Vital and Thriving: Where the Church meets the World Center for Church Innovation

How do we trust and stay with a process when our destination is unclear? Today we explore the daunting and delightful space in between — be that between certainty and trust, control and acceptance, or us and God — with ELCA pastor and spiritual leader the Rev. Beth Horsch. As the newest member of the Vital+Thriving Congregations Leadership Team, Rev. Beth offers listeners hope and perspective as someone who moved through this process over ten years ago in her own congregation and continues to see it bear fruit in the life of the community. Reflecting on how difficult it is for people trained to identify a goal and then benchmark progress toward it to give themselves over to a genuine process of spiritual discernment, Rev. Beth peppers this episode with helpful reframes, good humor, and generous companionship. Don't miss this encouraging reminder of the abundant life that God longs for us all to enjoy, here and now. 

We are thrilled to welcome to the show yet another Episcopal Bishop, this time from our home state of California! The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook is a national leader in evangelism, church growth, and church planting currently serving as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. After serving established congregations early in her ordained ministry, she planted a church in Scottsdale, Arizona, which went on to become a thriving congregation. In this deeply hopeful and imminently practical conversation, Bishop Susan reflects on the spiritual practices that make for vital Christian communities, whether new or longstanding, such as connecting with our neighbors, deepening authentic relationship within and beyond our community, engaging in spiritual practices that center God, and looking for God already at work in our world. We also explore insights and frameworks from her wonderful book God Gave the Growth: Church Planting in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Susan proclaims the hope of the resurrection with her words and her witness, reminding us that there is no situation through which God cannot bring new life. Don't miss this truly inspiring episode with one our church's most visionary leaders. 

In our latest episode, Scot and Claire are joined by the Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, Vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, former Dean of Duke University Chapel, and the author of forty-six books on Christian ethics, mission, and more. This deep and wide-ranging conversation invites us to rethink almost everything we know about being church. What if God doesn't want, need or expect us to have answers to the world's most pressing problems but rather longs for us to be with ourselves, one another, and creation after the example of Jesus? What if the most urgent challenges of our times aren't crises of limitation but crises of isolation? What if church were a place of mutual enjoyment for all who gather? What if we moved from a narrative of scarcity to an experience of God's abundance? Get ready to look again at the most familiar aspects of your congregation, and your life, and see them anew. Don't miss this inspiring conversation with one today's most visionary leaders on Christian mission. 

Our first episode of 2024 invites us to move deeper into the daunting and delightful wisdom of Luke 10, the text within which our congregations have been dwelling for many months now. Joining us on the way is Dr. Scott Hagley, associate professor of world evangelism and missiology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of the book, Eat What is Set Before You: A Missiology of the Congregation in Context, a beautifully written invitation to take seriously what it means to participate in God’s mission in our own unique time and place. In this honest and wide-ranging discussion, we explore why it is so hard for many American Christians to move from host to guest, to find our place at God's table in our neighborhood, and to shift from seeing ourselves as experts and change-agents to simply being bearers of God's love and light in our particular neighborhoods. Don't miss this humbling and ultimately hopeful conversation!

Our new season kicks off with an honest and courageous conversation with the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, ninth bishop of the Diocese of Washington (D.C.). The author of several books, among them the 2023 release How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, Bishop Mariann occupies a unique role in our church as a spiritual leader in our nation's capital. She is refreshingly visionary and humble in her writing and leadership, reflecting with a welcome vulnerability on her own experiences of disappointment and discernment, as well as the gifts and costs that come with following Jesus. In this season of anticipation and new beginnings, as we draw nearer to the joy of Christmas and move toward welcoming our bishop-elect, her words are an encouragement to be braver in speech and action alike. Don't miss this compelling Advent offering!

In our final episode of the season, we're thrilled to welcome organizer and environmentalist Rob Hopkins, co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and author of several books, including From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want. In this broad ranging conversation, we explore the power of imagination, the importance of play, the cultivation of hope, and how our longing for a more beautiful future can bring us together and move us into action. Traversing a wide variety of topics, rooted in research and personal experience, this discussion manages to be both profoundly grounded and relentlessly inspiring all at once. Don't miss this uplifting close to our second season.