- 75
- Episodes
- 19
- Ratings
- Weekly
- Cadence
- 2023
- First episode
About Leaving Egypt Podcast
Leaving Egypt is a series of conversations with Jenny Sinclair, Al Roxburgh and guests exploring the vocation of the church in a context of cultural unravelling. Leaving Egypt seeks to make sense of this moment for communities of Christians in North America and the UK. In dialogue with guests, they read the signs of the times and share stories of how local expressions of God’s people are contributing to the reweaving of hope in our common life. leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com (https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
- Publisher
- Leaving Egypt
- Category
- religion & spirituality · society & culture
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 2 Aug 2023
- Latest episode
- 8 Oct 2026
Latest episodes
75 episodes in the feed.
8 Oct 2026
EP#73 - AI, The Church and a Post-Work World With Matthew Sanders
In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair meet Matthew Sanders. Amid conflicting claims about AI, Matthew brings a leading tech practitioner’s experience and rare ethical seriousness. He speaks of what he calls the coming “existential cliff” — the disruption AI and robotics will bring to work, identity and meaning — in societies weakened by Western individualism. Though optimistic, he warns the transition will be messy. The classical, GDP-shaped model of work is ending; what replaces it will appear as we find new forms of work and vocation, and discern what must remain human. For Matthew, the AI revolution is not only economic and technological; it is an anthropological event. His hope rests less in technology than in the Church recovering its vocation as a place of human, intellectual and spiritual formation. Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas, Matthew locates resolution not in Silicon Valley but in small communities gathered around church life. Just as the monasteries emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, Matthew believes the parish is called to become “the ark for a post-work world.” Matthew Harvey Sanders is Founder and CEO of Longbeard, the leading mission-driven technology company building faithful, Catholic-oriented artificial intelligence. The Longbeard team has developed some of the most significant Catholic AI initiatives in the world, including Magisterium AI, a powerful large language model trained exclusively on official Church documents and ancient Christian manuscripts; Vulgate AI, a dedicated tool for biblical access and study; and Ephrem, the world’s first fully dedicated Catholic AI. Sanders is committed to creating technology that fosters human solidarity, serves the Church, and challenges the dominant technocratic paradigms of our age. He is also the founder of the Builders AI Forum and has served as a digital strategist for numerous Catholic nonprofits, creating ethical tech platforms for evangelisation and environmental education. Matthew is Canadian, and now lives in Rome. LINKS For Matthew Sanders: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-harvey-sanders/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-harvey-sanders/) https://www.magisterium.com https://www.longbeard.com/blog/the-reality-of-ai-and-the-crisis-of-meaning (https://www.longbeard.com/blog/the-reality-of-ai-and-the-crisis-of-meaning) https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AI-and-the-Future-of-Work-T4CG-report-June-2026.pdf (https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AI-and-the-Future-of-Work-T4CG-report-June-2026.pdf) Magnifica Humanitas (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html) For Alan J Roxburgh: http://alanroxburgh.com/about (http://alanroxburgh.com/about) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/ (https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork (https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork) Books: Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unravelling: Leadership in a Changing World (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forming-Communities-Hope-Great-Unraveling/dp/B0F88LJ1CM?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE) (with Roy Searle) Joining God in the Great Unravelling (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-God-Great-Unraveling-Learned/dp/1725288508/ref=sr_1_) Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions (https://www.amazon.ca/Leadership-Gods-Agency-Disruptions-Confronting/dp/1725271745/ref) Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-Remaking-Church-Changing-World/dp/0819232114/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2NHGW8KB7L0SQ&keywords=Alan+J+Roxburgh&qid=1687098960&s=books&sprefix=alan+j+roxburgh,stripbooks,130&sr=1-3) For Jenny Sinclair: Substack: https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair (https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair) Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair (https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG (https://twitter.com/T4CG) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK (https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/ (https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/) Get full access to Leaving Egypt at leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe (https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
24 Sept 2026
EP #72 Joining God in the Neighbourhood - with Karen Wilk
Join the Leaving Egypt community on Substack: leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair meet Karen Wilk, who has devoted her life to discovering what it means to join with God in the neighbourhood. Like many other pastors, Karen began in youth ministry. Over time, though, she grew uneasy watching so much church-life energy go into getting people through the door, rather than helping them develop a real relationship with Jesus. Long before it was fashionable, she recognised there was something upside-down about this and wondered what it would look like to form church in her neighbourhood - with her neighbours. Shaped by influences like John McKnight’s Abundant Community, Karen has quietly and persistently pioneered a deeply loving commitment to place and people. In a moment when many are awakening to the realisation that Christ’s church is meant to be rooted in the local, Karen’s story is a testament to what patient, pioneering faithfulness can create in a neighbourhood - something beautiful for God. Dr. Karen Wilk is a community pastor and neighbourhood animator who is part of a growing network of Canadian faith communities. For almost 20 years, Karen has been pursuing a ‘new thing’ — seeking to discover and join God at work in her neighbourhood, and equipping and inspiring others to do the same (through Resonate Global Mission and Forge Canada). She has a Doctorate in Missional Leadership from Northern Seminary (Chicago) and lives in Edmonton, Canada. She has been a pastor/teacher for about 40 years. She’s also a spouse, mum, nana, e-biker, birder, pickleballer, outdoorsy and crafty type. LINKS For Karen Wilk: https://forgecanada.ca/ www.resonateglobalmission.org/ Mentioned in this episode: John McKnight and Peter Block The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Abundant-Community-Awakening-Families-Neighborhoods/dp/1605095842)Neighborhoods (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Abundant-Community-Awakening-Families-Neighborhoods/dp/1605095842) Barbara Brown Taylor An Altar in the World: Finding the Sacred Beneath Our Feet (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Altar-World-Finding-Sacred-Beneath/dp/1853119903) Books: Don’t Invite Them to Church: Moving from a Come and See to a Go and Be Church (https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Don%E2%80%99t+Invite+Them+to+Church%3A+Moving+from+a+Come+and+See+to+a+Go+and+Be+Church&crid=3M5HYUP94JVOA&sprefix=don+t+invite+them+to+church+moving+from+a+come+and+see+to+a+go+and+be+church%2Caps%2C138&ref=nb_sb_noss) For Alan J Roxburgh: http://alanroxburgh.com/about (http://alanroxburgh.com/about) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/ (https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork (https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork) Books: Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unravelling: Leadership in a Changing World (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forming-Communities-Hope-Great-Unraveling/dp/B0F88LJ1CM?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE) (with Roy Searle) Joining God in the Great Unravelling (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-God-Great-Unraveling-Learned/dp/1725288508/ref=sr_1_) Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions (https://www.amazon.ca/Leadership-Gods-Agency-Disruptions-Confronting/dp/1725271745/ref) Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-Remaking-Church-Changing-World/dp/0819232114/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2NHGW8KB7L0SQ&keywords=Alan+J+Roxburgh&qid=1687098960&s=books&sprefix=alan+j+roxburgh%2Cstripbooks%2C130&sr=1-3) For Jenny Sinclair: Substack: https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair (https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair) Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair (https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG (https://twitter.com/T4CG) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK (https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/ (https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/) Get full access to Leaving Egypt at leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe (https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
10 Sept 2026
EP #71 The New Spiritual Hunger – with Christian Smith
We hope that you are enjoying Leaving Egypt. We would invite you to join the Leaving Egypt community on Substack by becoming a paid subscriber: https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe (https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe) In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair talk with Christian Smith about what is happening to spirituality in the US. Christian’s deep research on attitudes to religion among the young has led him to the sober conclusion that traditional faith in North America has become “obsolete”. Something massive is shifting across Western societies: amidst the exhaustion of liberal modernity, the turn toward re-enchantment means that the churches’ framing of the culture as secular no longer holds. The spiritual hunger of the young is attaching to politics, identity, conspiracy, the occult and techno-utopianism as readily as to church. When asked how priests and pastors should respond, he sees that authentic Christianity embodies what the young are yearning for: a cosmic vision, sacramental life, disciplined prayer practices, embodied community, faithful doctrine and moral clarity. But rather than conventional evangelising, the times call for a posture of listening, hospitality and dialogue as a better way to connect. Christian Smith is a leading figure in the sociology of religion. Best known for coining the term “moralistic therapeutic deism” to describe the beliefs of American teenagers, he has written many influential works on faith, culture and the moral life. His books include the forthcoming Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality (2027) and the recent Why Religion Went Obsolete (2025). Christian is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, where he taught for nearly twenty years and founded the Center for the Study of Religion and Society. Prior to Notre Dame, he spent twelve years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a BA from Gordon College and an MA and PhD from Harvard University. Raised an evangelical, he and his wife, Emily, were received into the Catholic Church in 2010. He lives in South Bend, Indiana. Links For Christian Smith: https://sociology.nd.edu/people/christian-smith/ (https://sociology.nd.edu/people/christian-smith/) https://christiansmith.nd.edu/ “Why I’m Done with Notre Dame” (First Things, on his decision to leave) (https://firstthings.com/why-im-done-with-notre-dame/) Selected Books: Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality (https://www.amazon.com/Occulture-New-Face-American-Spirituality/dp/019785575X) (forthcoming, 2027) Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/why-religion-went-obsolete-9780197800737) (2025) Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (with Patricia Snell) (https://www.amazon.com/Souls-Transition-Religious-Spiritual-Emerging/dp/0195371798) (2009) Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (with Melinda Lundquist Denton) (https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Searching-Religious-Spiritual-Teenagers/dp/019518095X) (2005) For Alan J Roxburgh: http://alanroxburgh.com/about (http://alanroxburgh.com/about) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/ (https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork (https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork) Books: Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unravelling (with Roy Searle) (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forming-Communities-Hope-Great-Unraveling/dp/B0F88LJ1CM) Joining God in the Great Unravelling (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-God-Great-Unraveling-Learned/dp/1725288508) Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions (https://www.amazon.ca/Leadership-Gods-Agency-Disruptions-Confronting/dp/1725271745) Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World (https://www.amazon.ca/Joining-Remaking-Church-Changing-World/dp/0819232114) For Jenny Sinclair: Substack: https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair (https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair) Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair (https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG (https://twitter.com/T4CG) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK (https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/ (https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/) Get full access to Leaving Egypt at leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe (https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
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- 4.9 / 5
- 8 ratings
- Spotify
- 5.0 / 5
- 11 ratings
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