Episode 103 - Steve Chalke: th eonly Oasis interview you need

Beer Christianity

Did we make a joke about the reunion tour? Definitely maybe.

Steve Chalke is founder of Oasis, a hugely significant charity most famous for its youthwork initiatives and other social impact subbrands. He's also been a controversial figure in the UK Church, ever since, as a Baptist minister, he came out against Penal Substitution as an image of Christ's atonement, and came out in favour of equal marriage for gay couples.

In this episode, Malky, Laura and Jonty chat to Steve about Paul and Jesus, the Church's hang-ups about sexuality, honest assessments of the professional youthwork experiment and how he guards against Beloved Founder Syndrome bleeding into problematic areas.

We don't agree with Steve on everything, but we hope the tone is of critical friends offering helpful challenge, as we really enjoyed talking to Steve and we love his pastoral vision of an inclusive, loving Church.

About Beer Christianity

Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, anti-imperialist, post-post-post-evangelical podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, helpful and entertaining.

Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters. He updates it according to his own wildly inconsistent neurodivergent schedule, but it’s a good read. Sign up for the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.

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There's also a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and random chat.

Other things…

Malky’s design work has graced many good magazines and music videos. You can find his stuff and even commission him if he’s not too busy, here. Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not literature but it’s quite fun if you like Supernatural, Africa or the Goth scene. Laura doesn’t want us to post her BookTok until she’s posted more videos. She may have prayed for the app to be banned just to avoid it.

Beliefs…

We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be, while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.