Lunch on The Way

In this conversation, Louise, Graeme, and Joey map the history of the church growth and business strategy movement in Evangelicalism, how AI might be demonic through the dynamic stabilisation lens, and what church planting might look like in 2026 from a metaphorical perspective.

Louise Wernich is an experienced pastor from South Africa now living in New Zealand. She is going to plant a church beginning in 2027 and she helps us determine which metaphors might be most helpful for that adventure.

Graeme Flett is a Senior Coach for the Centre for Church Leadership (CfCL) through Laidlaw College. He is an experienced pastors with decades as a lead pastor.

Joey Millington is a lecturer at Laidlaw College and pastor at East City Wesleyan Church. He is a PhD student researching in the space of church strategic identity and metaphor theory.

00:00 Introduction
00:45 Joey's EPIC Monologue
18:50 Louise and Graeme's initial response
23:55 Louise is planting a church
31:05 Rightly placing significance in God.
36:03 The alternative to church growth
45:25 Who are you, metaphorically?
50:45 Live into the grand metaphor of Christianity
57:20 Practices over statements
Podcast hosts are Greame Flett, Jonathan Hoskin, and Joey Millington.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals expressing and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any affiliated organisations or ministries.

In this conversation, Nigel Dixon discusses the importance of church community for being the church, how so many churches only pretend to be a community, what trends will animate the church in the coming years, and how we need to get ready for a move of God.

00:00 Introduction
00:40 From Pentecostal to Anglican ... Why?
11:25 How community actually happens in churches
19:20 Mentoring structures in church
30:22 Key trends in NZ churches
39:45 A theology of power in churches
46:40 Sign of life in NZ churches
52:19 Reliance on God in ministry
1:04:15 Relationship is the complexity of the gospel

Lunch on The Way is a podcast that deeply discusses Christianity, Church, Culture, and Jesus.
Available on ALL podcast platforms https://lunchontheway.buzzsprout.com/share
Podcast hosts are Greame Flett, Jonathan Hoskin, and Joey Millington.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals expressing and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any affiliated organisations or ministries.

In this conversation, Graeme and Joey speak with Curtis Davis who just completed his MTh at Laidlaw College, where he clarified the methodology of Critical Realism for understanding reality and what the world is.

Curtis Davis graduated from Laidlaw College in 2026 and is currently a police recruit in New Zealand. He is a brilliant Christian who is passionate about evangelism and theology which relates to practical outcomes.

00:00 Introduction
00:47 Framing the conversation
08:17 Post-modernsim and anti-essentialism
13:12 The meta-modern problem
20:37 Ontology conditions epistemology
28:29 What is critical realism?
45:09 A critique of critical realism
51:00 Jesus is the key to experience
1:07:07 Curtis' S.U.R.E. methodology
Podcast hosts are Greame Flett, Jonathan Hoskin, and Joey Millington.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals expressing and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any affiliated organisations or ministries.

In this conversation, Nathaniel Baldock joins us as we discuss what AI is going to Christians and our world as we unreflectively adopt it as a tool when it should truly been seen as a pseudo-person.

Nathaniel Baldock is an AI strategist, consultant, speaker, and educator based in Tauranga, New Zealand. He helps churches, schools, and mission-driven organisations navigate AI with clarity, ethics, and practical implementation.

Visit his website --https://www.nathanielbaldock.com/

00:00 Teaser
00:52 Nathaniel's journey to AI consulting
04:30 What is AI?
10:09 AI's ethical problems
15:31 The dangers of Anthropic's Mythos
25:59 AI use in 2026.
30:20 AI's inauthenticity
41:00 Will AI erase our humanity?
48:15 Should churches use AI?
57:50 Does AI distort human relationships?
1:04:08 How churches should talk about AI

Lunch on The Way is a podcast that deeply discusses Christianity, Church, Culture, and Jesus.
Available on ALL podcast platforms https://lunchontheway.buzzsprout.com/share
Podcast hosts are Greame Flett, Jonathan Hoskin, and Joey Millington.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals expressing and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any affiliated organisations or ministries.

In this episode, Graeme and Joey sit down with Dr Clare Knowles to discuss the BEST and WORST Bible translations on the market.

Dr Clare Knowles is a translator for Bible Society New Zealand as a primary translator and teaches biblical hebrew at the University of Otago. She completed her PhD thesis, “Interpreting Isaiah from Isaiah: Intratextual Translation in Old Greek Isaiah”, at Otago in 2022.

Lunch on The Way is a podcast that deeply discusses Christianity, Church, Culture, and Jesus.
Available on ALL podcast platforms https://lunchontheway.buzzsprout.com/share
Podcast hosts are Greame Flett, Jonathan Hoskin, and Joey Millington.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals expressing and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any affiliated organisations or ministries.