“I don’t think we can be liberated without love.” 

In the season finale, our co-hosts Idelette McVicker, Leah Abraham, Nichole Forbes and Erin Thomas reunite to share what they have learned about liberating faith this season and to remind our listeners that you are not alone in your journey. 

We would love to know: What have you learned in this season of “Liberating Faith”? Share your thoughts on Instagram or Facebook, or email us at shelovespodcasting@gmail.com. 

#liberatingfaith #shelovespodcast #faith #faithpodcast 

Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is deeply curious, a wonder-er by nature and in this episode, they connect with Idelette McVicker to talk about a Liberating Faith, what it means to follow Jesus and also how we can be part of ushering in “another possible world.”

Join us also, as Dr. Robyn leads us in a grounding practice–something they use every morning to enter the day and ground them.

Here are a some of the questions Idelette asked Dr. Robyn in this episode:

How do you name yourself? (We have been doing a lot of work in our Dangerous Women community in learning and growing in how we name ourselves.)

What is the faith of your childhood?

What does a liberating faith mean to you?

What do you hope for?

Meet Robyn:

Dr Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is a TransQueer, Latinx activist scholar, public theologian and founder of Activist Theology Project. Their latest book is called, Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation. 

IG: @irobyn

Website: www.drrobynhendersonespinoza.com

#liberatingfaith #liberatingfaithpodcast #faithpodcast 

Deconstructing is such a hot topic in churchy circles these days. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the why and the how of deconstruction. On this episode Nichole sits down with three of her best friends to talk about what it is actually like to walk away from evangelicalism but chose to stick with Jesus. In this first of two part, Nichole, Rachelle Karina and Shaley discuss the catalysts for change they each experienced, how it felt it first leave their communities of faith and where they began to find their footing a Jesus followers out in the wild, on their own.

Join Nichole and the ladies for a heartfelt chat that’s full of truth, laughter and hope.

Meet Rachelle Fehr: Rachelle is a Manitoba prairie born and raised woman of Anishinaabe and Pakistani heritage.  She loves truth, justice, knitting and my garden.  She spends her days as a full time nursing student and a mama to 6 children and Mimi to 1 (soon to be 2!) beautiful granddaughters.

IG:@chellemabelle

Meet Karina Loewen:

Karina is a lot. And she is ok with that now. She loves many things, starting with her partner of 26+years and her five kiddos, who refused to stay tiny and are all taller than her now. She loves being a part of the leadership team for her faith community. She is **this** close to finishing her Masters degree, and jumps at any chance to host, feed and water people in her home. She believes deeply that broken systems don't have to stay that way and that participating in truth, beauty and justice will repair the world.

IG:@karina_loewen

Meet Shaley Hoogendoorn:

Shaley Hoogendoorn is a speaker, vlogger and mental health advocate who aims to dismantle the stigma around mental health and create a safe community for those that struggle. She lives with bipolar ll, and is passionate about educating and empowering others about mental health disorders. She has contributed to publications for Sanctuary Ministries, Psych Central and BP Hope magazine. She hosted a series interviewing women living with mental illnesses at SheLoves Magazine in a series named "Sisters in Mental Illness." Shaley currently co-hosts “This is Bipolar” vlog and podcast. Shaley is also an elementary school teacher and an event planner. 

IG: @messybeautywithshaley @this.is.bipolar

#liberatingfaith #faithpodcast #christianpodcast #deconstructingfaith #sheloves

In part 2 of Jesus Followers in the Wild, Nichole Forbes continues her conversation on deconstruction with her friends Rachelle Fehr, Karina Loewen and Shaley Hoogendoorn. They pick up where they left off, discussing what happens after you leave your faith community and how you navigate relationships with those are part of those communities. They also talk of their hopes for the future, the church they dream of and the Jesus they are getting to know now.

Join Nichole and the ladies for a heartfelt chat that’s full of truth, laughter and hope.

Meet Rachelle Fehr: Rachelle is a Manitoba prairie born and raised woman of Anishinaabe and Pakistani heritage.  She loves truth, justice, knitting and my garden.  She spends her days as a full time nursing student and a mama to 6 children and Mimi to 1 (soon to be 2!) beautiful granddaughters.

IG:@chellemabelle

Meet Karina Loewen:

Karina is a lot. And she is ok with that now. She loves many things, starting with her partner of 26+years and her five kiddos, who refused to stay tiny and are all taller than her now. She loves being a part of the leadership team for her faith community. She is **this** close to finishing her Masters degree, and jumps at any chance to host, feed and water people in her home. She believes deeply that broken systems don't have to stay that way and that participating in truth, beauty and justice will repair the world.

IG:@karina_loewen

Meet Shaley Hoogendoorn:

Shaley Hoogendoorn is a speaker, vlogger and mental health advocate who aims to dismantle the stigma around mental health and create a safe community for those that struggle. She lives with bipolar ll, and is passionate about educating and empowering others about mental health disorders. She has contributed to publications for Sanctuary Ministries, Psych Central and BP Hope magazine. She hosted a series interviewing women living with mental illnesses at SheLoves Magazine in a series named "Sisters in Mental Illness." Shaley currently co-hosts “This is Bipolar” vlog and podcast. Shaley is also an elementary school teacher and an event planner. 

IG: @messybeautywithshaley @this.is.bipolar

#liberatingfaith #faithpodcast #christianpodcast #deconstructingfaith #sheloves

Join podcast host Erin Thomas as Erin chats with author Amy Kenny about her very recently released book 'My Body is Not a Prayer Request'. Amy was raised in churches that saw her body as broken or evil, so she determined that God and faith needed to be much bigger than one kind of body or one kind of ability. While her childhood faith traditions sought to cure her, Amy sought the deeper waters of God's healing which proclaimed that her body was created very good and is a marvelous creation as it is.

About Amy:

Amy Kenny (PhD, University of Sussex) is a disabled scholar and a Shakespeare lecturer whose research focuses on medical and bodily themes in literature. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, The Mighty, The Audacity, and Sojourners. Kenny is a scribe for Freedom Road Institute for Leadership and Justice; serves on the mayor's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce in California; coordinates support for people experiencing homelessness in her neighborhood; and is currently colaunching Jubilee Homes OC, a permanent supportive housing initiative in her local community.

Dr. Amy Kenny's book, My Body Is Not A Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church releases May 17, 2022

Freedom Road 

UC Riverside 

Jubilee Homes OC 

What a powerful conversation with one of the women I love most in this world. Be ready to get uncomfortable. 

Nicole Joshua brings us her voice and her perspective, located at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.  

Do you have a faith that makes room for your discomfort?

How do you stay in discomfort?

How do you hold room for someone else’s changing faith?

How do you hold room for your own changing faith?

Nicole shares: 

 A Liberating Faith is a faith that gives you a voice. 

A Liberating Faith allows you to ask the questions.

We go deep and far and Nicole gets vulnerable with us, as she shares the compassionate faith she is finding in the feminine image of Mama God. 

About Nicole: Nicole Joshua had a deep thirst for learning. She completed her Bachelor of Theology in Community Leadership, majoring Biblical studies, at Cornerstone Institute (formerly known as Cornerstone Christian College) in 2011 and then went on to complete her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree(cum laude) at the University of the Western Cape in 2012, majoring in Biblical Studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Accounting) degree from the University of Cape Town. And in 2016, she completed a certificate in Leadership in Urban Transformation Studies through the University of Pretoria, a course which ultimately led her to embracing her passion for taking what she has learned in Biblical Studies, through academia, into communities.

She is a mom to a beautiful daughter, and wife to an incredible husband.

Without a doubt, Nicole is passionate social justice, about partnering with God in God’s work of redeeming and transforming our world, and she believes that the Bible provides us with narrative framework that shapes our understanding of God and of the work to which God calls us. She is deeply concerned with praxis; i.e. she believes that how one lives out their faith in the world, how one’s faith shapes their engagement with their communities, finances, family life, relationships, etc. in ways that bring about healing and transformation, is more important than focusing purely on figuring out the right beliefs.

#liberatingfaith #liberation #faith #faithpodcast #progressivechristian 

In honor of Mother’s Day, Leah invites her mother, Debbie Abraham, to the podcast to chat about motherhood, the formation of their faith journeys, and the stories that have shaped them.      

Debbie is an architect who lives in Portland, Oregon, USA, with her husband, Santosh. She is mother to Leah and David, and mother-in-law to Nithin and Elizabeth. She enjoys cooking (most of the time), making crafts, playing games, and spending time with her loved ones. You can follow her on Instagram @debbiepdx.

Follow Leah: @leahabraham9

Nichole sits with one of her best pals to reflect on the homecoming Rachelle has experienced as she has stepped back from traditional evangelicalism and moved towards an Indigenous way of knowing Creator. Listen in as two friends, on parallel journeys, find freedom in faith through exploring and embracing their indigeneity.

Meet Rachelle Fehr:

Rachelle is a Manitoba prairie born and raised woman of Anishinaabe and Pakistani heritage. She loves truth, justice, knitting and my garden. She spends her days as a full time nursing student and a mama to 6 children and Mimi to 1 (soon to be 2!) beautiful granddaughters.  

Nichole Forbes:

@nicholemforbes