Podcast

The Together with God Podcast explores issues of faith, family and church in today’s world. As well as exploring how parents model faith within the home, we’ll share conversations on a range of issues in family ministry, with each podcast featuring an interview with a thinker or practitioner on faith and the family. Issues we hope to cover include the church as family, ministering to dads, technology in the home, intergenerational church, and the impact of the sexual revolution. Sign up on iTunes to receive our regular monthly podcast.

 Helping Churches Support Faith in the Home (with Amy Kippen). Amy Kippen is an American writer and speaker on faith formation in the home, and serves as a Coach and Resource Specialist for Faith Inkubators (http://www.faithink.com). In today’s interview, recorded at the inaugural InterGenerate Conference in America (www.intergenerateconference.com), Amy talks about the challenges parents in America face in passing on the faith, the ‘Faith5’ model, and ways to change the culture of the church to support family faith formation.

Loving God with Head and Heart (with Robin Barfield). Today’s guest is Robin Barfield, an Associate Minister for children and families in Christ Church Wharton and the Chair of NWYouthWorks for the North West Partnership (www.northwestpartnership.com). Robin is also the co-author of Sunday DIY (10ofThose, 2013) and is currently pursuing a PhD exploring approaches to children’s spirituality. In our conversation today, we talk about different models of children’s spiritual formation, the importance of the ‘heart’ as well as the ‘head’, and the need to encourage children’s imagination.

Storytelling and the Bible (with Bob Hartman). Bob Hartman is a performance storyteller and author who also runs storytelling workshops for children and adults. Bob’s books include the Lion Storyteller Bible, Dinner in the Lion’s Den, and Anyone Can Tell a Bible Story. In today’s podcast, we talk about the importance of stories for faith, the role of playfulness in Bible reading, and how parents – and anyone – can learn to tell Bible stories. Bob also shares a short story on the Resurrection!

Integrating Children in the Life of the Church (with Dan Maton). Dan Maton is an elder at City Church in Sheffield (www.citychurchsheffield.org.uk), a church that includes children and young people in each act of worship. In today’s podcast, we talk about City Church’s vision for the discipleship of families and young people, the impact of worshipping together on parents and children, and how the church can help nurture faith within the home.

Parenting for Faith (with Rachel Turner). Rachel Turner is the Parenting for Faith Pioneer for the Bible Reading Fellowship and has written a number of books, including Parenting Children for a Life of Faith and Comfort in the Darkness. In today’s podcast, we talk about the challenges of nurturing faith within the home, the importance of modelling faith as parents, integrating the ‘head’ and the ‘heart,’ and helping our children learn to pray. For more about Rachel, visit www.rachelturner.org.uk

Parents Passing on Faith (with Sarah Holmes). Sarah Holmes is a lecturer in Early Childhood Studies and has recently completed a PhD on the impact that Christian parents have on their children’s faith. In our conversation today, we discuss insights from Sarah’s research, including the challenges of Christian parenthood, faith in the home, and the importance of the Bible for Christian nurture.

Family Worship and the Gospel (with Nate Morgan Locke). Nate Morgan Locke is the Children’s and Youth Minister at St Barts Church in Bath and an Associate Evangelist at Christianity Explored. In this podcast, Nate explores the gospel as the foundation for family worship while also identifying obstacles that parents face and the value of a simple approach. Nate also chats about his own faith journey, including his upbringing in Narnia…

Close to Home: Families and Church with Graeme Thompson. Graeme Thompson is the Youth Development Officer for the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and has helped to create Close to Home, a resource that seeks to help churches keep children and young people ‘at home’ within the life of the church . In today’s podcast, Graeme shares thoughts on a range of topics, including covenant theology, faith in the home, intergenerational church, and helping young people engage with doctrine and the Sacraments! Click to find out more about Close to Home.

Building Faith at Home with Jane Butcher. In today’s podcast, we interview Jane Butcher. Jane is the Coordinator of ‘Faith in Homes’ for the Bible Reading Fellowship and has written a number of books – including Family Fun for Christmas – to help families engage with the seasons of the year. Jane discusses building faith in the everyday life of the home, engaging with the seasons of the year, and how best to encourage and support families in the life of faith.

For our inaugural podcast, we interview Mark Chester, founder of Who Let the Dads Out? (www.wholetthedadsout.org.uk). Mark shares his perspective on faith and fatherhood, and we explore questions such as how do we reach dads in our community? What are the challenges for dads in modeling faith in the home? And how can all men in the church be ‘father figures’?