The Connection Podcast Hits 40 Episodes
Last Easter, Yate and Fromeside Mission Area started experimenting with podcasting. Nearly one year later, and it has proven to be a success. 40 episodes have been recorded, and they have been played 1400 times in the Bristol area. Hywel Snook, associate minister at Yate and Fromeside Mission Area, is at the helm of this project.
Podcasts are episodic digital tracks, usually uploaded to Soundcloud or iTunes where you can listen to them like a digital radio show.
When the mission area began this journey, they weren’t sure how to begin and decided on a broad approach. They interviewed lay people about their faith, recorded episodes from various events and discussions around Christian topics such as the Yate Rocks festival and the Praise in the Park service. They even interviewed Bishop Lee about his previous work as a scientist.
Now they produce two podcasts episodes a month—one covers a specific Christian topic and another is an interview of a lay person where they discuss their faith. Hywel Snook believes “that ordinary Christians can inspire others in their faith journey. The power of the interviews is that we can hear local people openly talking about their faith and this can give others to do the same. Not just in a podcast but also in everyday life too.”
The podcast also allows for those seeking the faith information to find local and relevant information and it tries to answer questions such as what is the bible, advent, or lent? They are building a great resource library. A frequent listener to the podcast Jemma emphasises “I like the podcast because it encourages me in my faith.The interviews are really interesting when we hear other people’s stories of faith too.”
It did take some tweaking and fine tuning when it came to the technical and sound systems but now they have settled into their studio at St Mary’s church vestry. The team are eager to continue their work.
If you want to listen head over to here or search souncloud.com for the connection @ yate parish.