Spiritual Misfits Podcast

Mitch and I riff on some questions from the Facebook discussion group and then get into a slightly more impassioned discussion about fracturing denominations, peoples obsession with sexuality and why 'sola scripture' logically leads to polarisation. Questions we discuss from the Facebook group: - Divinisation/theosis. Did God really become human, so we could become God? - Missing texts from the Bible. Are we missing out? - What did it mean for Jesus to be ‘fully human’? Was he limited to the thinking of the time and all the ignorance / belief systems that came with it? Or did he somehow still contain all the wisdom of the cosmos in that human body and chose not to share the knowledge that would come from future discoveries etc?- What’s the deal with the Diocese of the Southern Cross? Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Will does the majority of the interviews on this podcast, so Hannah decided it was time to flip the roles around and interview him. Will gave Hannah permission to play the role of investigative journalist and grill him.... there may not have been any 'gotcha' moments, but the wide-ranging conversation did include: the origins of 'spiritual misfits'things Will regrets from his teenage yearsthe biggest thing Will is struggling with spirituallythoughts about the creative process, thoughts about staying positive when things feel like they're falling apart.Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Hello friends!As I mentioned last week, with the birth of a new member of our family, I’ve dug out a couple of my favourite interviews from other shows I’ve hosted in the past, while I take a short break from doing interviews. This week’s conversation is truly top-shelf in my opinion and I’m sure you’ll learn something if you listen.For this week, I’ve grabbed an interview my friend Benj Gould and I originally did for the Forming Church podcast. We interviewed a diverse range of people about what the future of the church might look like in a post-pandemic world (taking into consideration all the other cultural and technological shifts we have been living through in recent years).This was a very special chat with Jo Saxton. Jo was born in London to parents who immigrated from Nigeria, and now lives in the US. She’s an internationally sought after author, speaker and leadership coach, and as you’ll see she’s just brilliant.We spoke with Jo about grief, lament, and both racial and gender inequality, and how the church of the future must genuinely grapple with these things if it’s going to survive and thrive.This interview was done in February 2021, and involves some COVID-specific reflections from that moment in time, but the majority of the conversation remains incredibly relevant for where we are right now.This is a conversation about some topics that’d can be difficult to speak about, but remain so deeply important. Check it out, and then join us in our Facebook discussion group to share your thoughts.Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Joel McKerrow is a poet and educator. He speaks to large groups of people. He writes wonderful books. He occasionally paints skateboards or does wood carvings. He’s one of those people who is basically brilliant at everything he does. And he has a deep understanding of the winding pilgrimage that honest spirituality entails. A couple years ago Joel published a book called ‘Woven: a Faith for the Dissatisfied’. It’s a great book that most listeners of this podcast would deeply resonate with. Head to joelmckerrow.com after the episode to grab a copy.I actually did this interview with Joel during the launch tour for the book. We were speaking about self-awareness and the spiritual journey, and we cover a whole lot of interesting ground during this chat. It is well worth your time. This interview originally appeared on the Inhabit podcast, which I use to make with my buddy Benj Gould. If you haven’t listened to that show, you may be interested in checking it out, there’s lots of good episodes there.Content warning: Joel shares a story in this episode which involves sexual assault and abuse which may be sensitive for some listeners. Please take care while listening and reach out to a support service if you need help.Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Prepare for an experience with this one…featuring some tunes that are bound to get you moving! Simon Buckingham Shum is an academic who works at the intersection of education, technology and ethics. But, today we’re talking about his experiences as a part of a movement of alternative expressions of liturgy, worship and church back in the 90s in England.I was fascinated the first time Simon shared about some of these experiences with me and although I was never really into electronic dance music, Simon was ultimately talking about creative pioneering and experimentation and trying to find new ways of engaging the sacred And that’s a bigger conversation than any particular musical genre.  In the decades since then Simon’s faith journey has seen its own evolutions, and he’s been in a few different spaces stylistically as well as theologically. So, in this conversation we’re following the threads of a particular story but we’re also talking about more broadly about the interwoven relationships between communities, creativity,  forms of worship and our underlying motivations.Simon’s also written a really helpful reflective piece of writing about this journey. It’s immersive and includes pictures of event flyers from that time. That’s on our website here and I would recommend you read it alongside listening to this episode, as they play off each other. After listening join us in our Facebook discussion group to share your thoughts and keep the conversation going. Music in this episode:“I Lift My Cup (To The Spirit Divine”) by Gloworm 1992 (5 mixes) https://hoojchoons.bandcamp.com/album/i-lift-my-cup-to-the-spirit-divine“Miserere” by Sue Wallace (composed for Visions services in early 90s). More tracks at: https://suevisions.bandcamp.comWant to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

I think a lot of us have come to know the forms of Christianity that we don’t want. We’ve seen politicised versions of faith that we want nothing to do with. We’ve witnessed institutional failings, scandals and cover-ups that we want to distance ourselves from. But, sometimes it’s harder to answer the question, what now? How do I put the pieces back together?A few years ago someone told me it’s not enough to know what you’re running away from. You’ll be sustained by knowing what you’re running towards. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. So, the question is,  are there more attractive, beautiful, faithful, life-giving ways of following Jesus? When I see people embodying and giving voice to authentic answers to this question it gives me great hope.   Graeme Anderson is one of those people. He’s a pastor at Northside Baptist in Crows Nest, Sydney and over many years his understanding of what it means to follow Jesus and to live in the kingdom Jesus described has evolved significantly. It’s moved from a knowledge-based, propositional faith to an embodied, open, generous way of being in the world that is attentive to what love might look like here and now. To help other people experience this Graeme’s written a book called Follow — and created a range of accompanying resources including a 4 week email devotional series. I’ve just finished it and was genuinely surprised at how refreshing, accessible and invitational it was. If you’re interested you can check it out at follow.org.au Here’s a conversation with Graeme about what following Jesus might look like when we feel our institutions have let us down. Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Cheryl Andrews is a social worker and counsellor, with a broad range of experiences in particular, working with young people and their families. She is someone who embodies warmth and wisdom in equal measure. And in this chat we’re mainly talking about shame, and the ways it can impact our spirituality, and what it might look like to develop a more shame-free faith.  Cheryl brings reflections on her own journey as well as insights from her professional context in this chat, which I think is helpful for anyone who ever struggles with shame — which is surely most of us. So, listen, soak it in. And if helps you, pass it on to someone else who may benefit from these ideas. Join our Facebook discussion group -  a space to connect with other misfits and continue the conversations had in these episodes:https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcast. Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

There are theology textbooks and academic lectures, and they can be just fine, but is there any better place to discuss God, the universe and everything than over a drink with your mates at the pub? Well, the good Rev Mitch Forbes and I (Will) don’t think so, and there’s few things we enjoy more than sipping a delicious bev and externally processing what we’ve been reading, hearing and thinking about. So, we’ve decided to do our best to emulate the kind of sprawling chat we enjoy having at a pub in podcast form, so you can (hopefully) feel like we’re at a table together, clinking glasses and getting philosophical about divinity, humanity and the space in between. Crack a tinny and join us for a chat about whether or not it matters which God you believe in, what the reconciliation of all things might look like, and a little riffing on open theism and process theology. A large part of the conversation involved our responses to some excellent questions people asked in our new Spiritual Misfits discussion group on Facebook. (Yes, you should click that link and join the group. Then you can let us know what questions we should explore next time!)Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

This week’s episode is a fantastic chat with Steff Fenton. Steff is a pastor at NewCity Church, along with Joel Hollier who you may remember from our earlier episode. On Steff’s website they introduce themselves as follows: “I’m a genderqueer pastor, writer, speaker and theologian helping people discover how endlessly loving God is.”And the way Steff speaks about God is deep and wide and beautiful.  We had a chat about gender expansive theology, and explored all kinds of interesting questions around gender, theology, church, scripture and all that jazz.  What I loved about this conversation was Steff took us beyond what it might look to accept or include trans and gender diverse people in church, to actually asking what role might these wonderful humans have in showing us something about what God is like? I think this episode contains an invitation, to see both God and humanity in a more expansive way. I hope that’s your experience, as you listen. Learn more about Steff's work here: https://www.steffenton.co Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Benjamin Hastings is an incredibly gifted songwriter and lyricist, most known for some of the songs he’s written with Hillsong, including ‘So Will I’, ‘O Praise the Name’ and ‘Highlands’. His songs collectively have more than 500 million streams.Hillsong worship leaders probably  aren’t the image you typically think of when you hear the phrase ‘Spiritual Misfit’. But our conversation with Ben was a great reminder that human beings — whether on platforms or in lounge rooms — have questions. Live within mystery. And doubt. And faith. And mess. And beauty. This is what honest spirituality looks like. And Ben is a true spiritual seeker, not satisfied with easy answers, and deeply committed to bringing his whole mind, heart and being to the search for deep truth.Ben shared some of his own story with us — about the unravelling and the searching and the creative process in the midst of it all. And it was such a joy.And as an incredibly special treat, Ben played us two of our favourite songs of his at the end of our chat. Stick around to the end of the episode and you’ll hear these songs played exclusively for our Spiritual Misfits community. Check out more of Ben’s work here: https://www.benjaminhastingsmusic.com/Sign-up for The Sunday Message to make sure you never miss an episode of the Spiritual Misfits podcast: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we’d love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com