In this episode, host Paul Nixon interviews Dr. Candace Lewis, who leads Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. Candace has served as a church planter, led the Path 1 team resourcing United Methodist church planters globally, worked as a district superintendent, and now leads an institution preparing pastors for the twenty-first century. Paul asks her about an evocative address she gave to the FXUM gathering entitled, "We Can Do Hard Things." This address received an extended standing ovation. ...
Feb 21, 2024•53 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Paul Nixon interviews Patricia Peña of the Path 1 team. Patricia focuses on diversity in new ministry development in the UMC. Paul and Patricia discuss the future of ethnic ministries in the UMC, after so many churches disaffiliated.
Feb 07, 2024•40 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon and Beth Estock explore the concept of Edgewalking. Edgewalking church leaders have one foot firmly within the church, typically with strong core convictions and Christology, even as they engage with people beyond the church, gaining wisdom of perspective that helps the church in its mission. Beth and Paul are convinced that this Edgewalking concept is core to effective spiritual leadership in the 2020s. To learn more about Edgewalkers, see the 2006 book Edgewalkers b...
Jan 10, 2024•31 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon interviews Rodrigo Cruz and Nora Colmeneras of NETT Church near Atlanta. They discuss what they are learning about multicultural church and about church recovery from the pandemic season.
Dec 27, 2023•42 min
Does your church space sit empty during most of the week? Do you dream about it being used for the common good but don’t know how to begin? Listen to Beth Estock’s conversation with Cindy Thompson, Executive Director of Boundless Impact – a nonprofit that equips faith communities to build bridges into their community through creating pathways for equitable economic empowerment. Click here for more information on ImagineHub. https://www.boundlessimpact.org/imaginehub Here are some of Cindy’s favo...
Dec 13, 2023•35 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, Texas Conference church developer Melissa Maher visits with Paul Nixon about why addiction recovery groups were so resilient during the pandemic, even as churches struggled. It is a conversation full of surprises. But if you know much about twelve-step rooms, you will not be surprised that they are more proficient than many churches in terms of convening engaging and transformational community.
Nov 29, 2023•38 min
What if you got eight people together to give four hours a week and donate $50 a month to a new kind of ministry in your community? This is how INSPIRE began – that and a lot of listening to the neighborhood and God. If you have a great idea but not enough time or resources to make it happen, listen to this conversation with Barry Sloan, pastor at INSPIRE in Chemnitz, Germany, and you, too, will be inspired!
Nov 15, 2023•37 min
What does a peace corps volunteer with a culinary degree do when she is called into ministry? If you are a foodie with a heart for food justice, you won’t want to miss this conversation with Alyssa Densham, pastor of Provision Church Nova – a new Methodist Faith Community in Northern Virginia. In this episode, we talk about how a ministry can develop sources of support. This includes gathering gifted teams of people and multiple funding streams.
Nov 01, 2023•35 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon interviews Kevin Johnson, Director of Children's Ministries at Discipleship Ministries. Kevin has a bigger picture of the emerging face of children's ministry than perhaps any other person in the UMC. Paul wanted to learn from Kevin how churches who have lost so many of their young families can take action to reengage with children.
Oct 18, 2023•41 min
How well does your congregation know your community? And why is this important in a post-Christendom culture? Luke Edwards, a United Methodist minister with a background in social work, is a cultivator of new forms of church in Western North Carolina as the associate director of Church Development. He is the author of “Becoming Church: A Trail Guide for Starting Fresh Expressions.” He has a newsletter called "The Listening Church" that you can find on Substack. Luke offers practices to help any ...
Oct 04, 2023•29 min
What do you do when your church building is falling down and you have no money for repairs? Pierceton UMC in Indiana just put their building up for auction! In this episode of Church is Changing, we explore some funky spirit-lead things happening in Warsaw, Indiana with Carolyn Kern – a passionate, innovative pastor in a two-point charge. She offers a master class on how to get involved in the community – from partnering with a brewpub to leading cardio drumming classes. You won't want to miss t...
Sep 20, 2023•36 min
In this episode, host Paul Nixon interviews Michael Beck, the director of FXUM (Fresh Expressions United Methodist). Paul and Michael explore the changing face of church and look at why and how Fresh Expressions are reaching so many Americans who would seldom wander into a church building.
Sep 06, 2023•34 min
Suzanne and Michael Katschke lead Heritage UMC in Madison, Alabama, a relatively young church that was hit hard by the pandemic, losing about half their weekly participants. Yet, they have built back, in large part due to a community sports ministry, with many games played on open fields on their church property. This episode explores how to build relationships with kids and families post-pandemic - a group conspicuously absent in many churches.
Aug 23, 2023•34 min
In this episode, hosts Paul Nixon and Beth Estock reflect on trends that have set in with churches post-pandemic, and look at ways that churches are adapting to a very different era of ministry.
Aug 09, 2023•38 min
In this episode of the Church is Changing podcast, host Paul Nixon takes us to Lexington, Nebraska to meet three United Methodists: a pastor, a high school principal, and an HR director at a meat processing plant. This is an amazing conversation on loving our newest neighbors in the USA, as about eighty percent of the plant workers are immigrants from forty nations!
Jul 26, 2023•33 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon interviews retired clergywoman Margie McNier, who at the age of 83, just planted Amarillo United Methodist Church. This is a story of a woman who saw every United Methodist church in her community disaffiliate, including a place where she had served on staff. This story should inspire us all about what is possible when disaffiliation occurs, as well as what is possible simply when God's call settles upon our hearts and minds.
Jun 14, 2023•29 min
Rebecca Anderson co-pastors two churches with Vince Amlin – an inherited church in the morning and a new start church on Sunday afternoons. She offers a unique perspective on the changing landscape of church – its structures, communities, and worship. Gilead Chicago got its start before COVID-19 as a community that tells true stories that saves lives, throws great parties, and worships beautifully. This new ministry is supported by the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ. Anderso...
May 17, 2023•41 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Paul Nixon interviews Justin Cason, pastor of an online church based in Indiana. Justin has been working with Paul and with Mission Insite in the creation of a heat map website (www.heatmap.church) where folks can upload information about new and innovative ministries they are a part of, and where they can find connection to others doing similar work across America.
May 03, 2023•31 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon interviews Pastor Donna Sokol of Washington, D.C., about ever-changing ministry in a downtown context, working with eclectic people in an environment where organized religion is increasingly seen as suspect. Donna is co-author with Roger Owens of A New Day in the City: Urban Church Revival.
Apr 19, 2023•33 min
This Easter season, Paul Nixon gathered four pastors from four western conferences in The United Methodist Church whose churches shared some powerful things in common. These churches live a different narrative than so many in this season where church sanctuaries are mostly emptier than pre-Covid and where disaffiliation troubles are distracting from the work of local ministry. These churches are remarkably different in terms of the communities they serve, but they all are growing as they discove...
Apr 05, 2023•43 min
In this episode, Paul Nixon visits with Salina, Kansas pastors Nick Talbott and Eric Meyer, who are partnering two churches with Kansas Wesleyan University to totally revision their church’s ministries. Their work offers an example of a twenty-first century paradigm shift that is breathing new life into United Methodism in Salina and far beyond.
Mar 22, 2023•29 min
What do we have to unlearn in order to show up to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our midst? How does leadership shift when moving into a "new wineskin" church? How can we use the art of discernment to inform ministry engagement? These questions animate this conversation with Ray Altman. Ray is from North Central San Antonio in the Rio Texas Annual conference. He is a United Methodist pastor of the New Wineskins Micro Church Movement. You can find out more about New Wineskins at https://disco...
Mar 08, 2023•40 min
How do ministries with Native Americans reveal how traditional evangelism and new church starts orient out of a colonial approach to ministry? And what does that call into question about how we "do" church or even if church really matters? Listen in on this engaging conversation with Rev. Dr. Allen Buck, pastor of Great Spirit United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon. Allen is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and is also the director of the Circle of Indigenous Ministries for the Greater Nor...
Feb 22, 2023•41 min
Nicole Reilley has done all sorts of things in ministry over the decades, with one continuous theme: everything she has touched has tended to thrive, including her suburban Los Angeles congregation during the pandemic. In this episode of Church is Changing, Paul Nixon interviews Nicole on what she is seeing and learning in the 2020s.
Feb 08, 2023•33 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Paul Nixon interviews Andy Fishburne, the Discipleship and Spiritual Formation Officer for the Methodist Church in Britain. We explore some new models for making discipleship tangible and practical for modern people. For more information on Fishburne's work: www.methodist.org.uk/discipleship.
Jan 25, 2023•28 min
In this New Year's episode of Church is Changing, hosts Paul Nixon and Beth Estock explore the big picture of the changes they saw globally in church life in 2022.
Jan 11, 2023•36 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Beth Estock interviews Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth, recently elected bishop in the Western Jurisdiction of the UMC and appointed to serve the Greater Northwest Area that includes the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In this podcast we move from the complexities of 21st century living to the simplicity of the core of the Gospel with the idea that innovation begins as a metanoia. This change of perspective unfolds through attending to rela...
Dec 28, 2022•38 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Beth Estock talks with Brittany Isaac, the superintendent of the Lake North District in the Northern Illinois Conference of The United Methodist Church. Brittany cut her ministry teeth as a scrappy church planter for the third site of Urban Village in Chicago twelve years ago. Now into her last full year as a district superintendent, she shares her perspective on what is needed both structurally and spiritually to support innovation and thrive in the B...
Dec 14, 2022•33 min
On this episode of Church is Changing, host Paul Nixon converses with both Kenda Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary and Michael Beck, Executive Director of Fresh Expressions United Methodist (FXUM). In this far-ranging conversation, Paul explores emerging trends in the Christian faith community with two leaders who work on the innovative front lines.
Nov 30, 2022•31 min
In this episode of Church is Changing, host Paul Nixon interviews Mike Baughman, who works with innovation related to United Methodist Higher Education and Ministry. Paul asks Mike to reflect on his years as founding pastor of Union Coffee in Dallas. He reflects on the opportunity for the UMC to partner with emerging leaders who have out-of-the-box notions of church.
Nov 16, 2022•42 min
