The Church Times Podcast

The Bible’s Society’s report The Quiet Revival, published last year, said that the Church in England and Wales was in a “period of rapid growth, driven by young adults and in particular young men”, and the trend of decline had been reversed (News, 11 April 2025). But is the Church of England experiencing a share of this revival? Some have expressed concern that the Church will “miss out” on the opportunity presented.

At the end of January, the Church Times hosted an event at St John’s, Waterloo, in London, “Springtime for the Church of England: Where are we seeing growth?”, which brought together speakers representing different traditions to share stories of local growth.

The podcast this week features the opening talk by the Revd Dr David Goodhew, Vicar of St Barnabas’s, Middlesbrough, Visiting Fellow of St John’s College, Durham University, and the former director of the Centre for Church Growth Research.

“The reason we have a confused discussion is that people tend to say either it must be growth, or it must be decline,” he says. “Actually, it’s both; and, if you look across British Christianity, you are seeing a whole load of things going up, and going down, and it depends where you look as to what you are seeing.”

At the start, Madeleine Davies, senior writer at the Church Times, and the Vicar of St John’s, Waterloo, Canon Giles Goddard, introduce the event.

A video recording of the event can be purchased at: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/springtime-for-the-church-of-england-where-are-we-seeing-growth

Find out about forthcoming Church Times events, including the Festival of Preaching in September, at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Picture: The cover image of the report The Quiet Revival. Credit: Bible Society

On the podcast this week, James Macintyre talks about his new book, Gordon Brown: Power with purpose, which provides a definitive portrait of the former Prime Minister and Chancellor. The conversation focuses on an aspect of Mr Brown that previous biographers and commentators have overlooked: his Christian faith, and how it guides his politics and advocacy for social justice.

You can read an article adapted from the book in this week’s Church Times .

James Macintyre is staff writer at the Church Times, and has previously been political correspondent for The Independent and The New Statesman — where he covered Brown’s premiership close up — and politics editor of Prospect magazine. He is co-author of Ed: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader.

Interview by Ed Thornton, Associate Editor.

Gordon Brown: Power with purpose is published by Bloomsbury at £25 (Church Times Bookshop £22.50); 978-1-5266-7341-1. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781526673411/gordon-brown?vc=CT913

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, staff writer Francis Martin speaks to the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, about her recent trip to Israel and Palestine.

Travelling with the Bishops of Norwich and Chelmsford, Bishop Treweek met Anglicans across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. The bishops planted olive trees in the al-Makhrour valley near Bethlehem, with members of the group Rabbis for Human Rights.

“Words are not enough,” she says, as a response to the situation affecting Palestinians, and suggests that the UK Government is “complicit in the occupation” of the West Bank.

The episode was recorded on 30 January.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the final podcast of the year, the editor, Sarah Meyrick, is joined by senior writer Madeleine Davies and staff writer Francis Martin to discuss some of the most memorable and significant stories that the Church Times covered in 2025.

They discuss: the departure of Justin Welby and ongoing questions about safeguarding in the Church of England; the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report; the rise of Christian nationalism; the assisted-dying Bill; the nomination of the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury; and the Archbishop of York’s visit to Israel-Palestine.

The episode was recorded on Wednesday 17 December.

They also look ahead to what 2026 has in store for the Church of England.

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

At the age of 91, Richard Holloway has written what he says “feels like the final book”: Last Words, in which he reflects on his long and fascinating life.

Richard Holloway is interviewed by Malcolm Doney in this week’s 12-page Books for Christmas supplement, and a recording of their telephone call is on this podcast. The book is also reviewed by Angela Tilby.

“I’ve always had a melancholic side to my nature. Melancholy is not sadness,” he says in the interview. “It’s a kind of mood you fall into when you consider the passingness and transience of things. Our lives just flow towards the end, but you look back on memories, your parents, your schooldays — all of that, and, as I get older, I spend more time doing that. . .

“And this is a grateful kind of looking back, I guess, at the way my life went, people I owe a lot to, especially my parents, my mother . . . a reflection on what has been, what feels like the final run.”

Last Words is published by Swift Press at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29); https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781800755338/last-words?vc=CT228

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