Borderlands is a monthly event where we create a warm hearted space in a Belfast pub for music and reflection on the most pressing issues facing our societies today. The conversation is led by the voices of musicians, activists, civic leaders and artists. This was our Advent event where our theme was Hope. Alan McBride works to advocate for those w…

Brian McLaren is an author, activist and theologian. His many books and his public speaking have been an important resource for Christians seeking a more inclusive faith, a generous orthodoxy. Brian has a pastoral voice that is both challenging but also can be nurturing to those who have been hurt by their experience with faith. In this interview C…

Dave and Jill Hines work for the Methodist church in south Belfast, in an area called Ballynafeigh off the Ormeau Road. They are imagining what a new community could look like in the most ethnically diverse part of a city not famed for it’s diversity. Before this they lived in India for 8 years and dreamed up ways to build up a Community Developmen…

Borderlands is an experimental attempt to create space for people from within the Christian faith tradition and those outside. It is trying to be a safe place at a time when many people are looking for spaces of gathering, belonging and a faith that speaks of doubt as well as hope, of values as well as belief. Fr Martin Magill is a parish priest in…

Borderlands is an experimental attempt to create space for people from within the Christian faith tradition and those outside. It is trying to be a safe place at a time when many people are looking for spaces of gathering, belonging and a faith that speaks of doubt as well as hope, of values as well as belief. Azadeh Sobout is someone we could desc…

Borderlands is an experimental attempt to create space for people from within the Christian faith tradition and those outside. It is trying to be a safe place at a time when many people are looking for spaces of gathering, belonging and a faith that speaks of doubt as well as hope, of values as well as belief. Jenn Clark has spent a life time helpi…

Borderlands is an experimental attempt to create space for people with different labels. Many who come and organise the event come from within the Christian faith tradition, Catholic and Protestant. But it also is for those who are from the borderlands of faith. It’s a space that seeks to welcome and include the presence and voices of those outside…

Live from Belfast in June 2022, Borderlands is a monthly event of music, activism, community and reflection, at the intersection of art, justice, reconciliation and faith. Jason Miller is a brilliant pastor from South Bend City Church in Indiana. He paraphrased the Beatitudes in his own words, connecting them to the Holyland where he read them with…

Live from Belfast in June 2022, Borderlands is a monthly event of music, activism, community and reflection, at the intersection of art, justice, reconciliation and faith. Kathleen Gillespie was held at gunpoint while her husband was turned into a human bomb by the IRA in a horrific attack on the British army on 24 October 1990. Anne Walker was in …

Live from Belfast, Borderlands is a monthly event of music, activism, community and reflection, at the intersection of art, justice, reconciliation and faith. From our Borderlands event back in June, Ramy Taleb tells his story of spending five years in Belfast, Northern Ireland and then moving back to Lebanon to start a peace building charity there…

This interview includes some of the most gruesome details we’ve recorded in any of our podcasts because they relate to crimes against humanity in war. If ever we would want there to be a Guardian of the Flame of humanity it would be in a court of law when dealing with horrific crimes against the most vulnerable human beings alive today. Justice Ter…

Sami Awad is a remarkable Palestinian Christian, an activist and a passionate believer in the power of nonviolence as a strategy to combat oppression and injustice. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to fester and become more intractable. Sami is an inspirational voice that provides real hope and a third way. His organisation is the Holy La…

This podcast originally took place as a live stream recorded on 23rd January. It is a really important conversation on faith and sexuality with a dear friend of ours, John Herron. John was a pastor in a conservative Pentecostal church for many years, he underwent so called “reparative therapy” which left him no less gay, but all the more isolated a…

Bertie Ahern is the former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland. In his role leading the Irish government from 1997 he built relationships with the then new British PM Tony Blair and with the political leaders in Northern Ireland. He played a monumental role in paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement which brought a final peace to the 30 year…

Pádraigin Ní Uallacháin is a singer-songwriter as well as an academic. She has worked with the likes of celebrated Irish poets Seamus Heaney and Ciaran Carson and has sung and recorded with many Irish folk musicians. She has recorded her own original songs as well as uncovering in her research ancient songs and putting them to music. This is a wide…

Brother Thierry is one of the Benedictine monks from the Holy Cross Abbey in Rostrevor. It is a community of Brothers who came to Northern Ireland to be a presence of reconciliation in the midst of our ongoing religious and ethnic conflict. In normal years thousands come through their doors and just about as many Protestants come to sit at the feet…

Bruce Cockburn is a world renowned singer/songwriter who has been recording albums since 1970. Among his many awards Bruce has been inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame and has sold millions of albums worldwide. This podcast was recorded in a very basic format on Bruce’s daughter’s iPhone. The video is obviously not to our usual standard and a Z…

Liam Ó Maonlaí is probably best known as lead singer for the Hothouse Flowers, one of the biggest bands in Ireland in the 90’s, and still loved today. As a band they are still producing music and Liam continues to collaborate with the band and with all of Ireland’s best musicians today. Liam is passionate about the Irish language, his songs are ste…

Seán Farren has been a local politician in Northern Ireland for over 40 years representing the SDLP. He has much to say about Brexit and the prospects of a lasting peace in Ireland. He is also the chairman of the new foundation that is honouring and building on the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, the John and Pat Hume Foundation. One …

Richard Moore was blinded by a plastic bullet after being shot by a British soldier in Derry. This was 1972, Richard was ten years old and it was just weeks after Bloody Sunday where one of his uncles was killed. Since that time Richard has become something of a modern day saint. I remember hosting him two years ago in Rostrevor and being so blown …

This is a fascinating interview with one of the U.K. and Republic of Ireland’s leading public health experts. Dr Gabriel Scally has been a regular commentator on News channels for the last year, often taking the British government to task for their failings in their dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. He has been serving society as a doctor for ove…

Beryl Quigley appears in our documentary telling the story of how her husband, Bill McConnell, was killed by the IRA. Her story is repeated in this podcast where she adds more detail. Several years after her husband’s death she remarried Peter Quigley. Jonny Clark has known Peter and Beryl since the early 90’s and here he allows them to each tell t…

Bruce Clark has been a correspondent for some of the worlds biggest news organisations over the last three decades: the Financial Times, Reuters, The Times and currently the Economist. He was based in Moscow in the final days of Communism and the fall of the Soviet Union. Following this he covered contexts all around Europe and notably for this pod…

James Greer shares powerfully from his experience of membership in the UDA, prison and then starting a new life as a bridge builder. A poignant moment is sharing his entry to the UDA, pledging loyalty to it while having his hand on a Bible. This joining of violence with Religious belonging and identity undergirds what the Guardians Of The Flame pro…

Colum Sands is a hugely respected and much loved Irish folk music singer and songwriter. As well as penning a myriad of songs he has become more and more engaged in environmental campaigning. He led a campaign to recognise an “Invisible Tree”. This Oak tree on the edge of Rostrevor’s ancient Oak Wood was conveniently absent from developers plans to…

“We were chained but they were chained to their guns”, said Brian Keenan after being released from 4 1/2 years of captivity and brutalisation as a hostage of the Islamic Jihad during the Lebanese civil war. This is a fascinating interview. I believe there is a greatness about Brian Keenan. He has suffered more than most should ever have to in one l…

On 24 October 1990 Patsy Gillespie was chained into his seat and made to drive into an army base with a van carrying over 1200 pounds of explosives. His wife Kathleen Gillespie and some of her family were held at gunpoint until the bomb detonated. Patsy has become known as the “human bomb”. He saved lives as he waved his arms and shouted for soldie…

Gareth Higgins is a story teller and violence reduction activist. He grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland and has been living in America for the last ten years. Many moons ago he wrote the book “How movies helped to save my soul”. He was the founding Director of the Wild Goose festival and he is also one of Jonny Clark’s oldest friends. This is an …

Moya Brennan is one of Ireland’s most well known and beloved singers. Her band Clannad are known all over the world and their music is a wondrous blend of Celtic fusion and traditional irish folk music. Moya is a beautiful soul with a deep faith who loves the environment. Clannad came to Rostrevor last summer in July 2019 to play at the village’s f…

This podcast is the story of the remarkable work of Ramy and Roula Taleb, how they journeyed to Belfast and are now making peace in Lebanon. For the last 18 years Jonny and Jenn Clark and their team have raised funds for young Christians from areas of conflict to spend 6-12 months in Belfast or Rostrevor, Northern Ireland learning about reconciliat…

I have had the privilege of meeting Assaad Chaftari a few times now. He is a gentle man, a man of peace, a man of forgiveness who nevertheless witnessed and indeed played an active part in the horror of the Lebanese civil war. Assaad was a senior intelligence officer in the Christian militia called the “Lebanese Forces” and was responsible for the …

Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini came to the attention of many when in 2015 he chose to defend in court the Pentecostal pastor Rev Jim McConnell from Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle, Belfast’s biggest church. McConnell had preached a sermon where he categorised Islam as “heathen” and “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell”. Yet Muhammad defended…

Peter Adams is a remarkable and courageous man of peace. He plays a crucial role in building community relations and sustaining genuine peace through dialogue and relationships in a very fractured context. Luton, on the northern edge of London is where Peter works and has been known as a place where both the far right English Defence League emerged…

During the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline, David Archambault was the leader of the Standing Rock nation. As the tribal Chairman he had the challenging role of negotiating with the oil executives, politics, Barack Obama, activists and his ow people. David articulated the reality of historic trauma of his people, and the 40% poverty rate am…

Tommy Sands is one of Ireland’s most well known folk singers. He has played both with some of the biggest names in music around the world and has also spent time teaching prisoners to write songs. Tommy is also a peace activist and has been an important voice for reconciliation in Northern Ireland since the 1970’s. Many of his songs are calls for p…

Stephen Travers is an inspiring figure who was one of two survivors of the Miami Showband Massacre. The story of the bombing of his band was recently featured in the Netflix series “ReMastered”. Today Stephen is a passionate voice for reconciliation and also for the truth about historic injustices to be made known. The Miami Showband were one of th…

Cathleen Falsani is an American journalist and author. She specializes in the intersection of religion/spirituality/faith and culture, and has been a staff writer for the Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, Sojourners Magazine, and Religion News Service. Cathleen also writes for U2.com. She was the 2005 Religion Writer of the Year, as awarded b…

This is a fascinating, must-listen conversation with Jason Miller, pastor of a growing church in Indiana, USA called South Bend City Church. Our conversation traverses theological themes regarding how we read the Bible, to Jason’s passion for peacemaking that has emerged from his experiences in the Middle East and Sri Lanka. We also mention the now…

Jonny and Jenn Clark and their friends Dave and Jill Hines run a monthly event in Belfast called Borderlands. Held in a pub it is a space where faith and doubt meet, where songs and stories become sacred liturgies and where a spiritual home is created outside the walls of traditional churches. It is for Protestants and Catholics, for those with fai…

It was a privilege to conduct this interview along with my wife Jenn, with Lisa Sharon Harper. From Ferguson to New York to Germany and South Africa, Lisa Sharon Harper leads trainings and helps mobilize clergy and community leaders around shared values for the common good. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Ms. Harper is the founder and pres…

Robert Enright Ph.D. is the author of 120 publications and seven books. He is one of the world’s foremost scholars in the field of forgiveness. Not only has he studied forgiveness exhaustively, he has developed a curriculum that has been used in prisons and schools in some of the most conflicted parts of the world. We have worked with him in Belfas…

An introduction to season 2 of the Guardians Of The Flame podcast, coming soon...Door Guardians Of The Flame

Jonny joined well known American writer, preacher and pastor Jonathan Martin at the Open Skies festival for a conversation on navigating this polarised time in history. It’s a conversation where we try to answer the question of how and when we are called to speak out about the issues of the day such as nationalism, populism, injustice and white sup…

Jamie Arpin-Ricci is an author and community activist, living at the intersection of faith, sexuality, and imagination. He has served with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) for 25 years and has authored several books on faith, justice, & missional living.Door Guardians Of The Flame

Dr. Samuel Sarpiya is a fascinating man with a unique perspective on race in America. Samuel has over 20-years’ experience as a businessman, educator, social worker, community developer, Christian leader, and expert in Kingian nonviolence. Samuel is Nigerian but lived in South Africa before moving to Rockford, Illinois in 2009 to pastor a church. I…

Peter Rollins is an internationally recognised thinker, speaker and academic, as well as an old friend of Jonny's. This is a conversation where they not only reminisce on the past but also look at what faith looks like today. Peter has made a profession out of breaking people’s religious boxes and slaying their holy cows. This interview is no diffe…

In this episode Jonny is being interviewed by Australian activist and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers, Jarrod McKenna. This is a shared podcast so Jarrod will also be releasing it on his Inverse podcast. The interview was recorded in Rostrevor and covers Jonny’s personal background, some stories of his work and the theology of reconciliati…

René August is an activist, theologian and Anglican priest, she grew up under apartheid in the Mitchell's Plain coloured township in Cape Town. For René, theology is about finding a Jesus who is not some pet toy of western consumerism but the incarnated embodied Christ who was born into poverty, grew up under foreign occupation and lived a generous…

Br Thierry is a Benedictine monk and is part of the community of the Holy Cross monastery in Rostrevor. Jonny speaks with him about prayer, the life of a Benedictine monk and the Benedictine spirituality, and reconciliation. Br Thierry is a wonderful man with a profound and yet gracious insight into human existence and the life of faith.…

In this episode Jonny talks with Antoinette Mushimiyimana as she shares her story of surviving the Rwandan genocide after losing her family, and how she began her own journey of forgiveness years later.Door Guardians Of The Flame