Disruptive Dialogues On the Future Of Religion

Troy and Heidi explore recent statistics on church decline in the SBC and Episcopal churches and reflect on what mindsets may be the root cause of the decline. 

Heidi interviews Wendi Bellar, her co-author of the new book Digital Religion-The Basics on how religion is practiced in digital culture.

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https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Religion-The-Basics/Campbell-Bellar/p/book/9780367528102

Heidi interviews Dr. Steven Garner on how gamers explore spirituality in different game worlds.

Heidi interviews Kathy DiSanto on her journey to becoming a "done" which provides insight into why committed Christians are leaving the church.

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Mapping the Rise of the Dones Survey: http://bitly.ws/w9S9 

Troy breaksdown the many ways in which we can creatively give to our own communities during the holidays.

Troy interviews Hector Ramos about the state of the church coming out of the pandemic. 

Troy and Heidi talk about the implications of the move away from Christianity in the US as predicted by a recent 2022 PEW study.

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2019 report: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ 

2022 Report: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/

Troy and Heidi discuss the coming post-Christian move in the US according to PEW's "Modeling the Future of Religion in America" report.

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What on EARTH is the Church Doing?: A dynamic look at the post-pandemic church in a post-Christian culture 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FC8C9K9

2019 Report:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ 

2022 Report:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/

Troy and Heidi discuss communion: what it is, who it is for, and how churches see it differently.

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Are You Spiritual, But Not Religious? podcast: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/eq4mn4 

What on EARTH is the Church Doing? by Troy Shepherd: https://www.amazon.com/What-EARTH-Church-Doing-post-Christian/dp/B09FC8C9K9

Heidi interviews Steve Taylor, theologian and educator, on the topic of the state of the church in New Zealand

Troy interviews Mark Jordan, a chaplain & congregational care pastor at his local church, about a place called Imagine Diversity. A place where people are valued and unity is appreciated.

Imagine Diversity email: imaginediversityid@gmail.com

Heidi interviews Grace Jones, a PhD student at Texas A&M University studying history, about their book chapter on posthuman visions of technology and how pastors discussions of online church echo some of these same beliefs.

Heidi interviews Scott Thumma, Director of the Epic Project at Hartford International Seminary, on the long-term challenges churches encounter when moving to online services.

Heidi talks with @conniemerhley about the impact that blessing boxes can have on your community and getting your faith community involved.

Heidi introduces findings from the Tech In Churches report on the digital divide and its impacts on congregations during the pandemic. 

Tech Trend Paper 3: The Digital Divide, Digital Reluctance and Its Impact on Pandemic Churches https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/195938

Heidi interviews her father, John Campbell about his history with Christianity and his relationship with how he views church today.

Troy and Chris Liotta continue their conversation on ways to live beyond the walls of the church.

Troy talks with Chris Liotta, pastor of Rivergate church, about refreshing perspectives on ways to live out church.

After viewing the Hillsong documentary, Troy and Heidi discuss the complexity of the celebrity pastor role within a church environment.

We use the recent Hillsong documentary to tackle the true motivations behind volunteerism in the church.

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/disruptivedialogues/support

Troy and Heidi discuss whether innovation in the church has become more important than imitating what God is doing.

Troy reacts to a study on traits needed to be an effective digital pastor, and whether pastors should take on the role of an entrepreneur.

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Embracing Pastoral Entrepreneurship during the Pandemic: Traits needed to be an Effective Digital Pastor:

https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/195453

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/disruptivedialogues/support

Bala Musa speaks about his thoughts from his chapter Digital Technology and Mediating the Spirit in the book "Ecclesiology for a Digital Church."

In this episode, we tackle the question regarding whether the church has bought into a business-focused model and how that is impacting the future of a post-pandemic church.

Troy and Heidi discuss ways you can use your creativity in your community in the year ahead.

Troy tackles the topic of church attendance and how to determine whether attendance is still furthering the aim of today's churches.

In this episode, we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the podcast by reflecting on what it means to engage in a constructive disruptive dialogue on religion. We illustrate this by unpacking a recent Twitter conversation debating whose rights come first in American Christianity.

We explore the extent that religion becomes associated with selfishness and a culture of meanness and what impact this has on the church.

In the final part of a 4 part series, we discuss the difference between public faith and private faith in a post-Christian world. Does public faith equate predominately to civil religion or nationalism, and is private faith the sole responsibility of the church?

In part 3 of a 4 part series, we tackle the question of how churches may be ignoring outreach opportunities. We challenge the idea of digital ministry being focused around doing church online while thinking about what it would look like to be an outreach community that also does services in a digital age.

Second episode of a 4 part series exploring whether the church has lost its mission and the understanding of the Great Commission.

First episode in a series of 4 looking at notable trends impacting the church. Here we deal with changes related to church membership.