Terribly Honest with David Tensen

If you have followed me for a while, you may know I work part-time as a chaplain in an aged care facility, providing spiritual care to around 120 residents per year, of whom around 40 die. In this episode I reflect on the work and the doors and discussions it has opened up - including hosting Death Cafes.Again, as a disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions I share in this (and other episodes) are my own and not to be taken as a reflection of employers and associated organisations.Note: this podcast is recorded as I take my morning walk. As a result, you will hear some wind, passers-by greetings, and our beautiful Sunshine Coast wildlife.

I begin this episode with some THANK YOUs. Natalie and I are going be publishing another book in 2026 so I thought I'd share some stories on how books found me and how my books find others. Details on the new book about Blessing can be found at www.davidtensen.comP.S. There is some wind noise at the start of episode. Sorry. Not my wind. THE wind. It had something to to share too, I suppose.

This eposide was a lengthy attempt to synthesise a number of thoughts and frameoworks in an effort to explore what kind of spaces those who have found themselves outside conventional local church community. It starts is a brief update on things personally and moves through stages of faith, deconstruction, change theory, modernity, postmodernity and metamodernity. I then explore some thoughts and concepts around the kind of metamodern expressions of faith after deconstruction, midlife, and crisis. Feel free to reach out with your thoughts.

Are we experience the emergence of a new kind of Christianity? If scripture is not the central authority in a Christian's life, who or what is the authority?I recorded some thoughts on the other side of publishing an article titled: I believe the Christian Church is ripe for a significant split (and it is AI-assisted).https://davidtensen.com/i-believe-the-christian-church-is-ripe-for-a-significant-split-and-it-is-ai-assisted/

A few days back someone asked me if I would ever go back to working at a church and if I were to lead a Christian church community, how I would do it. This impromptu episode covers some of the core components I'd include... as you might guess, they aren't 'normal', or 'common', or necessarily 'popular' - but they are really important to me.