Ep. 23 – Welcoming a New Interim Pastor to Our Community

We welcomed a new interim pastor recently. Andrew Hyde is the Ecumenical Campus Ministry Pastor at the University of Guelph, and he’ll balance his time between that role and this role at Two Rivers. We interviewed Andrew and his wife, Andrea, at a church gathering, and we decided to record the event live and release it as a podcast here. This was our opportunity to welcome both Andrea and Andrew into our community, to get to know them a little better, and to hear more about their outlook on Two Rivers Church and what being a church looks like in the 21st century.

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 22 - Church and the LGBTQ+ Community

On this episode, our guest is Wendy Vanderwal Martin. She is the Director of Development with the Henri Nouwen Society, and author of Generous Spaciousness, a book about the church's engagement with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Christians. We discussed the church’s fraught relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, including deeper questions it raises about the authority of scripture, how we respond to ideas that challenge our faith, and how we live together in a faith community that welcomes diverse perspectives.

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 21 - Turning Church Buildings Into Affordable Housing

On this episode, our guest is Ainsley Chapman. She is the Executive Director of Evangel Hall Mission, an organization that supports individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness in downtown Toronto. In addition to running the Mission’s daily programming and supportive housing services, Ainsley connects with churches to explore ways that their buildings could be redeveloped to include supportive housing and social spaces. We met with Ainsley at the Mission to hear more about how she’s helping churches rediscover their historic role serving people’s social and housing needs in addition to their spiritual needs.

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 20 - Ministry Forum, Part Two

This is part two of our conversation with John Borthwick, the Director of Lifelong Learning at Knox College and the Director of the Ministry Forum, an online platform that supports and empowers church leaders. In part one, we discussed his exploration into how social media and virtual spaces can help foster and create new kinds of church communities. Now in part two, we look at how the Ministry Forum is supporting church leaders, where the new leaders are coming from, and how we can challenge our definition of what church is in the 21st century. 

  

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 19 - Ministry Forum, Part One

This is a two-part series with our guest, John Borthwick. He is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Knox College and the Director of the Ministry Forum, an online platform that supports and empowers church leaders. On this episode, part one, we discuss John’s vision for new kinds of church communities, including his exploration into how social media and virtual spaces can help foster and create them. 

  

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 18 - How to Practice Discernment

On this episode, our guest is Cathy Stewart. She is the interim minister at Knox Presbyterian Church in Guelph and author of the book, A Goodness I Cannot Explain. Cathy describes her encounter with a difficult medical diagnosis and how she faced the unknown without fear by practicing discernment. We discuss how the three-step process of discernment can apply to any life decision, including those that many churches and congregations need to make in the face of an unknown future. 

  

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 17 - Christian Spiritual Practices, Part Two

This is part two of a conversation with our pastor, Glen Soderholm, about church as a community of spiritual practices. In part one we discussed how practices help Christians sustain their beliefs. Now in part two, we look at our specific spiritual practices here at Two Rivers. 

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 16 - Christian Spiritual Practices, Part One

On this episode, our guest is Glen Soderholm. He’s our pastor here at Two Rivers Church, and was the first guest on the podcast when we started two years ago. He’s returned to talk about an uncommon way of thinking about church as a community of spiritual practices. In this episode, we discuss the relationship between practices and beliefs, how to think about our beliefs in a post-Christendom age, and how maintaining our spiritual practices can support us when our beliefs fall short. In part two, we will talk about how Two Rivers Church applies these concepts to our spiritual practices. 

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 15 - Royal City Mission

*Note: Our apologies for the sound quality on this episode, but some background noise made its way into the audio that we could not remove. 

On this episode, our guest is Kevin Coghill. He’s a pastor at Royal City Mission in downtown Guelph, a church devoted to making the invisible visible, including things that are uncomfortable to see. We discuss their extensive volunteer program that provides meals and support to the unhoused, the impact this has on the city, and what it looks like when a church keeps its doors open seven days a week. 

 

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 14 - Discovering the Christian Contemplative Tradition

On this episode, our guest is Phileena Nikole (formerly Phileena Heuertz). She is the author of ‘Mindful Silence,’ a book that explores the Christian contemplative tradition. We studied this book in a Learning Room at Two Rivers, so we were quite excited to talk with Phileena about how this contemplative tradition, with its invitation to experience God in silence, solitude, and stillness, can deepen the Christian practice today. 

 

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten 

Ep. 13 - Circles of Support and Accountability

On this episode, we speak with Two Rivers member, Eileen Henderson, who shares about her experiences with various church communities supporting people coming out of the prison system, including those who committed sexual offences against children, and those affected by the crimes.

This work can be quite controversial. However, it can also demonstrate the influence a church community can have in support of stigmatized people who have no where else to go.

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 12 - Love Your Bike

Ep. 12 – Love Your Bike

On this episode, our guest is Fred Ferwerda who’s here to tell us about Love Your Bike, an event happening here in Guelph on June 17. We’ll be talking about what happens at Love Your Bike, the various Guelph community partners that are part of it, and what loving your bike has to do with church.

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 11 - The Rise and Fall of The Meeting House

On this episode, we’ll be discussing the rise and fall of The Meeting House, also known as the church for people who aren’t into church. A few of us at Two Rivers have been members of the Meeting House in the past. They had a number of their home churches in Guelph and throughout Ontario, until a sexual abuse scandal involving the lead pastor, Bruxy Cavey, rocked the church to its core.

Peter Schuurman is a writer, professor, Guelph resident and friend of Two Rivers Church. He’s written a book about The Meeting House, called The Subversive Evangelical, so we’ve invited him to discuss this story with us. What made The Meeting House so popular? Where did it go wrong? And what does it mean for the church today?

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Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 10 - The First Nations Version New Testament

On this episode, our guest is Terry Wildman. He's the lead translator, general editor, and project manager of the First Nations Version, an Indigenous translation of the New Testament. A number of us at Two Rivers have spent much of the past year reading through the First Nations Version, and so we were pretty thrilled to meet with Terry and discuss how this work got started, the process of translating the New Testament, and the impact it's been having on Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences.

More about the First Nations Version:

Music for this episode:

'Song of the Bluebird'

(Darlene Wildman, Terry Wildman)

Performed by RainSong

Copyright 2015. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Connect with us:

- Our website: www.tworiverschurch.ca

- By email: podcast@tworiverschurch.ca

Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 9 - The Guelph Campus Ministry

On this episode, our guest is Sara DeMoor, the campus minister for the Guelph Campus Ministry at the University of Guelph. We've invited her to talk to us about what we can learn from the students as they explore their faith, and what they can bring to the Christian community in Guelph.

Connect with us:

- Our website: www.tworiverschurch.ca

- By email: podcast@tworiverschurch.ca

Music by Glen Soderholm

Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 8 - Supporting Ukrainian Refugees

On this episode, our guest is Rick McRonald, a volunteer coordinator of the Mission and Outreach Committee at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Rick has been helping to organize support for Ukrainian refugees coming to Guelph, and we've invited him here to share that story with us.

Connect with us:

- Our website: www.tworiverschurch.ca

- By email: podcast@tworiverschurch.ca

Music by Glen Soderholm

Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten

Ep. 7 - The Enneagram, with Sandy Halloran

On this episode, our guest is Sandy Halloran, an Enneagram coach, consultant, and student. The enneagram is a tool for self-understanding that has been very popular and helpful for many of us at Two Rivers. We discuss some of the background of the Enneagram and where it comes from, and how we can use it to help develop more empathy and compassion for ourselves, and build stronger connections with others.

Some Enneagram resources mentioned in this episode:

Books:

-          The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Riso and Russ Hudson

-          The Art of the Enneagram by Ginger Lapid-Bogda, Russell Bogda, and Claire McCracken

-          The Road Back to You by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile

Videos:

-          Richard Rohr lectures on the Enneagram

-          Enneagram Panels with Beatrice Chestnut

Connect with us:

- Our website: www.tworiverschurch.ca

- By email: podcast@tworiverschurch.ca

Music by Glen Soderholm

Produced by Peter Szabo and Ian Van Harten