Pulpit Politics, Accessibility & Diversity, and Women's Sport

Should we allow politics in the pulpit? Does the church have a diversity problem? Should transgender athletes compete in women's sport? In this episode of In:Dependence, Phil Topham (FIEC Executive Director), Rachel Sloan (FIEC Director for Women's Ministry), and John Stevens (FIEC National Director) discuss some of the biggest stories in the news from the past two weeks. 00:00 - Introduction 00:25 - Are the byelections a sign of what's to come? 03:45 - What do we want from our leaders? 06:57 - Politics in the pulpit 11:06 - Has pop culture ran out of ideas? 13:38 - The issue of diversity across British society 21:57 - Women's sport and transgender athletes 27:08 - LGBT activism in Scotland 29:19 - Anita Alvarez and the gospel Resources mentioned in this episode Why modern culture is dying (telegraph.co.uk) Lenny Henry ‘always surprised’ by lack of black and Asian faces at Glastonbury (theguardian.com) Medhurst Ministries (medhurstministries.org) Fina bars transgender swimmers from women's elite events if they went through male puberty (bbc.co.uk) Anita Alvarez: Coach saves US swimmer who fainted during competition (bbc.co.uk) You can watch a video of this podcast and access further resources for church leaders on the FIEC website. About In:Dependence: In:Dependence is FIEC’s official podcast, where you’ll hear teaching and resources for church leaders from the FIEC Ministry Team and guests from FIEC churches and partners. You can access video podcasts by subscribing to the FIEC YouTube channel. About FIEC: We are a fellowship of Independent churches with members of the family across England, Scotland and Wales. Our mission is to see those Independent churches working together with a big vision: to reach Britain for Christ. Being part of FIEC links you to a growing number of Independent evangelical churches and there are now more than 50,000 people who are part of churches affiliated to FIEC. Follow FIEC on social media: Instagram Facebook Twitter