Matt Russell planted Mercy Street about 15 years ago in the US. Starting from scratch it quickly grew to around a 1000, many of whom were recovering addicts. The church developed a culture of gritty authenticity and honesty. Needless to say, he's got a very interesting story to tell and much wisodm to share! “Anytime you draw a line in the sand and say, ‘All the Christians on this side of the line,’ you’ll leave Jesus on the wrong side of the line all the time. Because he will not forsake the wo...
Dec 09, 2012•45 min•Ep. 55
Andrew Marin grew up in a conservative church, and much to his surprise developed a calling and passion to build bridges between the Church and the LGBTQ community. So he moved into a gay part of town, and spent all his time getting to know people in gay bars. Ss you can imagine, there's plenty for us to learn from the remarkable journey he's been on. “Christians love to hang out with other Christians. I’m over it. Get outside your church, stop hanging out with Christians, have actual friends in...
Nov 08, 2012•44 min•Ep. 54
John Hayes is founder and director of the mission order InnerChange . InnerChange supports missional communities who are living incarnationally in the poorest areas of cities around the world. So brace yourself for a challenging and inspiring interview! “Be content to be an ordinary bush burning with extraordinary fire. Christians get in danger when they try to be an extraordinary bush and then all [they] can give is ordinary fire.” - John Hayes Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s tho...
Oct 09, 2012•38 min•Ep. 53
Inspired by a glorious summer of sport, Nomad thought we'd bring you a story that seamlessly links mission and sport. So we met up with the Amos Trust's Chris Rose. Chris has got an amazing story to tell of gathering together street child from around the world for a football World Cup! Hard to believe I know, but it happened! Tune in to find out more. “One of the boys in South Africa said, ‘When people see me standing by the roadside, they see me as a street boy. When they see me play football, ...
Sep 10, 2012•41 min•Ep. 52
Mike Sares is a fairly normal, middle-aged, middle class type of guy. But he somehow managed to connect with a group of young artists and skater punks and planted and pastors the Denver based church Scum of the Earth . It's an inspiring story of cross-cultural mission, community and new forms of church. “I have never in my life felt more alive in Christ, more used by him, more in tune with what he wants, more encouraged to take risks for his kingdom than I have since I’ve been doing ministry on ...
Aug 09, 2012•37 min•Ep. 51
Ian Adams co-founded mayBe, a fresh expression of church in Oxford. He also works for the Church Mission Society as a missional community developer. So we thought he'd be the right chap to talk about how to start new forms of church. “For me, one of the great theological recoveries or rediscoveries of the last few decades has been this idea of ‘Missio Dei’ – the mission is God’s. We used to think it’s all about us; no, it’s not all about us. God is doing God’s thing. What we need to try and do i...
Jul 09, 2012•32 min•Ep. 50
Liz Babbs is an author, speaker and evangelist and one who has been deeply influenced by celtic spirituality. So we chat with Liz about celtic spirituality and its potential as a tool for mission. “Values such as hospitality, the sense of celebration, honouring the saints and actually admiring the saints and looking at how they’ve walked their lives as a form of inspiration rather than just ignoring them…that’s all part of the richness of Celtic Christianity.” - Liz Babbs Books, quotes, links → ...
Jun 10, 2012•36 min•Ep. 49
Chris Wright is an Old Testament scholar who reckons the biblical narrative only makes sense if mission is seen as its overarching theme. So we test this theory with him and ask him to explain some of the trickier Old Testament stories! Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Boo...
May 12, 2012•46 min•Ep. 48
Andrea Campanale is a Church Mission Society 'Mission Partner'. Andrea does some really interesting work among people involved in the new spiritualties. This has caused her to reflect deeply on mission and what it means to be church. “A lot of the time we try and impose what we think or what we expect people to experience rather than just creating an environment where they can experience God for themselves.” - Andrea Campanale Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free co...
Apr 24, 2012•32 min•Ep. 47
A couple of decades ago Tony and Felicity Dale felt called to move from the UK to the US to plant a church. As you can imagine, it's been quite a journey (in all senses of the word!) and they've learnt stacks about what it means to be church. One of the big lessons they've learnt is that we need to radically simplfy church. “Jesus talked a lot about making disciples and very little about building church.” - Tony Dale Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is e...
Apr 10, 2012•43 min•Ep. 46
It's hard to measure the impact Nicky Gumbel has had on the worldwide church. He pioneered the Alpha Course as an evangelistic introduction to the Christian life. It is estimated that over 15 million people have now attended a course. So we thought it was high time we had a chat with Mr Alpha, and find out what the future of this course might be in our rapidly changing culture. “Some people are really interested in the question, ‘Is it true?’ A lot more people these days are interested in the qu...
Mar 11, 2012•41 min•Ep. 45
Phil Togwell is part of the 24/7 Prayer , an internatinal, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice. Over the last few years Phil's been involved in setting up spaces in schools for children to honestly and naturally begin to connect with God. It's an inspiring story! “I think so often in most of our church lives, everything is done for us. But as soon as we behave like a New Testament church – ‘a priesthood of all believers’ – where we all have access to God and discover that...
Feb 24, 2012•37 min•Ep. 44
Pete Ward is senior lecturer in youth ministry and theological education at King's College, London. About 10 years ago now Pete wrote Liquid Church , and it turned out to be rather influential. Pete's theories have stuck around and shaped the views of many people interested in new forms of church. So Nomad thought they'd better find out a bit more. “There’s been a centripetal movement in church life where church as we know it seems to be the vehicle through which you do all these things like eva...
Feb 10, 2012•42 min•Ep. 43
Tim and Dave were in Leeds recently and so thought they'd catch up with Simon Hall of the Revive community. So tune in to hear the story of Simon's journey into new forms of mission and Christian community (it's a rich tapestry!), and the various manifestations of Revive . “I found that we don’t talk about what a whole human being is…In technical terms, we don’t have a theological anthropology. So, if we don’t know what it is we’re aiming for, then maybe it’s no surprise the sort of hodgepodge o...
Jan 24, 2012•32 min•Ep. 42
Tim's leaving Dave at home for this episode and heading north with Hannah to Loyola Hall for a 5-day silent retreat. We know what you're thinking, a 5-day silent retreat might not make the most engaging podcast! But Tim will be recording a daily reflection on his experiences and then at the end of the retreat will interview Ruth Holgate, the director of the centre, about the spirituality of silence. “Ignatian spirituality is very much about being contemplative in action, so the purpose of the co...
Jan 10, 2012•50 min•Ep. 41
Chris Sunderland is involved in all manner of Jesus-inspired community stuff, but we're particularly interested in his Earth Abbey project. Earth Abbey is a movement of people helping each other live more in tune with the earth. So dust off you wellies and prepare to get muddy, Jesus style! “These problems that are bearing down on the earth are not just climate change, not just big oil; they’re not just erosion of soils or the loss of the rainforest, or whatever – it’s all of them, and it’s to d...
Dec 10, 2011•40 min•Ep. 40
Mark Powley is founder of Breathe , a Christian network that encourages and resources simpler living. Mark is all about simple living and resisting the lure of our consumer culture (or as Breathe puts it, 'less stuff, more life'), so we talk to Mark about how we can go about a Consumer Detox. Prepare to be challenged! “Consumer culture isolates and fragments us into individual consuming units. It means we’re less faithful to one another; we’re less linked with institutions, with communities.” - ...
Nov 10, 2011•38 min•Ep. 39
New Testament scholar extraordinaire, Tom Wright (how does he write so many books?!) is back on the show. This time Tom's helping us get our heads round the connection between academics and the local church and what exactly our Christian hope is (we might go to heaven when we die, but we're certainly not going to stay there!). “The whole notion of the Kingdom of God is not about God being king over this individual, that individual, whatever. It’s about God becoming king in a fresh way over the w...
Oct 08, 2011•29 min•Ep. 38
Nomad is back (I know, you didn't even notice we'd gone)! The old team has stood down, but new boy Dave Ward (along with founding Nomad Podcaster, Tim Nash) has bravely stepped into the fray! This episode is an introduction to Dave and his journey from youth worker to farrier and from traditional church to new forms of mission and church. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting ...
Sep 10, 2011•25 min•Ep. 37
After two and a half years, the stresses and strains of massive global success (if only!) have taken their toll and the original Nomad team have decided to call it a day. So tune in for some final reflections on their online and offline journey. But fear not, the journey will continue (is that a gas forge I hear...) Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to ...
Jul 10, 2011•15 min•Ep. 36
Pete Greig is one of the founders of the hugely influential 24/7 Prayer , an international, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice. He's also Directer of Prayer for Holy Trinity, Brompton (you know, the church where Alpha came from). We talk to Pete about the phenomenal success of this innovative prayer movement, and how it relates to mission and new forms of church. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally ...
Jun 10, 2011•33 min•Ep. 35
Back in 2011 we interviewed Mike Pilavachi, the co-founder and leader of the Soul Survivor charity and Soul Survivor festival. In 2023 stories about his abusive behaviour began to emerge. After an investigation the allegations were substantiated with the report concluding "that he used his spiritual authority to control people and that his coercive and controlling behaviour led to inappropriate relationships, the physical wrestling of youths and massaging of young male interns.” The report also ...
Apr 10, 2011•31 min•Ep. 34
Steve Hollinghurst works for the Church Army's Research Unit as their 'Researcher in Evangelism to Post-Christian Culture' and has extensive experience in working with people involved in the new spiritualities. Steve chats to us about some of the issues he raises in his new book Mission-Shaped Evangelism: The Gospel in Contemporary Culture . Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporti...
Mar 20, 2011•41 min•Ep. 33
Cathy Ross is lecturer in contextual theology and pioneer leadership and is the General Secretary for the International Association for Mission Studies. So Cathy seemed like a pretty good person to talk to about how women have been overlooked in mission, both overseas and at home. She explores how this came about and what can be done about it. She also recommends some resources to help us dig deeper into this important issue. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free con...
Feb 10, 2011•28 min•Ep. 32
Neil Cole is the founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates , which has helped start many hundreds of churches in thirty-five states of America and in over thirty other nations. We talk to Neil about why we need to multiply churches and how we go about this. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Belo...
Jan 10, 2011•43 min•Ep. 31
Scott Boren, among other things, has spent the last 20 years working as a small group consultant. Scott works with churches to help them develop effective community through small groups that are on a mission. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus epis...
Nov 10, 2010•35 min•Ep. 30
Ruth Valerio manages A Rocha's Living Lightly project, which encourages us to live greener and simpler lives. Ruth talks to us about the importance of environmental concern in Christian living and mission, and offers some resources to help us get to grips with these issues. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved List...
Oct 10, 2010•34 min•Ep. 29
Kester Brewin is one of the pioneers of the alternative worship scene in the UK and one of the founding members of the Vaux community. His book The Complex Christ was hailed as one of the most important texts on the emerging church movement. We talk to Kester about what the emerging church can learn from pirates, and the importance of churches being temporary places. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonder...
Sep 10, 2010•46 min•Ep. 28
Ian Mobsby is an Anglican priest who is a leading voice in the UK emerging church and New Monasticism scene. He's also one of the founding members of the Moot community in London. We chat with Ian about what church and mission might look like in a post-secular culture. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener ...
Jul 10, 2010•39 min•Ep. 27
Nigel Pimlott is author of Youth Work After Christendom , and is deputy CEO for Frontier Youth Trust. We chat to Nigel about youth work and how it relates to mission and the emerging church. After this, we'll discuss as a group how it applies to us, and review Nigel's book. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved List...
Jun 10, 2010•49 min•Ep. 26
