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Mental health is a big deal for our churches, and our pastors, these days.

Rates of serious psychological distress in New Zealand have more than doubled over the past decade. And younger generations are talking about mental health in ways previous generations rarely did.

What's going on? What does it mean for the church? And how do we as pastors look after our own mental health while also caring for the mental health of our congregations?

In this episode, Vic Francis talks with the Rev Silvia Purdie — Presbyterian minister, counsellor, supervisor, author and mental-health educator. Silvia has spent much of her working life inhabiting two worlds that don't always understand each other particularly well: the church and the mental-health profession.

Welcome, then, to Mental health: Are we OK?

For more information on Vic and Solace, check out our website or search for us on Facebook or Instagram. And if you would like to support this podcast, please become a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/forpastors

And to explore more around the mental health field:

Resources with Silvia Purdie:

https://www.conversationscounselling.nz/equip-series.html

https://www.conversationscounselling.nz/seminars.html

https://www.conversationscounselling.nz/solid-ground.html

Books and poems by Silvia Purdie

https://www.conversations.net.nz/books.html

https://www.conversations.net.nz/traumarecovery.html

Network for mental health and the church:

https://www.conversationscounselling.nz/mental-health-ministry-network.html

NZ and international resources for Christian mental health:

https://www.conversationscounselling.nz/mental-health-links.html

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Vic Francis talks to Michael Frost and Cathy Marston, two prominent liberal or progressive pastors about how they see life, faith, scripture and where they fit in the church today.

Michael (In the Shift) and Cathy (Changes Ahead) are both podcasters as well pastors, and have a story that is worth hearing – whether you agree with them or not.

For more information on Vic and Solace, check out our website or search for us on Facebook or Instagram. And if you would like to support this podcast, please become a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/forpastors

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We often talk about growing in faith, but what does that actually mean? Is the faith we have at 50 or 60 supposed to look different from the faith we had at 20? What happens when growth involves not simply learning more, but questioning or even letting go of things we once thought were certain?

And for pastors, how do we navigate our own growing and changing faith alongside that of our congregation?

In this episode, Vic Francis talks with Alan Jamieson — Baptist leader, author, researcher and explorer of spiritual formation, who has spent considerable time thinking about how souls grow, and how faith changes and develops over a lifetime.

For more information on Vic and Solace, check out our website or search for us on Facebook or Instagram. And if you would like to support this podcast, please become a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/forpastors

Meanwhile, here are some links to people referred to in this podcast:

James Fowler

• Faith Development and Pastoral care (1987)
• Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the quest for Meaning (1981)

Janet O. Hagberg & Robert A. Guelich

• The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith (1995)

Alan Jamieson

• A Churchless Faith (2000 Garside Publishing in NZ) Published internationally by SPCK, 2002.

• Called Again (2004 Garside Publishing in NZ). Titled ‘Journeying in Faith' – published internationally by SPCK – 2004. Printed copies available from Alan (email aj@portland.org.nz)

• Five years On (published in NZ April 2006 and internationally by SPCK under the title ‘Church Leaving' –Aug 2006). Printed copies available from Alan (email aj@portland.org.nz)

• Chrysalis: The hidden transformation in the journey of faith (2008 Paternoster).

Enjoy the podcast, everyone.

Vic