Proost Podcast

Chris met Josie at an Iona Community gathering, where she was presenting some research, and immediately thought she would be a brilliant guest for this podcast because of her unique perspectives, informed by both her background and her acedemic research. In many ways, this wonderful conversations feels like a follow on from our discussions with Katie Cross on this podcast - helping us understand how communities both make and sometimes break us as we make our faith journeys. In particular, Josie's work concerns itself with the way that generative, healthy faith communities contrbute to our human resilience and flourishing.Here is a bit of an introduction to Josie..Josie Gwin, co-founder of ⁠The Resilience Resource,⁠ is a Mental Health Coach, a Spiritual and Psychological First Aid Instructor, certified Chaplain through the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and caries various credentials in Trauma-informed crisis care. She has a masters degree from Bethel University, and is a PhD researcher investigating the intersection of faith and resilience at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.Prior to co-founding The Resilience Resource, Josie Gwin served as a firefighter for 6 years, spent 18 years in the equine therapeutic industry, and has served as a crisis chaplain. She has been involved in cross-cultural and international contexts for over 35 years. She has lived and served in multiple countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.Josie, along with her husband, Scott, has trained, resourced, and provided care for personnel, leaders, and teams from a variety of faith based and secular organizations, as well as firefighters and law enforcement, first responder chaplains, medical personnel and hospital chaplains, and military and special forces personnel.

(This episode was also uploaded to our other podcast, the Proost Poetry podcast. We loved it so much that we decided to make it available on this stream also.)For lovers of poetry of wild places, Kenneth Steven probably needs no introduction, but here we go anyway.Kenneth Steven is first and always a poet. To survive as a ⁠literary author⁠ he’s had to become many other things as a writer – he translated the Norwegian novel The Half Brother, he’s a children’s picture book and story writer, he’s an essayist and a feature writer – but it’s poetry and the love of poetry that lies at the heart of it all. His volume of selected poems Iona appeared from Paraclete Press in the States a couple of years ago. His numerous collections have sold many thousands of copies, and he has a strong name as a poet thanks to the poetry-related features he’s written and presented over long years: his programme A Requiem for St Kilda having won a Sony Gold for Radio 4.His poetry has been inspired primarily by place. He grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands with a profound awareness of that world: his mother’s people were Gaelic speakers from Wester and Easter Ross. It’s the wildscape of Highland Scotland that pours through his pen.It’s that same wildscape he seeks to capture as a ⁠painter⁠. He and his wife Kristina live on the Scottish west coast, and it’s the ever-changing colours of sea and sky he loves so much: the myriad blues and the incredible beauty of the light.Kenneth runs his own podcast, available to those who support his work through patreon- we very much encourage any of you who are able to reach out. We need out poets more than ever!You can connect with the wonderful ⁠Imagining Things podcast here.⁠Kenneth's website with links to many of his books and paintings that are available⁠ is here.

In this episode, we welcome back Dr Katie Cross, who is the Christ’s College Lecturer in Practical Theology at Aberdeen University. Katie updates us on her research into church leavers, as well as inviting people to respond creatively as they tell their own stories of moving into a more fluid, unanchored form of faith. You can be part of this project as follows;By attending online workshops to discuss prompts and reflect together. You can sign up here to join in.By writing up your own reflections in your own time, and emailing these to Katie here. Afer this, we turn to a discussion about the so called 'quiet revival' that is being talked about here in the UK and elsewhere. Is it real? Listen to find out our views.

This is part 2 of a different kind of Proost podcast, in we take you on a journey to the remote island of Lunga in the Hebrides, where community and companionship come alive. Join us as we explore the bonds formed in wild places, where the absence of modern conveniences fosters deep connections and shared experiences. Discover how the rhythm of nature and the spirit of togetherness create a space for reflection, laughter, and meaningful conversations. Through shared meals, communal rituals, and lots of bad jokes, this episode delves into the essence of what makes these retreats a cherished tradition. Tune in to hear stories of friendship, vulnerability, and the joy of being part of a temporary community that has lasting impact on the lives of those who are held by the island.

In this unique episode of the Proost podcast, we take you on a journey to the remote island of Lunga in the Hebrides, where community and companionship come alive. Join us as we explore the bonds formed in wild places, where the absence of modern conveniences fosters deep connections and shared experiences. Discover how the rhythm of nature and the spirit of togetherness create a space for reflection, laughter, and meaningful conversations. Through shared meals, communal rituals, and lots of bad jokes, this episode delves into the essence of what makes these retreats a cherished tradition. Tune in to hear stories of friendship, vulnerability, and the joy of being part of a temporary community that has lasting impact on the lives of those who are held by the island.

In this, the first pod of 2025, we introduce a new member of our team, Cameron Preece, who has been working hard on a Proost website, having all sorts of skills that feel essential. We are so grateful to have him part of this project.As well as all his technical prowess, Cameron brings some important learning and creativity. His Masters dissertation explored the connection between poetry and prayer. We think this is an issue much neglected in western Christianity, even if it has always been there in the margins.The link to Cameron's disertation is here if anyone want to read it in full. (You should!) https://www.academia.edu/127826868/Poetic_Prayer_as_Revelatory_Expression_and_Impression_in_Trinitarian_Context

Another one in which we use poetry as the means to get inside things that matter. Mark Berry and Ali Matthew, both of whom have a long relationship with Proost, read some of their poetry and talk to Chris about the inspiration behind it, and how this helps them into the Christmas season.Chris makes reference to 'At work in the ruins', by Dougald Hine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/At-Work-Ruins-Pandemics-Emergencies/dp/164502184X

This episode features two Australian poets- Talitha Fraser and Stevie Wills, and is the first of what we hope to be a more regular immersion in poetry, and the story behind the poems. Stevie lives with cerebral palsy which has affected her speach patterns, so listen carefully, because hers is a voice worth listening to! She speaks movingly about her long powerful poem which tells Mary's story. It is a stunning piece that she was keen to allow to stand on its own. We recommend checking out her website to see/hear more of her work! https://www.steviewills.com.au/ Talitha is a long term Proost person, having been a key part of previous poetry collection curation. She is active within feminist spaces and activism for indiginous rights in her adopted city of Melborne, although she was born in NZ. You can find out more about Talitha and her other projects here; https://linktr.ee/the.recollective The conversation in this chat was a privilege to be part of, says Chris. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Mark Kensett has been a professional photographer for over 40 years. While much of his early career was spent producing high-quality commercial work for a range of organisations, over time his deep Christian faith and passion for social justice began to shape a new direction. This calling has led him to collaborate with charities such as Amos Trust and Edukid, using film and photography to amplify voices and stories that too often go unheard.His work has taken him to challenging and deeply moving contexts—including both the West Bank and Gaza—where he has created powerful films that witness to resilience, injustice, and hope.In this conversation, we talk with Mark about his career, his experiences in Palestine, and the convictions that drive his work—and we explore how art, faith, and activism intersect through the camera lens.You can explore Mark’s photography and film work on his website: markkensett.comResources and Links Mentioned:Amos Trust – a creative human rights organisation, and home to much of Mark’s recent work.Edukid – supporting children living in poverty and conflict zones to access education.We Are Not Numbers – a platform sharing the stories of young Palestinians.We Are Not Numbers (book): Penguin Books linkMark’s photographic inspiration: Sebastião SalgadoMark and his wife Liane are also part of the Kairos Movement, a community seeking justice, transformation, and new expressions of faith.

This is the first discussion reflecting on a series of blog articles on https://thisfragiletent.com.Chris wrote these as part of a processing a long journey outside organised religion—but not outside faith—and Rob was keen to dig deeper into the content.

Here, Chris and Rob take a reflective journey through art making, community, spirituality and the nature of faith itself as they reflect and extend ideas brought to us from the brilliant chat with Mark Berry in Episode 10.

In this episode, Rob and Chris welcome guest Mark Berry. A pioneer minister, poet, musician, activist, prison worker, football supporter and art maker (to list a few of his achievements!)We explore a little of Mark's Story, but then get into some chat about how spirituality might relate to art.You can find out more about Mark on his website: https://www.mark-berry.co.uk/

In this (messy and unedited!) chat, we share lives and dreams about all things creative and spiritual. It is a lovely, warm conversation.We also give an update as to where we are and what help we still need as we continue to shape a phoenix from ashes.

This is the second of our music themed chats, this time with the wonderful Yvonne Lyon. Yvonne has been a professional musician for over twenty years, with a dozen albums to her name, garnering praise from many, including Radio 2's Bob Harris. She talks about her beginning in church music, moving through an encounter with the Christian music scene, then her move beyond these categories into making her own mark as a significant singer songwriter. Her latest project, out later this summer is a collaboration with Boo Hewerdine, and this is one of many collaborations with other artists, including poets Stuart Henderson and our own Chris Goan.You can learn more about her music on her website: https://www.yvonnelyonmusic.com/

We welcome Ant Clifford from the band, Lofter, to our chat. (This is our first of two chats to musicians—next week we will hear from Yvonne Lyon)Ant has been making music with his fellow Lofters since 2002, and along the way, released some of his music via the old Proost platform. We were delighted to talk to about his inspiration, his experience in the music business, and how we might support grassroots music making. Ant still leads worship in Church, so we had some interesting chat about that too.You can listen to more Lofter and find out more about the band via their website: https://www.lofter.co.uk/In the spirit of supporting other artists, we hope you will give Lofter some listening and also some social medial love.

Proost formerly gathered creative materials from the edges of Church and made them available more widely. In the past, we used labels like 'emerging church' or 'small missional groups' or 'alternative worship'. We are now at the point of reviving Proost, but this requires a lot of conversation and thought about what, why and a how. Some of this is happening over on our main podcast and Facebook group.In the meantime, this is our first group chat—an open space on zoom to talk through some of the chat we have been having so far. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the chat is about Church—what it is, whether we want to preserve it, whether Proost exists to work with Church as we know it, or to look beyond into the diaspora of people who have left, or to those who would never go in the first place. Some of us have a deep love for what remains, others want to move on.

In this episode, Chris and Rob take stock of where things are up to, and do some deep reflecting on the brilliant podcast with Dr Katie Cross last week.

In this episode, we speak to Dr Katie Cross, who holds the post of Christ’s College Lecturer in Practical Theology at Aberdeen University.Katie's first book was a theological engagement with the Sunday Assembly, a "godless congregation," and she has also co-edited two volumes on trauma theology (Feminist Trauma Theologies and Bearing Witness).Her current research adventures into a large scale study of people who have left church—that is, Christians who no longer attend church but (as we shall see) have not necessarily lost faith.Her work in many ways develops previous research undertaken by Steve Aisthorpe, author of The Invisible Church.Why were we so keen to talk to Katie? Well, listen to find out, but it is fair to say that in considering what future community we think a revived Proost may be connecting with, it seems likely that in no small part, the diaspora of church leavers may well form a significant part. There is also the big question of whether church is dying, or reforming.

In this episode we have a chat with Jonny who, along with a group of friends, started Proost a couple of years ago. We explore the history, then spend to time thinking about the current landscape of faith, and how a new Proost might engage with this.Jonny currently works for the Church Mission Society, where he has been instrumental in developing pioneer minister training. He blogs here: https://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/Original music by Will Goan.

This is the second of our 'introductory' podcasts. In the first one, it was pointed out that we failed to introduce ourselves. In this one, we do the painful business of just that! We also talk a bit more about the next steps for Proost, and how we intend continuing the conversation.

Here we have Rob (who lives in Jersey) talking to Chris (who lives in Argyll) about, well, listen for yourself.(If you really need to know, it is a random messy chat about restarting a publishing platform, and a strange decision to make some of this process public via the medium of podcasting.)Music by Will Goan