All Episodes
The Shock Absorber — 202 episodes
Relational and responsive
Organised messiness - An element of grace beats efficiency every time
Jesus is the synthesiser
School, church and the home: Who's actually responsible for your kids' faith?
Is it all a laugh?
Stop making church more like the world. Build this instead...
Is boring people with the Bible a sin?
Don't let them hate Jesus because of you
A new movement: Re-launching The Shock Absorber network
With or against the grain of God's design
Life and loyalty with Jesus
Have we forgotten about friendship?
He has the right to tell me how to live
Peace guards our hearts
Movements always happen and Christians are always in the middle of them
God is not a God of efficiency
What we want to be
Jesus frees us to experiment in ministry
Are churches giving tacit approval to be exclusive?
Infringing on our individuality is good for us
We’re not struggling with over-commitment to church
Preparing for God to grow us, and be ready if He does
Are we still exiles?
If you’ve got good news, you want to share it
Don't expect people to know the culture of your church
The missing piece in your digital ministry | Joel's talk at VCA Conference
Tech is a tool drawing people into community
It's not a mistake: God made us to be incarnate beings
If we were meant to fully grasp God, we wouldn't need Him
The Gospel is controversial in a media saturated world
Making lasting memories together
God's word simplifies things
BONUS: Tim's trip to Intergenerational Ministry Conference
Servant minded tech ministry
Pointing to God's word
How we serve together in Arts
Arts is about serving
Cultural memory in a forgetful age
Christianity is a movement, not a machine
The gap between practice and identity
How to "Small Groups"
The power and purpose of small groups
Better at growing when we're with others
What is your go to authority? - Live Berea tutorial (Part 2)
Developing a ministry framework - Live Berea tutorial (Part 1)
Building a comprehensive church training system
An engine room of ministry thought
Not what to think, but HOW to think
Ministry as mates
Is efficiency a good metric for ministry?
Ministry teams are like dragon boating — But is your church just watching?
It takes a village — and we need it back
Without a youth strategy, it’s disastrous
The theological consequences of living out what we learn
The world is changing (U.S. election recap)
Use meals to slow down life
The truth and love of sharing meals at church
We are made to eat together
Love in action vs. division
Enjoy the church planting rollercoaster
Curiosity + conviction is what shapes us
Are Christians more scandalous or more nuanced?
Traditions reveal a vanilla Christian
The future is slow and ad-hoc
Scaling Up: Ministry capacity for all sizes
Building a church from youth ministry
Just a Christian version of everybody else
Work for Jesus, get paid by...
Are we only pleasant strangers at church?
How do you best serve God?
The value of wisdom in cultural discernment
God doesn't owe you an easy life
Church audience reach = resilient disciples?
Bringing order to chaos
Are people looking for A.I. church?
Do we even need each other?
Is discipleship only for the individual?
Lack of growth is sub-normal
What even is discipleship?
Chip Lunch Crossover: What can He do?
Actions flow from identity
Social contagion transformed by Jesus
Are you sleepwalking through your ministry?
Pulling a Swiftie... Are the generations re-uniting?
Unintended consequences (w/Jon Dunbier)
Does Jesus GET us?
Pastors spend a huge amount of time convincing Christians to come to church
JESUS sets the vision
Flexing spiritual muscle memory
Friendship at church through the lens of Christ
The world is hurtling towards hope
Straight outta college into church planting
Action in the church comes at a cost
Does copying culture negate church growth?
Creating Christian cultural goods at the grassroots level
If your church is growing, it's because of God
From daggy to dangerous to desirable to delightful
Preparing for Soul Revival Church's 2023 Planning Day
Why is it important to go to church?
Re-invent church a little to forge ageless friendships
Who's building the church? Who's influencing culture?
The Kingdom habitually undermines expectations and when good reasons go wrong
Grow some weeds to plant some churches
Fast track future leaders with a youth camp
What are we being distracted from at church?
Costly discipleship combats culture's gospel veneer
Avoiding tunnel vision with discipleship and mission
Has the suburban identity colonised the church?
Is Bible college the only pathway into paid ministry?
WE WANT YOUR QUESTIONS!
False hope or real promise? Can church generations accommodate one another?
Downright feisty? Creating a church that wants to keep changing
Drop the cringe factor, authentically
Children are the church of today: Articulating strategy of children's ministry
Churches started competing…
Experimentation over professionalism
Blow up some rockets in the midst of gospel opportunities
The Friendship Recession?
Reconciliation, a friendship recession, capitalism, communism and the battle of ideas
There's nothing stopping us being friends, Jesus died for us
Do we still want to be friends?
Delight in relationships before implementing new systems
Is 'the Big Mo' achievable whilst avoiding the creep of blind erosion and resistance?
Innovation requires straddling the line between resistance and non-stop change
Creating a culture of excellence that's theologically and Biblically driven
Vision requires passionate leadership, mission and discipleship
Is ministry a choice between friendship and efficiency?
Is it time for a ministry wake-up call?
Legacy leaders are evangelical, long term, passionate and show unconditional love
What types of growth are actually healthy for a church?
Is ministry on the decline?
250 people go away for a whole week?
Season 6 Update
So what did happen to evangelism?
Confident Christians
Does religion cause all wars?
No wonder people don't want to share their faith...
The changing nature of apologetics (with Timothy Paul Jones)
Wrestling to keep the evangelical line
iPhone evangelism
Is this the death of evangelism?
Gen X and the surprising evangelical awakening
Can I still call myself an evangelical?
Chip Lunch Crossover: Evangelising to Gen Z
Season 5 Update
Are all evangelicals Fundamentalists?
The evangelical line throughout history
Evangelism in Children’s Ministry (w/Jenn Phillips)
Evangelism in Youth Ministry (w/Andy Stevenson)
Evangelism in the Industrial Age
Revival in the Age of Reason
Evangelism throughout history
Why don’t you look into Jesus?
Whatever happened to evangelism?
Season 5 Trailer | Whatever happened to evangelism?
2021 Shock Absorber Conference | Implementing the Shock Absorber
2021 Shock Absorber Conference | Service Team Spotlight: Hospitality
2021 Shock Absorber Conference | Keynote Address by Stuart Crawshaw
Are The Chats saying everything has to be laugh?
Tame Impala and the issue of loneliness
Ian Hussey from Malyon Theological College
Kanye West, materialism, wealth and mental health
Michael Duckett from Macarthur Indigenous Church
Kendrick Lamar & speaking the Gospel to multicultural Australia
Beyonce, empowerment and post-modern pluralism
Taylor Swift, egalitarianism and anti-institutionalism
David Bowie, the last rock god and the rise of individualism
To critique culture or engage in it?
Latest directions in Aboriginal Youth Ministry
Para-church and local church mission
BONUS: Celebrating Christian Surfers with Dave Lovell
The revisitation of Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry
The benefits of Family Ministry in an Intergenerational church
The value of specialised ministry in an Intergenerational church
Resolving conflict between the generations
Discipleship and mission can happen together
Young people are the church of today
Youth ministry strategies during the Youth Quake
Theology of Intergenerational Ministry
Does the church have an image problem?
The cultural shock of COVID-19
Training the next generation...
More experiments in church planting. Two gatherings in one year!
The first off-site plant. Did we fail to use the Shock Absorber?
Scaling ministry teams for growth and planting a Sunday gathering
An all-age, all-stage gathering on Friday with youth and kids
Factory architecture and the third place
2013 and welcoming new people...
On a Saturday night...
Preparing to launch...
How do you start a church plant?
Season 2 Trailer
An unexpected ending...
Generational change, institutionalisation and a new approach
Movements and training
BONUS: Talk from Stu on Matthew 22:37-40
Toward a theology of Youth Ministry
Fast growth and conflict
The Commitments
The Jesus Movement & Homogeneous Unit Principle
In the beginning...
What is the Shock Absorber?