he challenges us to recognise our status and position in order to live up to the potential we have.

In this raw and vulnerable conversation, social worker Mary-Anne shares her story of experiencing abuse, the journey of healing she is on, and the place of deep relationships in faith communities in that healing. TW: conversations relating to child sexual abuse, rape, suicide and domestic violence.

After experiencing PTSD, Sarah explored her own trauma story and, from that experience, offers amazing insights for us as followers of Jesus into how we can better support people on the spectrum of mental wellness and what the posture of the church and those of us who make it up should be towards each other as we all seek to integrate our bodies, minds and faith journey.

With courage and vulnerability, Deb and Alan invite us to listen to their story of navigating the complexity of unexpected news from one of their children. Prioritising love and safety, they share their journey of deep listening which leads them to a more profound understanding of how to love (or understanding new ways to love) their child who is transgender. [We acknowledge the diversity of thought within the church, in particular on topics of gender and sexuality.]

Jo is back to help us navigate conversations around porn, a topic that is too often ignored in church spaces. How do we have healthy conversations and give space to ask questions and figure out how to respond.

With grace, vulnerability, and honesty, Andrew shares the story of the death of his son. Hear how people around him responded, and about how his search for, and understanding of God changed. Together we reflect on something of the place of lament in our church spaces, and wonder how they might be transformed with more raw honesty. This is a raw episode, and so we encourage our listeners to take care of themselves as they sit with the story of someone else’s deep pain.

What does our response to the climate crisis require of us as individuals and faith communities? How does this response relate to loving our neighbours? In this episode, we hear from Chloe about her passion for sustainable living and how her discipleship impacts her study, future, church engagement and activism in the community.

We’re invited to listen in to one youth pastor’s experience of serving and working alongside Rainbow Youth at youth group. How has this work changed him? How has it impacted him? We acknowledge that this is a sensitive topic for the church today, and are happy to engage with anyone who would like to discuss the topic or episode.

What lenses do we bring to reading scripture? What are we missing by not considering the lenses different people bring to it? Jaimee offers us crucial insights into what a feminist lens offers the church today, including reflecting on the objectification of women that happens all too frequently in our church spaces. Jaimee’s reflections truly show us that feminism is good for everyone!