We hear so much about how we are an increasingly aging society and an aging church. The focus often falls on the challenges that brings, but that reality also offers enormous possibilities for ministry and outreach through the local church if w

Ministry Taster Day 2024

Mar 6th, 2024 9m 12s

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) is holding a Ministry Taster Day on Saturday, 16 March 2024. The special open day is for men and women who have been thinking, and praying about, becoming ordained ministers in PCI and feel that God is l

077 – Starting from Scratch

Dec 6th, 2023 38m 13s

All around the world, people are on the move, displaced from their homes by conflict, natural disasters, persecution, and land grabbing. In this podcast episode, Pip Florit, PCI’s Mission Support Officer for Partnerships talks to Rev Richard Ke

076 – Refreshing your leadership

Sep 20th, 2023 44m 39s

Leading in the church today can bring lots of encouragements and joy – lives transformed, people growing as disciples, a sense of purpose and community. But leading in the church can also feel difficult. Emerging from the retreat and restrictio

075 – Discipleshaping Church Today

Sep 6th, 2023 42m 40s

The world today can be overwhelming. Culture wars. Constant connectedness. Covid’s impact. A changing church landscape. Crisis after crisis local and globally. The list of challenges impacting how people faithfully follow Jesus goes on. So, h

074: Previewing the 2023 General Assembly

Jun 14th, 2023 48m 35s

The 2023 General Assembly opens on the evening of the longest day of the year, Wednesday, 21 June, and will run until Saturday afternoon, 24 June.In this episode, four guests, each with different roles in next week’s gathering, look ahead to

073 – The Unfinished Work of Peace

May 3rd, 2023 26m 48s

Over the past few weeks, much attention has been drawn to the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement with many visiting dignitaries and special events across Belfast and further afield. In this podcast episode, Karen Jardine (P

072 – Families on the fringes of Church life

Apr 19th, 2023 44m 32s

The world is a different place now than it was three years ago. Church is not the automatic place to come to for community and relationship building. No longer does the mantra of “if we open the doors, they will come” hold true. There are many

071 – Exploring ways of being transformed in Christ

Apr 5th, 2023 45m 20s

Ahead of Presbyterian Women’s Annual Conference, this podcast considers the conference theme, Being Transformed which is based on Romans 12:2 - “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” We

070 – Disciple Shaped Lives, Disciple Shaped Church

Feb 15th, 2023 38m 59s

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus calls his first disciples: “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Since this first invitation to follow, be transformed and commissioned into the mission of Christ, billions more people have sought to follow Jes

069 – Sharing Faith: Growing in Confidence

Jan 18th, 2023 41m 1s

The first podcast episode of 2023 explores how many Presbyterians have a deep relationship with Christ but find themselves tongue tied in talking about their faith with friends, colleagues and neighbours. Philip Houston (Ballykelly Presbyterian

068 – Parenting teenagers today

Nov 30th, 2022 50m 46s

Being a parent of a teenager has never been easy, but many parents are seeing additional challenges and stresses for their young people and may wonder how to do the best job of supporting them at this time. This podcast begins with the voices o

067 – Children's Discipleship

Nov 16th, 2022 31m 37s

Children’s discipleship is nothing new but in light of the last two years and looking to the future, it is something that we need to prioritise more in the months and years ahead. Teaching children Bible stories, facts about God, and how to beh

066 – Back Together Again and Getting Going Again

Nov 2nd, 2022 38m 23s

We are in a strange, kind of, in-between moment just now. On the one hand we feel like we have edged well out from the worst days of the pandemic and the lockdowns and the restrictions on what we were able to do. Whilst on the other we find our

065 – Restored: Tending the soul in the wake of the pandemic

Oct 19th, 2022 32m 46s

The last two and a half years have been hard on all of us. Since the emergence of Covid-19, Presbyterian churches across Ireland have been faced with the significant challenge of how to biblically and pastorally respond well to the avalanche of

064 – Urban and Estates Ministry

Oct 5th, 2022 49m 53s

Ministry in urban centres and housing estates presents unique challenges and opportunities for the church to show and share the love of Christ to a community in need. PCI’s Urban Mission Network seeks to support and encourage those ministering

063 – Responding pastorally to the pandemic

Sep 21st, 2022 40m 53s

Even though the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact have slipped down our news feeds with the cost of living crisis, the appointment of a new UK Prime Minister and the death of the Queen, and the Accession of King Charles to the throne, its effect

062 – Bible for all

Sep 7th, 2022 31m 36s

In celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into everyday language, Union Theological College is organizing a series of events called Bible for All to tell the story of how God’s Word in Scripture

061 – Expressing our faith

Jun 29th, 2022 17m 23s

In the last episode before a summer break, regular podcast hosts Rick Hill and Neil Harrison take the chance to chat together. Their conversation focuses around the general theme of helping disciples of Jesus express their faith within every-da

060 – The General Assembly 2022

Jun 15th, 2022 47m 12s

As annual events retake their familiar place in the calendar, next week the General Assembly meets in Belfast, from Wednesday, 22 to Saturday, 25 June. It will be the first time since 2019 that it has been able to meet in its usual month and ma

059 – A Time to Plant

May 25th, 2022 14m 34s

This episode was recorded at the church planting conference, ‘A time to plant’, organised by the Council for Mission in Ireland that took place earlier in May in Dundalk. The conversation captures much of the energy, enthusiasm, and spirit of t

058 – Service and Leadership

May 11th, 2022 30m 9s

If you find yourself asking, 'Where have all our leaders gone?' then this conversation is worth a listen. Here, Rick Hill chats to David Thompson from the Council of Congregational Life and Witness and Christine Craig, elder elect in Kilbride P

057 – Reshaping our thinking about women’s ministry

Apr 27th, 2022 35m 35s

It is increasingly apparent that there is a growing generational gap within women’s ministry that makes it more and more difficult to build an effective ministry to women of all ages. How can we think differently about women’s ministry and what

056 – Refuge – A focus on Ukraine

Apr 13th, 2022 32m 10s

This week’s episode seeks to shine a light on the experience of refugees in Ukraine and the response on the ground by the Hungarian Reformed Church. We hear from Rev Nigel Craig, PCI Global Mission Worker in Hungary and Réka Gilicze who works w

055 – Let’s talk about young adults

Mar 30th, 2022 38m 4s

This conversation flows out of a recent event held in Assembly Buildings for young adults called NOW. This evening event focused on the themes of discipleship, church engagement, and friendship to help the 18-25-year-olds present reflect on the