The CultureCast with Anthony Hilder

Sacred spaces are found throughout the scriptures and give us four key principles that give us insight into walking with God - both individually as believers, and corporately as churches.

We all face seasons of frustration. In this episode, I share three keys that can help us wisely navigate these times in our lives.

Wilderness seasons are times we all face - dry, desolate, discouraging, and painful. In this podcast, we look at the story of the Israelites in their wilderness season and identify four things God uses wilderness seasons for to accomplish things in and with us. 

Every church needs to know their apostolic mission. A mission statement helps leadership articulate and communicate this mission. In this  podcast, I look at the importance, benefits, and practicalities of developing a mission statement. This helps the church know what to do to see success, and is essential for it to function as a healthy apostolic church.

How do we discover our unique leadership blend? Why is it important we don't just work through a list, but instead use tools to learn how we are wired and what that means for our growth?

Do you focus on proactivity, or focus on pondering? Do you lead with action, or do you lead introspectively?

Do you focus on clear thinking, or focus on deep feeling? Do you lead with confidence, or do you lead with sensitivity?

Do you focus on organisation, or focus on improvisation? Do you lead methodically, or do you lead flexibly?

Do you focus on connection, or focus on completion? Do you lead relationally, or do you lead towards outcome?

Do you focus on tomorrow, or focus on today? Do you lead with vision, or do you lead pragmatically?

There are ten kinds of leadership styles. But instead of each one functioning like a box that you are placed inside and defined by, they are more like a blend. Each of us has aspects of all ten. It's just that we are stronger or more naturally inclined to some over others. So what are these ten leadership styles?

In this episode, I look at the final two of four errors that come from failing to steward apostolic and prophetic tension well, and signs we can look for to see if we've embraced these errors. Overcompensation is an overthinking and overanalysis of the past, at the expense of considering the future. Drivenness is an overthinking and overanalysis of a possible future, at the expense of considering the past. Accompanying charts and graphs can be found at https://anthonyhilder.com/apostolic-prophetic-ministry/

In this episode, I look at the first two of four errors that come from failing to steward apostolic and prophetic tension well, and signs we can look for to see if we've embraced these errors. Traditionalism is an overvaluing of the past and the ‘good old days’, meaning we are looking back rather than looking forwards. Disconnection is an overvaluing of a potential future, at the expense of learning from, valuing or embracing history. Accompanying charts and graphs can be found at https://anthonyhilder.com/apostolic-prophetic-ministry/

We all live in two types of uncomfortable tension – apostolic and prophetic. There is power in being both idealistic and realistic, and there is power in looking back and looking forwards. How we steward these two kinds of tension shapes our perspective and therefore our leadership. We lose out if we minimise or eliminate these tensions. Accompanying charts and graphs can be found at https://anthonyhilder.com/apostolic-prophetic-ministry/

Most of us are busy but some of us might be bad-busy! Normal busy living might involve activity, schedules, tasks or messages, and bad-busy will look the same on the outside to everyone else. But underneath, it’s a different story. My aim here is that all of us can take a moment to reflect and even perform self-surgery so we can embrace the right healthy kind of busy!

We all want to know what we are born for. Knowing the one thing we are meant to do gives a focus and brings meaning to the everyday hum-drum of life. As Christians, how do we find our life purpose? It’s a huge question and might take the best part of a lifetime to fully discover, but there are four keys we can use to begin unlocking our understanding of our life purpose.

It’s been said that if we know the truth, the truth will set you free. The converse must also true: if we don’t know the truth, we won’t be free. What we believe matters. We could hold high-level beliefs, or limiting beliefs. So what kind of mental strongholds could we be faced with, that upon reflection, need to be systematically and ruthlessly torn down?

What do you do when your plans haven’t worked out? When your dreams seem more like wishful thinking rather than things that will see come to pass? When nothing is working and everything good seems far off, how do you respond when you have no idea what to do? It might not feel like it, but the experiences of your life story actually sets you up for success if we view them correctly. I propose that there are five lessons we can learn from the life of Moses. Each will help us reflect on our personal story and how it can set us up for success.

Continuing my podcast series on the book of Ruth, I use Ruth 2 to look at the biblical concept of favour. Favour is a word that can be used a lot in some Christian circles. Favour is another way of talking about blessing. It’s grace. It’s undeserved kindness. Now, the Bible talks about two types - the favour of God and the favour of man. So God’s favour can be saving grace - his kindness in saving us -  and be sustaining grace - his kindness to us as we live life and enjoy him. Whereas the favour of man is about the relational dynamic between people. What favour ISN’T is God’s favouritism over certain people, or God having favourites in the sense that others aren’t favourites, or God’s blessings coming because someone has done the right thing or prayed the right prayer. That’s the prosperity gospel and very different. In this podcast, I explore a key question: how do we understand and steward favour?

This podcast is the first part of a four-part series on the book of Ruth. I'll look at the four chapters of Ruth over four weeks during next couple of months. It's a fairly well-known story. It’s a love story, but more than that, it’s about overcoming despite facing significant challenges. Featuring three main characters - a woman called Ruth, her mother-in-law, Naomi, and a man called Boaz - the story of Ruth is set during the time of Israel’s judges. That’s between 1500 and 1100 B.C. Even though it is a story from over a thousand years ago, it has much to say to us about the current challenge of Coronavirus - and other aspects of pain in our lives. I looked at chapter 1 and saw three key questions that come from it that I think are helpful for us.