The Reverend Dr Karen Pack is a religious historian, ordained Christian minister, Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant, and current President of Spiritual Care Australia. For over twenty five years she has been engaged in training pastors, chaplains, leaders and teachers in Australia, North America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Her doctoral research explored the marginalization and erasure of women and LGBTQ+ Christians from religious histories in Australia. In this conversation, Karen shares about the kind of faith she grew up with and the deep sense of calling she had from a youn ..read more

Summary In this conversation, Will Small, Thomas Jay Oord, and Becca De Souza discuss open and relational theology, the challenges of suffering, and the process of deconstruction and reconstruction in faith. They also touch on the topic of LGBTQ+ affirmation within religious institutions. Thomas shares his personal journey from a classical theist position to open and relational theology, emphasizing the importance of understanding God's power as love. The conversation explores the need for a faith that embraces doubt and uncertainty while still providing comfort and meaning. They also discuss ..read more

Well hello again my friends!  If you’ve been listening in recent weeks I hope you have enjoyed these talks from Future Church Conference. I am excited to share that a few of us met this last week to start planning the next one — it’s going to be great. Follow New City Church or Spiritual Misfits on Instagram for a date announcement soon. This will be the last piece of content for now from the inaugural Future Church Conference — and it’s a little different. On the evening of the day we asked 5 different speakers to give a 7 minute pitch for an idea they think is vital for the future chur ..read more

Hello again friends!  The last few weeks there’s been less of my voice on the pod, which has probably been a refreshing change. However if you proceed with listening to this one, it is my talk from Future Church Conference. Which ironically strongly reinforces the point that you should listen to many voices other than mine. I won’t redo my talk in the intro spiel here — but you will hear both my slight discomfort and embrace of the topic I was asked to speak about.  Hey, if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, you would have heard me say that this year we are working on ..read more

Hello Spiritual Misfits!  This week I have another brilliant talk for you from Future Church conference which happened in January this year. We know the questions and themes we were exploring in the room that day are so pressing for many of us, and so it’s great to be able to share these talks with you if you weren’t able to join us.   A reminder that there will be another Future Church Conference — and if these talks are wetting your appetite to be in the room if possible, make sure you give New City Church a follow on social media, or drop an email to spiritualmisfits@outlook.com ..read more

Hello good people, In January this year…which feels like a long time ago right now….a group of us hosted the first ever Future Church conference. It was a fantastic day — we had people travel from South Australia, Queensland, Victoria…converging in Redfern Town Hall for an exploration of what the church of tomorrow could look like at its most expansive, welcoming and imaginative. We delved into some heavy topics, but it was a really inspiring and wonderful space of connection and possibility.  There will be another Future Church Conference — if you want to make sure you don’t miss any a ..read more

Growing up my understanding of Islam was largely informed by Christian sources telling me what was wrong.  I actually remember a book I owned called ‘why are there so many gods?’ In and of itself this is not a terrible question, but the contents of the book included a 1-2 page summary of all the major (and many minor) religions of the world. And at the end of each one it had ‘the catch’ - a couple short sentences on why it was false. Of course on the page about Christianity ‘the catch’ section said ‘there is none!’ These days I find the project a book like that is trying to engage in pr ..read more

Rachel Collis has often felt like the ‘non-Trekkie at the Star-Trek convention’ at church. Still, she has shown up over the years, through faith, doubt and everything in between. We explore her story as well as the powerful music she makes, closing our conversation with one of her songs, ‘the least of these.’ Check out more of Rachel’s work here: https://rachelcollis.com/ Sign up to our mailing list: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/ Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcast Support the pod: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/ Send u ..read more

We're adding a twist to our beloved Pub Theology episodes: bring a friend - who brings the topic. This time, Will has brought Carlynne Nunn. And Carlynne has brought shame and disappointment. Great topics for a lively ol' pub chat! Pour a drink of your choosing and join us for a rich and wide conversation about the dark and uncomfy things in life and faith.  Sign up to our mailing list: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/ Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcast Support the pod: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/ Send us an email ..read more

Dear friends,   If you are listening on the day this comes out, happy resurrection Sunday!  And if you are listening at any other time that’s cool because resurrection is not restricted to Easter Sunday. It pops up in all kinds of places, often where it's unexpected.  This conversation with Josephine McDonnell Inkpin is a wonderful reminder of that, and I am just delighted to share it with you.   Josephine was Australia’s first transgender priest, and she is the minister at Pitt St Uniting Church. As you will hear throughout this conversation she has a depth of wisdom ..read more