Loved Called Gifted

Godfrey Birtill has been singing and writing songs and producing albums at the rate of about one a year for more than 25 years. In this conversation, he talks about his unique musical style, his faith and his growing conviction that we don't need to earn God's love and favour. It is lavished upon us already. To really appreciate this episode, you are going to want to listen to some Godfrey Birtill...

Catherine travels to Birmingham Children's Hospital to speak with Chaplain Andrew Phillips about his role supporting children, families and staff. He shares how he facilitates ways for them to cope with walking this hardest of paths, and also the way the children's own spiritualities are shaping him. Take off your shoes for this episode. You are on holy ground. Full transcript Connect with us on F...

Cathy Ross, from the Church Mission Society, shares her experience of being a woman and a missionary in the Congo. She also talks about her research into the hidden experience of missionary women in the 19th century and the influence of the concept of pious domesticity, both then and now.  Episode transcript About CMS Follow us on Facebook Loved Called Gifted website

What is compassion? Can we keep being compassionate without reaching burnout? Siobhan Horton, who is a spiritual director and who worked with the dying for three decades as a palliative care nurse, has been fascinated by compassion for several years. In this episode, she shares her deep knowledge and insight about compassion, drawing together wisdom from evolutionary biology, buddhism and Christia...

Catherine chats with Maria Garvey again, to find they'd both been having similar thoughts regarding Advent. Namely that if you want to see the light that our Christ brings into the darkness, sometimes you have to be willing to see the darkness first. They explore that together in this episode; the ways it works and the ways sometimes it doesn't, and how it all points back to love. It would be deli...

This is more of a work-book episode of the podcast rather than a story-time one, as Catherine brings out some of her coaching and spiritual direction skills to share with us as we all learn a few more key questions to help us refine the mission for our own lives -- and some of them may even take you by surprise! Even if you are confident that you are swimming in the right lane of life, if you stil...

Loved Called Gifted now has a Facebook page, which you can find here .  Catherine's friend Charli joins her today and they talk about Autumns and Winters in both their lives; paring back and releasing obligations in order to re-centre, and the things that then grow in the space created. Catherine also shares her wisdom as they compare stories about navigating school problems with and on behalf of...

We have a new Facebook page. Just look for Loved Called Gifted. Today we are joining Catherine in Bolton at Create Bolton, a creative cafe that shows everyone that they have something to offer. The heartbeat and proprietor is Joy Kilpatrick who is the guest this week, talking about the twists and turns in her life path, and the faithfulness of God, that have enabled her to bring together her artis...

Podcast website How would you answer the question "Are you intelligent?" In this episode, drawing on the work of educational psychologist Howard Gardner, Catherine talks about why that's not a very useful question. A much better question is 'In what way are you intelligent?' The narrow way in which intelligence is often understood in society and education can leave many people undervaluing the ski...

For the first time Catherine has two guests in this episode, married couple Gill and John. They are both waterways chaplains, driving their boat through Britain's canals and helping the people they meet along the way. We start out meeting them and finding out a bit more about what they do, but the conversation quickly shifts and blossoms into learning more about God's grace, from people who have b...

Catherine is marrying the podcast editor next week [their transcriptionist wishes them well!]. In this episode Catherine recounts to Hannah Lambert the tale of finding her wedding dress, which then segues beautifully into a conversation about finding God in the details...or not, sometimes. If you like girly wedding talk, you'll enjoy this one, but even if you don't, there's definitely still someth...

96% of the people in prison are men which means that the 4% of women in prison in the UK often find themselves overlooked in a system that was designed for men. Eight years ago, Tracy Sickel, a free church prison chaplain, started Imago Dei  and since then she and her team have been ministering to women in prison, helping them to feel loved and valued, to know their worth, improve their self respe...

In this last episode before our summer break, Catherine talks with Maria Garvey, who, twenty years ago, founded a L'Arche community in Northern Ireland. She describes her work as being about 'creating communities of belonging for people who find themselves marginalised'. She says 'who I am really is a commitment to everyone knowing that they matter, no matter what.' In this wide ranging conversati...

What does it mean to have a love relationship with the divine? Christianity has at its core the concept that faith is about loving God and being loved by God. But what does that actually look like in practice? In this episode, Catherine shares some thoughts about that. The truth is that it's different for everyone... Transcript Website

"Window of Tolerance" might not be a term that you've heard before, but it's a really useful concept and in this episode, Sally Bubbers explains it beautifully. You know that there are good days, when you are in that zone where life has enough interest and excitement and challenge to keep you engaged, curious, grounded, emotionally stable and winning at life. That's when you're operating in your '...

Transcript Loved Called Gifted website Polly joins Catherine for the last of our series looking at personality through the lens of Myers Briggs. This time we're talking about judging and perceiving.  ​ Do you like things planned, organised and decided, or do you prefer to keep possibilities open? Do you find structure and rules calming or constraining? Do you like the adrenaline of the unexpected?...

Catherine is joined by Polly for our fourth conversation looking at personality throughout the lens of the Myers Briggs model. This time we’re discussing what Myers Briggs refers to as Sensing and Intuition - the S and the N for those who speak MBTI.   Are you practical, down to earth and good at remembering details? Do you like ideas and theories? Do you prefer to learn by thinking things through...

Howard is a baptist minister who chose to leave his successful church in the posh part of Birmingham to move with his wife, Iona, to Cobridge, one of the most deprived areas of Stoke on Trent. He no longer leads a church. Instead, working as part of Urban Expression, he and Iona seek simply to be a blessing to the community they have grown to love. He talks honestly about the challenges and joys o...

Do you feel like your faith suddenly isn't making sense any more? Have the answers you've been relying on stopped making sense? Feeling like you've outgrown church...but you don't really want to abandon it?  Like you're too far along and this should all be sorted by now? Where the worldview you formed from reading the Bible doesn't properly fit your actual  real life, and, like having one foot eac...

Catherine is joined again by Hannah Lamberth, who has been redecorating recently. She shares reflections about faith, Jesus, life and Farrow and Balls paint charts.  Full transcript of this episode The Loved Called Gifted Website

Catherine talks with Felicia, who founded and pastors New Life Family Church. In their conversation together, Felicia shares the story of how that happened.     It's a story of welcome, of tears, of considered decisions and second chances. And a story of reading the times, knowing when to move forward and when to wait. It’s about the fact that calling is far more about who we are than what we do....

Ever had a reaction that seemed really out of proportion to the situation at hand? Or a fear that you knew was irrational? Ever wondered why your inner voice can be so darn critical at times?    In this episode Catherine talks with Sally Bubbers, a psychotherapist, who answers all these questions and more as she explains the Parts Theory of Internal Family Systems. A slightly shorter episode, but...

While studying theology, Katie discovered that there were women and women's movements in church history that she knew nothing about. Incredible, creative, humanitarians, writers and revolutionaries who have been largely forgotten. People like Julian of Norwich, whose writings only survived because they were hidden by nuns for centuries. Desert mothers, Marie D'Oignies and the Beguines. Katie share...

This is the third in our series on personality, users the lens of the Myers-Briggs model. This time, Catherine is joined by Sean Kennedy to discuss thinking and feeling. How do you process information? When faced with a situation, do you work out what you think about it before you decide what you feel about it? Or are you one of those people who doesn't know what they think about something until t...

I f pregnancy, birth and motherhood are not living up to the ideals you imagined and you're experiencing way less sleep and way more difficulties than you bargained for, this episode is for you. Even if that's not your situation, there is lots to learn here.  In this episode Catherine interviews Sarah Page about the gruelling glory and redemption she experienced in the transition from monastic pra...