Pod of the Gaps
by Pod of the Gaps
An occasional podcast featuring Aaron Edwards and Andy Bannister. Each episode sees the two friends take a contemporary issue in culture and explore it from a Christian perspective.Featuring banter, philosophy, culture, theology, bad jokes, apologetics, and more — the podcast aims to help Christians think wisely about the challenges of living in the 21st century.=========================================Theological and Political Disclaimer The content of this podcast does not represent the views of any institutions, colleges, networks, churches, or secret government organisations with which we are affiliated or employed."
Episodes
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Episode 103 - The Final Episode
Well, as Solomon said, "there is a time for everything under the sun, a time to be born and a time to die" ... and this includes podcasts too! After half a decade of plugging the gaps between the Church and the culture, Andy and Aaron are finally calling time on Pod of the Gaps. In this final...
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Episode 102 - Six Challenges for the Church in 2026
What are the crucial issues facing the Church right now? What should pastors and Christian leaders be looking out for in the months ahead? How should we diagnose the cultural moment and respond to it with both wisdom and faith? Pod of the Gaps returns with our (slightly delayed!) episode looking...
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Episode 101 - A Very Pod of the Gaps Christmas
Well, it's that time of year again when Andy and Aaron discuss Christmassy things. Tune in to hear them each discuss their favourite Christmas tradition, Christmas movie, and Christmas movie. The podly duo draw out from their choices various theological and cultural insights about the meaning and...
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Episode 100 - Listener Q&A 100th Episode Special
In this very special 100th episode of Pod of the Gaps, Andy and Aaron answer questions from listeners. Naturally they cover a wide range of themes, including their takes on things like Genesis 1-11, the age of the earth, the issue of "toxic empathy", the BBC and penal substitution, whether...
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Episode 99 - Radical Discipleship (featuring Simon Guillebaud)
Have western Christians become so comfortable that we no longer exercise faith? How can we renew a radical trust in God's provision and protection without abandoning our wisdom and responsibility? In this special episode, Aaron and Andy are joined by the well-known missionary and podcaster (and...
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Episode 98 - The Charlie Kirk Problem
The assassination of the Christian apologist and debater, Charlie Kirk, has shaken western civilisation to its core. Even many who opposed his views have come to recognise that the moment had unusual significance not only for freedom of speech but also for Christian engagement in politics. What...
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Episode 97 - Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Flags
Immigration continues to be one of the most important socio-political talking points in western societies today. This is especially so in Britain, where various controversial events in recent times highlight the growing concerns of the populace. Too often, genuine conversation about the problems…
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Episode 96 - Can We Make Britain Christian Again (Live from Cedarwood)
As modern Britain is mired in confusion over its multicultural identity, growing Islamisation, and moral decline, surprising numbers of people are re-looking to Christianity as the country's foundation. But is Britain a Christian nation? Was it ever a Christian nation? What makes (or breaks) a...
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Episode 95 - Evangelism: Overcoming Fear and Fatigue (with special guest Mark Greenwood)
Why do many Christians today lose heart for evangelism? Are we fatigued by negative responses? Are we fearful of stepping outside our comfort zone? Do we overcomplicate it by listening too much to the "wisdom" of this world? In this special live episode recorded at Cedarwood Festival, Andy and...
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Episode 94 - Evangelism: Building Bridges or Breaking Barriers?
When it comes to evangelism, a surprising number of Christians find themselves fearful, lethargic, confused, and out of their depth. We can find it hard to make clear connections to the Gospel, or to see the light of Christian truth in relation to the everyday interests of strangers and…
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Episode 93 - Does the Sabbath Still Matter?
What’s so special about the Sabbath? Many modern Christians don’t quite know what to do with it, and often end up practising elements of it inconsistently—or avoiding it altogether. But whatever we do (or don’t do) will have wider consequences somewhere down the line. Should Christians keep a day...
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Episode 92 - How Should Christians Engage With Other Religions?
Today’s culture celebrates tolerance of other faiths, but for Christians, engaging neighbours of different religions while opposing what they believe can be tough. How do we do this robustly, truthfully, and lovingly? Aaron and Andy dive into this complex issue, share personal stories—including...
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Episode 91 - Can the government tell you how to educate your children?
As the UK government continues to float the "Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill" through parliament, it could have a significant impact on the freedom of Christians to homeschool their children in future. While some aspects of the bill will seem like common sense, others raise red flags over...
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Episode 90 - The AI Revolution: Utopia or Dystopia?
The advances in AI have skyrocketed, with more and more people beginning to make use of it in everyday life. In time, AI will have a monumental effect on society at virtually every level. As such, questions about the ethics and theology of artificial intelligence. are no longer speculative, but…
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Episode 89 - Entrepreneurs, Pioneers, and the Church
The history of humanity is replete with examples of trailblazers able to think outside the box, disrupt existing conventions, pioneer new ways of thinking, and advance into new territory. We might think of great geniuses of the past like Thomas Edison, or perhaps the more recent technological...
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Episode 88 - Six Challenges for the Church in 2025
Pod of the Gaps returns for another year, kicking off with our annual New Year live-reveal of Aaron and Andy's six key challenges for the Church in the year ahead (three each!) as we seek to meet this cultural moment wisely and faithfully in light of the Word of God. As always, if you care about...
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Episode 87 - The Twelve Things of Christmas
Christmas comes but once a year, but over the years we each tend to build up a collection of favourite and not-so-favourite parts of it. In this special festive episode, Aaron and Andy each reveal their best and worst from the ghosts of Christmas past, from six categories including everything…
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Episode 86 - Justin Welby and the Decline of Church Leadership
The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, made headline news across the UK and the wider world. This itself points to the ongoing public significance of the CofE and the knock-on effects for the wider church. Why did Welby choose to resign after pressure of public disrepute...
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Episode 85 - Why Euthanasia Is Not Compassionate
Euthanasia (or "good death") often returns to the front line of political, ethical, and religious debate, most recently with the "Assisted Dying" bill brought before the British parliament. The language used to describe euthanasia (as with abortion) is often very reasonable-sounding and...
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Episode 84 - When Church Structures Rot
Why do many historic church institutions often end up undermining the very reason they are meant to exist? There have been many movements and institutions in the history of the Church. Some last longer than others. But over time, they always become more complex, more unwieldy, more difficult to...
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Episode 83 - How Christian is Cultural Christianity?
Despite the obvious anti-Christian trajectory of Western society, a growing number of influencers are beginning to see the moral and cultural benefits of Christianity. It could even be said that Christianity is becoming "cool" again! But is there a danger that people misunderstand Christianity by...
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Episode 82 - What Are We Reading?
They say "you are what you read!" We read all sorts of things in life but rarely do we think all that much about reading as we struggle to keep up with the many words and authors that cross our path. In this special episode, Andy and Aaron met up in Oxford to talk about the books they've been...
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Episode 81 - How Should Christians Vote?
Given the fractious political climate of the last decade, and the lack of consistently good candidates and policies on offer, it's understandable that many Christians might be unsure of who to vote for, or even whether to vote at all! But even if there may be no perfect party on offer, Christians...
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Episode 80 - Is Punishment Just?
Punishment is an easily avoidable topic for modern Christians. We tend to leave it for the “experts” beyond the Church. But what if the increasing injustice in criminal prosecution and punishment in wider society infiltrates our thinking as Christians? Does our squeamishness over things like the...
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Episode 79 - Are Smartphones Ruining Our Children?
Over the last decade and a half, the pervasive use of smartphones has become the norm across the western world. Yet we’re still unaware of the precise long-term consequences. For those brought up without smartphones (or without the internet!) we may not even be in a position to know the full…
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Episode 78 - Islamism and Islamophobia: A Christian Response (feat. Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern)
Many Christians are naïve about the ways Islam has gained much ground within western society in recent years, influencing numerous spheres of culture, politics, and law. The vision of Islamic beliefs ruling all spheres of society (‘Islamism’) may not be adopted by all western Muslims, but it is a...
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Episode 77 - Confronting Muslims in the West (featuring Bob of Speaker’s Corner)
More and more Christians in western society today see the ever-increasing need to reach Muslims with the Gospel. The problem is: how? In this special episode, Aaron is joined by Bob of Speaker’s Corner to talk through challenges, strategies, and related issues that come with taking seriously the...
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Episode 76 - Is It Time to End the Church of England?
We've come to expect the politically correct and increasingly “woke” posture of many of the Church of England’s official statements and policies in recent years. Recent announcements on issues such as race, Islam, sexuality, and even evangelism, showcase a desire to “play nice” with the secular…
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Episode 75 - Can We Change the World?
What are Christians supposed to do about the erosion of the Christian foundations of Western culture? Sometimes evangelicals have reacted by retreating from the call to be salt and light in the world, withdrawing into a narrow vision for the Gospel which limits its wider societal impact. But…
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Episode 74 - What's Gone Wrong with Preaching?
Week after week, year after year, churches spend inordinate amounts of time producing, presenting, and discussing sermons. Yet sermons are far less influential upon the average Christian’s life, faith, and beliefs than ever before. Why? The loss of pulpit authority? The loss of creativity in...
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Episode 73 - Six Challenges for the Church in 2024
In keeping with the now ancient Pod of the Gaps tradition, Andy and Aaron kick off the new year by identifying their collective key challenges for the Church to face up to as it seeks to meet this cultural moment in light of the Word of God. As they reflect on what the Church has already been...
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Episode 72 - Is God’s Grace “Outrageous”?
Evangelicals are renowned for using crazy-sounding adjectives to highlight the outlandish nature of God’s grace. This is often appropriate when speaking of God's love, but an overuse of such language potentially opens Christians up to progressive infiltration of the Gospel. Under the auspices of...
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Episode 71 - Christmas and Consumerism
In these secular times, Christmas is ever in danger of being hijacked by the fairy-lit glitz of advertising and consumerism. Christians often find themselves dragged into alternative versions of Christmas which bear little connection to the Christian story. But while Christians rightly lament the...
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Episode 70 - Ravi Zacharias, Leadership, and Kingdom Mission (featuring Joe Boot)
In this wide-ranging special episode of Pod of the Gaps we cover a number of vital issues in/around the challenges of leadership, mission, apologetics, and ministry. In particular, Andy Bannister and Joe Boot both reflect on their similar experiences of working as directors for Ravi Zacharias...
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Episode 69 - Ceasefires, Surrenders, and Synods
The Israel / Gaza conflict generates all sorts of political and religious opinions in recent times, with many Christian leaders (including the Archbishop of Canterbury) seeming to follow the popular left-wing consensus of calling for an immediate ceasefire. Whilst this might seem the obvious…
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Episode 68 - Jordan Peterson and the Future of Human Civilisation
In recent years forces have been gathering to stand up and push back against the progressive (“Woke”) revolution in the modern West. The infamous Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson has been at the heart of this, recently launching the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). In this special...
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Episode 67 - Making Abortion Unthinkable (featuring John Deighan from SPUC)
For many Westerners today it would be “unthinkable” to not have a legal right to abortion. But for Christians, shouldn’t abortion itself be as “unthinkable” as chattel slavery? What can churches and pro-life organisations do to change public opinion on abortion? In this special episode of Pod of...
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Episode 66 - Church Mission vs. Parachurch Mission
An age-old tension within many churches is the extent to which they can or should join in with the reams of "para-church" organizations, mission agencies, charities, and evangelistic enterprises that do not fall under the governance of the Church but often seem to be far more fruitful in mission....
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Episode 65 - What's Gone Wrong With Worship?
One of the most defining things about Christians is that we sing songs together. The kind of songs we sing, and the way we sing them, has an incredible impact on a Christian's life, faith, and theology. Contemporary band-led worship services often result in a set of expectations for what can or...
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Episode 64 — What Are Fathers For?
When speaking about fatherhood, it is common to neutralise the role played by fathers within a household. Due to various societal and ecclesial differences of opinion we tend to equivocate over precisely what fathers are for, and what they are supposed to do. Following on from the previous…
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Episode 63 — What Happened to Fatherhood?
In our society, fatherhood is under attack. The crisis of masculinity leads many fathers to abdicate their responsibility for their children, and for those around them. Men are regularly condemned for aspiring to the virtues that once inspired good men to be good fathers. What do we lose when...
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Episode 62 - Is the Fatherhood of God "Problematic"?
Some Christians (including some prominent leaders!) have begun to desscribe the Biblical depiction of God the Father as "problematic". Whilst there are many who find the idea of God's fatherhood difficult to accept due to their own negative experiences of human fatherhood, what do we risk by...
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Episode 61 - The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God
A shift seems to have begun to occur in recent years regarding religion. As many public intellectuals have seen the philosophical and moral foundations of western society crumbling away, a new yearning has begun to arise for a greater, more transcendent story to make sense of life. This trend is...
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Episode 60 - How Should We Think About Artificial Intelligence?
Amidst a flurry of new developments within the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) many are wondering about the future effects of this kind of technology upon our societies. There are ongoing concerns about negative effects upon people's jobs as well as deeper issues around human identity…
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Episode 59 - Should the Church Get Out of Politics?
At a time of significant socio-political unrest across the western world, many Christians today are asking the question about the extent to which Christians should or shouldn't be involved or invested in political issues. A recent (and somewhat controversial) political conference on small-c...
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Episode 58 - What's Gone Wrong With Theological Education?
As the Church in the West faces some of the most fundamental ideological assaults on its beliefs in centuries, Christian colleges and institutions have become increasingly impotent to challenge them. Whilst universities have been on a progressive slide for decades, recently even evangelical…
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Episode 57 - Are Christians Too Winsome?
How should Christians defend their faith when their beliefs are under attack? What counts as an "appropriate" or "inappropriate" way for Christians to engage in discussions or debates? Too often Western Christians have decided that being "winsome" is the only correct posture, as if there were an...
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Episode 56 - What is Revival and Why Does it Matter?
What is "revival"? This term has been making the headlines in recent times, sparking fresh interest in what it does (or does not) mean, and why it may (or may not) matter. After the remarkable events at Asbury University in the US, many flocked from around the world to get a taste of what was...
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Episode 55 - Do We Need More Muscular Christianity?
The wonders of modern technology mean many men now spend most of their working lives sat at desks or screens, exerting very little physical energy. We now pay money to do the kind of labour for which our forebears were themselves paid. What are the hidden costs of this today? Have we become less...
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Episode 54 - What's Gone Wrong With Immigration?
Immigration has been a political hot potato for at least half a century. As is often the case, the loudest and most extreme voices at either end tend to shape the perception of the key issues in the debate. This leaves a vast majority of people in the middle who don't quite know what to think…
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About this show
An occasional podcast featuring Aaron Edwards and Andy Bannister. Each episode sees the two friends take a contemporary issue in culture and explore it from a Christian perspective.Featuring banter, philosophy, culture, theology, bad jokes, apologetics, and more — the podcast aims to help Christians think wisely about the challenges of living in the 21st century.=========================================Theological and Political Disclaimer The content of this podcast does not represent the views of any institutions, colleges, networks, churches, or secret government organisations with which we are affiliated or employed."
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