Episode 93: Belonging - feeling at home, finding your people
Do you feel like you belong at your church? Have you found your people? Do you feel at home?
In this episode we explore how much dogma, belief, diversity, relatability and stage of life determine whether we feel 'at home' in church, via some comments from listeners.
Along the way we ask what makes a really good home group (spoiler: it may be Jonty and Malky), we discuss whether, if you dislike Joseph Smith, the Mormon church is really for you, and Laura stages a coup d' podcast with the help of her fancy new mic.
We also cover:
How ‘heavy shepherding’ is apparently not a sex thing
Whether belonging is necessary or the opposite of belonging is not not unnecessary (we don’t know either)
Whatever ‘lesbian full-force’ is
Identity, dogma, community and inclusion, all in this episode of Beer Christianity.
You can listen to Episode 93 anywhere: standing inside a beautiful wicker sculpture, respecting the diversity of religious conviction in your new-found community; out in a field, looking for some heavy sheep; in a truly dogmatically pure group of one; or right here…
New to Beer Christianity? REPENT!
Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, anti-imperialist, post-post-post-evangelical podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, helpful and entertaining.
Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters. He updates it according to his own wildly inconsistent neurodivergent schedule, but it’s a good read. Sign up to the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.
Putting the show together costs a bunch of money in hosting fees, editing software, equipment and time. If you can, please help out by donating via Buy Me a Coffee (or in our case, a beer) where you can make one-off donations or do the membership thing.
Follow Beer Christianity on Twitter: @beerxianity and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and, probably, loads of other places. We love hearing from listeners. You can email us at beerchristianity AT yahoo DOT com. We often respond to mails we get on the show. And if you leave us a voicenote on Insta we might air your question on an episode.
There's also a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and random chat.
Other things…
Malky’s design work has graced many good magazines and music videos. You can find his stuff and even commission him if he’s not too busy, here. Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not literature but it’s quite fun if you like Supernatural, Africa or the Goth scene.
We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be, while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.