Advertise on podcast: The Thread, from Alpha

To lead people through the complexities and opportunities of this cultural moment, we desperately need to understand them. In this episode, Stephen Foster, Louise Perry, author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, and Jon Tyson, Pastor of Church of the City New York, discuss how we can lead with wisdom, discernment, vision, and boldness in this fascinating time.

This episode explores whether Gen Z has exposed an identity crisis for the Church and its relationship to culture. Drawing on theologians who have wrestled with the question of what the Church is during times of social and political upheaval, Jack Driver-Szekely, Fr Peter Wojcik, and Rachel Wooldridge consider how the Church can offer a hopeful witness without starting from anxiety about cultural change.

Healthy leadership combines authority and vulnerability. This episode considers the complex dynamics of living and leading with both, including the particular challenges when leaders experience vulnerabilities that others do not see. Andy Crouch will help you recognise redemptive opportunities in your current sphere of influence, providing a practical tool for charting a healthy course through leadership demands.

Leading in a church environment requires particular skills and expression. In this episode, HTB's Archie Coates, Mexico's Andrés and Kelly Spyker, leaders of MásVida, and Canada's Father Simon Lobo, General Superior of the Companions of the Cross, discuss how to navigate the different seasons of church life, how to build a diverse team and draw out the best in others, and how to set and sustain culture.

This seminar from the Leadership Conference explores how spiritual warfare uniquely affects those in positions of influence. Jon Tyson considers how unseen strongholds can surface in life and ministry, and how the way of Jesus leads us to seek genuine freedom and power from God. You will be encouraged to pursue God afresh and lead with dependence, courage, and spiritual resilience.

Nicky Gumbel interviews the leaders of Jubilee Church London, Tope and Kemi Koleoso, alongside their musician sons Femi and TJ from Ezra Collective. They discuss parenting well while leading in ministry, representing Christ in secular spaces, and growing up on mission together as a family.

Vicar of HTB, Archie Coates, turns to 2 Corinthians 4:7 in this message from LC26: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Reminding us that God's power is made perfect in weakness, he shares that though the containers of our lives are ordinary, the treasure we carry is extraordinary and that the way you walk in weakness is what draws people to the hope of glory that lives in you.

We all live by a rule of life – including with digital devices which come with default settings that are poorly designed for genuine spiritual, mental, and emotional health. As AI expands, intentional personal and communal practices become more urgent. This episode will help you redesign life rhythms to use technology fruitfully while growing in wholeness, freedom, and deeper humanity.

When thinking about biblical examples of leadership, we often turn to the usual suspects for wisdom and inspiration. But what might we discover if we mine the scriptures for leadership examples that are less commonly spotlighted? Join Tim Mackie from The Bible Project and The Orchard's Rachel and Amy Hughes, as they highlight a handful of unlikely leaders in the Bible.

From the main stage at LC26, Stephen Foster teaches on being a joyful leader in an anxious age. Looking to Paul's letter to the Philippians, he shares an exhortation to let the disruption and shaking around you stir a passion within you, to let gratitude fill your heart, and to stay in the fight – because He is worth it.

In his main stage talk from LC26, Johannes Hartl poses the question, "Are we working too hard or are we not working hard enough anymore?" Referencing Nietzsche's model of the camel, lion, and child, he explains why this is a spiritual question that demands the spiritual solution of being rooted and grounded in the love of God in order to no longer operate as orphans.

Through working as a journalist and a support worker at a rape crisis centre, Louise Perry began analysing the impact of the sexual revolution and went on to write The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. In this interview with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel at Leadership Conference 2026, she discusses her findings on the cost of removing Christian sexual ethics from society and how this led her to faith in Jesus.

Exhorting the leaders at LC26 to "ask for rain in the time of rain" (Zechariah 10), Jubilee Church London pastor Tope Koleoso shares a powerful message on prayer. He calls believers back to a place of intercession, declaration, confession, and adoration, offering practical teaching on hindrances to prayer and cultivating a prayer culture in our churches and communities.

Nicky speaks to award-winning philanthropist Tsitsi Masiyiwa, who has leapfrogged her way to incredible impact alongside her husband, Strive. The interview highlights stories from their inspirational journey, some of the challenges along the way, and the power of prayer.

Speaking to Nicky Gumbel in Rome, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle – one of just 12 Cardinal-Bishops in the Catholic Church – shares his wisdom on humility, being a good listener, remaining anchored in Jesus, and being light of heart. He also gives a one-line response to each of the Alpha episode topics.