CROWD Church Livestream cover art

CROWD Church Livestream

CROWD Church Livestream

Written by: Crowd Church
Listen for free

About this listen

 If you're looking to grow in the Christian faith, or even explore it for the first time, then come and be part of the CROWD podcast. Each week we post our online church live stream which explores the big questions of life from a Christian worldview. We dig into your questions about meaning, faith and identity. We also add interviews with everyday people about their faith journey, what challenges they have faced and how they overcame them. Regardless of where you are on your faith journey, you are sure to find glimpses into the amazingness of Christ. Crowd Church is a non-denominational church and our commitment is not just to believers but also to those that might not see the point of church. Our commitment is to those who worship and those that are looking for answers to their questions. Everyone is welcome here, no matter where you are on your faith journey. For more information about Crowd Church visit: www.crowd.church. Subscribe to the Crowd Church podcast today.Copyright 2026 Crowd Church Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Spirituality
Episodes
  • When God Seems Too Calm About Your Crisis

    When God Seems Too Calm About Your Crisis
    May 10 2026
    When God Seems Too Calm About Your CrisisYou've cried out for help and God seems… relaxed. Will Sopwith on Mark 4 and the storm Jesus slept through.About this episodeWhy does God sometimes feel completely unbothered about the thing that's wrecking you? Guest speaker Will Sopwith opens up Mark 4, where the disciples are bailing out a sinking boat while Jesus is asleep on a cushion at the back. Through some honest stories — a cycling holiday in Glencoe, Elijah on Mount Carmel, and three weather miracles at Dunkirk — Will makes the case that faith isn't a magic charm that lifts you out of the storm. It's the steady presence of someone who's with you in it.Timestamps00:00 Welcome and intro02:08 Will reads Mark 4:35–41 — Jesus calms the storm04:30 Glencoe — the prayer that lifted the clouds09:00 Elijah praying for rain (1 Kings 18) and Dunkirk's three weather miracles14:00 Point one — Jesus is God (he commands the wind and the sea)16:00 Point two — Jesus cares (not a god needing to be buttered up)17:30 Point three — Jesus does not abandon us to our fears18:30 Faith isn't a magic charm or an insurance policy20:30 Conversation Street — Dan and Jan unpack the talk with Will31:15 Jan's broken-down car and the stranger who vanished35:30 Why we still need to pray when God already knows40:30 Closing prayer — "Jesus, who are you?"Conversation Street highlightsA few moments worth rewinding for.Dan, on a God who isn't too busy for you. Will's line "surely God has got better things to do" landed for Dan. His response: "No, he does. He wants to know our situation. He cares particularly about our situation… He wants to focus on you, on Jan, on me, on Will."Jan, on the lifestyle thing. Jan names the gap most of us feel — we run to God in emergencies, then drift back to managing on our own. "It's just like childlike faith, isn't it? A little child will cry and ask mum or dad to pick them up. Who better to go to than our Father? But we don't do it as quickly as we should."Dan, on the ferry he missed. A family trip home in the late '80s — truck kept breaking down, they missed the ferry, and that ferry sailed into the storm that hit Kew Gardens. "Sometimes God doesn't stop the storm. He just stops us getting in the way of it."Jan, on the stranger in the fog. Student nurse, borrowed her dad's car, broke down in fog at 6:30am in a rough area. She prayed. A man appeared, told her to lift the bonnet, got the engine going — and then he was gone. No footsteps. "It could have been an angelic thing. It could have been a God moment. But he does care. He really does."Will, on praying anyway. A direct word to the cynics in the room: "Turn off your little cynical voice for a moment and say, well — what if God answers that? What if it is a really stupid thing? And what if it might have happened anyway? Just pray anyway."Key referencesBible: Mark 4:35–41 (Jesus calms the storm), 1 Kings 18:41–45 (Elijah and the rain), Matthew 28:18 (Jesus' authority), Psalm 89 (God stilling the raging sea)Historical: The Battle of Dunkirk and the National Day of Prayer called by King George VI on 26 May 1940Quoted: Mike Tyson — "Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the head"Quotes from the talk"He is a solid rock in a storm. He's not flustered by what threatens to tear us apart, but he does care and he is able." — Will Sopwith"Jesus knew the storm would come and yet still told his disciples to row across the lake. Following Jesus' instructions didn't keep them from danger." — Will Sopwith"I encourage you not to stop asking. I encourage you to ask Jesus his perspective on it." — Will SopwithLinksFind out more or get in touch at crowd.churchNew to faith or full of questions? Alpha is running on Tuesdays — informal, no wrong questions. Sign up via the form on crowd.church.Crowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
  • When You've Prayed for Years and Nothing's Changed

    When You've Prayed for Years and Nothing's Changed
    May 3 2026
    When You’ve Prayed for Years and Nothing’s ChangedYou’ve prayed and prayed, and nothing has shifted. You’re not the only one.About this episodeThis week on Crowd Church, guest preacher Mark Buchannan walks us through Mark 5 and the woman who’d been bleeding for twelve years — broke, exhausted, ceremonially unclean, and shut out of community. She’d tried everything. She had every reason to give up. Instead, she pushed through the crowd to touch the corner of Jesus’ cloak.It’s part three of our series Jesus the Revolutionary, and the conversation that follows on Conversation Street goes somewhere honest. Sharon, Dave, and Mark sit with the question most polished sermons skip — what about the people who’ve been praying for years and haven’t seen the answer yet?Timestamps00:00 Welcome and intro02:30 Mark’s talk begins — Bumping into Jesus is not enough04:00 Twelve years of bleeding, broke, and rejected07:30 The risk of being in the crowd at all10:00 The tassel, the wings, and Hark the Herald Angels13:30 Faith plus action — why she had to reach out16:00 The only woman Jesus ever called daughter18:30 Go in peace — not just healing, but shalom21:00 What this means for the rest of us25:00 Conversation Street begins26:30 Sharon’s question — have you ever had to push through?27:30 Dave’s Brecon Beacons story — broken in body, healed overnight31:00 Mark on his divorce, Graham Kendrick, and the Empire State Building36:00 Ellis asks — how do you actually push through?41:00 The hardest question — what about people who’ve prayed for years and nothing’s happened?43:00 Dave’s chronic illness — I haven’t been healed yet46:00 Mark on his mum, MS, and the woman in the wheelchair next to her48:00 Sharon’s instrument-flying image — when you can’t feel anything, fly by the word49:30 Mark’s closing — Jesus doesn’t have a VIP list50:30 Zoe’s comment — this gives me hopeKey referencesMark 5:21-43 — Jairus’s daughter and the woman with the bleeding (also in Matthew and Luke; Mark gives the most detail)Numbers 15:38-39 — the tassels (tzitzit) on the corner of the prayer shawlMalachi 4:2 — the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wingsJames 2 — faith without works is deadMark 10:46-52 — Bartimaeus and what do you want me to do for you?Daniel 3 — even if he doesn’t, yet will we praise himHark! The Herald Angels Sing — risen with healing in his wingsDerek Prince — proclamations (mentioned by Mark as a way to put God’s word in your mouth when you’re desperate)Quotes from the talk“Bumping into Jesus is not enough.” — Mark Buchannan“It’s not just an instantaneous healing. He’s saying, from now on, you’re going to live in my shalom.” — Mark Buchannan“He may not have healed you yet, but he’s not abandoned you.” — Dave“Jesus doesn’t have a VIP list.” — Mark BuchannanConversation Street — what came upThe Q&A this week sat with the hardest version of the question. Sharon kept pushing past the easy answers, and Mark and Dave didn’t dodge.Dave told the story of falling in the Brecon Beacons in his thirties, being helicoptered off the mountain, and being told he wouldn’t walk normally. The church elders broke into his house to pray. He woke up the next morning completely healed.Mark went somewhere quieter — the period around his divorce when his daughters were moving to another country. Praying with Graham Kendrick, who suddenly prayed in tongues with unusual force about God’s protection over his relationship with his girls. Thirteen years later, on the top of the Empire State Building with one of his now-grown daughters, Mark realised they’d made it.Ellis asked the practical question live — how do you push through? Mark’s answer was to use what we have, and to put the right words in our mouths — thanksgiving, scripture, proclamation. Dave’s was to camp in what God’s word actually says, and not to walk it alone. Sharon shared her own — sometimes pushing through is physically moving, like she did when God led her to Liverpool.Alicia added that for her, pushing through means praying first instead of panicking first.Matthew noted that in Eastern Orthodox tradition the woman is named Fotina — the luminous one — though that comes from church tradition, not the text itself.Then Sharon asked the question that had been sitting in the room. What about people who’ve been praying for years and haven’t got the answer?Dave went first. He has an ongoing illness. Hasn’t been healed yet. Nobody wants to be healed more than me. But I trust him. He talked about the moment he was angry with God for months — and what he heard back in his inner being — Dave, you’ve never healed anybody. It’s me who does the healing.Mark told the story of his mum, who lived with MS for as long as he could remember. She was at Spring Harvest sat next to a woman in a wheelchair who was healed and walked...
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
  • When You Don't Fit at Church

    When You Don't Fit at Church
    Apr 26 2026
    When You Don't Fit at Church

    Ever felt like you turned up to church at the wrong time, in the wrong place, with nothing to bring? This one's for you.

    About this episode

    Mike Harris joins Crowd Church to walk through one of the strangest, most tender moments in the Gospels — Jesus reaching out and touching a man with leprosy. It's a story about a guy who broke every rule about how to come to God and somehow got the warmest welcome of his life. Mike pulls in his own outsider stories — the football wall, the cycling club, a moment in a garden he's not proud of — and asks the question lots of people are quietly asking. Does Jesus actually want me here?

    Timestamps
    • 00:00 Welcome and Series Recap
    • 03:34 Mike's Talk — Have You Felt Left Out
    • 05:26 The Cruel Football Captain
    • 07:16 Joining the Cycling Club
    • 08:26 The Leper at the Wrong Time
    • 10:56 I Am Willing — The Real Question
    • 12:26 What Leviticus Actually Required
    • 15:56 Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Nothing
    • 16:56 The Infectious Holiness of Jesus
    • 18:56 Gentle and Lowly — Dane Ortlund
    • 21:26 You Are Hidden in Christ
    • 22:33 Conversation Street — Lepers Around Us
    • 32:26 The Distance Built Into Church
    • 39:56 What Can We Do for the Left Out
    • 45:56 He Gives Us What We Need
    • 49:56 What's the Story + Alpha Plug
    • 51:56 Mike's Final Word — Hidden in Christ

    Key references
    • Mark 1:40-45 (Mike teaches the parallel in Matthew 8:1-4)
    • Leviticus 13-14 — the social rules around skin disease in the ancient world
    • Matthew 11:29 — the only verse where Jesus describes his own heart
    • Romans 8 — no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus
    • Hebrews 4:16 (Ade) — approaching God's throne with confidence
    • Dane Ortlund's book Gentle and Lowly — Mike refers to it as How Does God Change Us, which is a related companion book by the same author

    Quotes from the talk"It's one challenge to believe in God's power. It's another challenge to believe he would use that power in your life." — Mike Harris"Jesus's gut reaction was to move toward the leper. That was his reaction, not his thought-through, considered one. It's just what his heart is." — Mike Harris"God's mercy and grace was the grit to get through. It isn't always deliverance — but very often it's in life's hardships where God's greatest grace works happen." — Ade BirkbyLinks
    • crowd.church — Join us live Sundays at 7pm UK
    • Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund — the book Mike quotes from
    • New Alpha Course starting Tuesday 5th May (online) — register via crowd.church

    Crowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
No reviews yet