Show Notes
Ps. Adam Dyer grew up with the “Titanic Gospel.” Here, the only thing that mattered was people’s “souls.” The “ship was going down” so, you had to get as many people to heaven as possible before they died. This perspective failed him as a child and, along with the moral failure of his pastor (his father!), led him through a process of deconstruction as a young adult. Later, God called him into pastoral ministry and he reluctantly obeyed. His question at the time was, “where did the church go wrong and how can we do it differently?” On this episode of the God Conversations podcast, Tania and Adam discuss a much bigger gospel than the “Titanic Gospel” and show how the Spirit works both inside and outside the church to bring about the reconciliation of all things. The Gospel.. “should be good news for everybody, not just good news for a few and terrible news for everybody else.” In the podcast, Adam: Tells his personal story of deconstruction as he struggled with the person of Jesus and the church who had failed him. Shares his hearing God experiences and how as a young boy, he just “knew stuff about people. For Adam, “sensing the Spirit moving was like sherbet running through my veins.” Reminds us that the Spirit isn’t just what shows up when “we sing the right songs and get the right key change.” The Spirit shows up in families who are trying to navigate chaos and brokenness. “When you encounter Jesus in the homeless person, you encounter a different Jesus to the sanitised version you might sing about on Sunday morning.” Tells the story of woman on suicide watch and how volunteering with the church’s homeless program (even as a non-Christian) saved her life. Shares the conviction that if God is involved in community, the whole community should be blessed whether they believe in Jesus or not. Tells a story about the signs of spirit at work when a formerly homeless woman bought a stack of potato crisps (chips!) from the supermarket and insisted on giving them out. Shows us how to work with the Spirit inside and outside the church. “It’s not about about choreographing the Spirit. We create space for God to do things. It’s a posture shift… God is saying ‘Stop trying to do things for me!'”
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About Adam Dyer Ps. Adam Dyer is leader of Yeovil Community Church in the south west of England. YCC is a vibrant church who is pioneering in community transformation. Adam is also the executive director of Jesus Collective and the author of Unknown: What if God’s Not Like That? He is married to Rachel who also leads at YCC, and together they have four children and two grandchildren. Find Adam at: Jesus Collective Yeovil Community Church UK Adam’s Book: Unknown: What if God’s Not Like That?
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