Flourishing Communities Podcast
Hosted by Caroline Lancaster and Andy Kim, “Flourishing Communities” unpacks the beauty and challenge of pursuing real community.
This resource is part of the Flourishing Communities Collection.
Communities flourish when we live out our faith in Jesus. But...that’s a lot easier said than done. InterVarsity staff, Caroline Lancaster and Andy Kim, unpack (and sometimes wrestle with) the values and practices that help grow flourishing communities on campus. Through honest conversations, and some serious reflection on their own friendship and the communities they share, Caroline and Andy will make you reflect on the beauty and struggles of forming real community.
Listen Now
Follow us on Instagram
Season 1 Episode Guide
Season Credits
- Hosts: Caroline Lancaster (@carolinesusie) & Andy Kim (@andrewsunkim)
- Producers: Kyle Lee, Caroline Lancaster, & Alex Waters
- Design: Gary Nauman
- Brought to you by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Season 1 Episode 0: Flourishing Communities
- Description: Meet your quirky and loveable hosts, Caroline Lancaster and Andy Kim. In this episode, they consider what influences their picture of real community (aka all the tv shows) and why it’s so hard to have that IRL.
- Show Notes
Season 1 Episode 1: Embodied Faith
- Description: InterVarsity staff Andy Kim and Caroline Lancaster talk about the foundation of a flourishing community: embodied faith. But, living out faith in Jesus through loving our neighbor and pursuing justice is so easily disregarded, especially in Christian spaces that prioritize a disembodied faith.
- Show Notes
Season 1 Episode 2: Selfless Love
- Description: In this episode, Caroline Lancaster and Andy Kim talk about the ways technology and culture shape a shallow understanding of love and how the other-focused love of Jesus is revolutionary. Let’s all pray that “one-trick-love-pony” doesn’t actually become a thing.
- Show Notes
Steve Tamayo’s Talk - Selfless Love
Season 1 Episode 3: Radical Inclusion
- Description: Andy Kim and Caroline Lancaster share memories and experiences of feeling excluded as they process the hospitality they have experienced through Jesus. Access to God’s community isn’t based on status, but all are seen, honored, and welcomed in.
- Show Notes
Season 1 Episode 4: Mutuality
- Hosts Caroline Lancaster and Andy Kim wrestle with what it means to share joys and pains in a community when it’s hard to trust if the community can hold it. Listen to process together why mutuality is core for communities to flourish and yet so challenging. Also, wolves are everything.
- Show Notes
Season 1 Episode 5: Reconciliation
- Description: Will this be the episode where Andy and Caroline’s friendship finally blows up? Their conversation covers everything from tv shows (no surprise) to Scripture as they fill in a picture of how reconciliation can lead to flourishing. We also hear a glimpse of Caroline’s story as she retells the fear she had of being disowned by her parents.
- Show Notes
Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0 by Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter-McNeil
Season 1 Episode 6: Costly Compassion
- Description: This episode is full of honest stories and rich reflection on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Caroline and Andy talk about the bystander effect and how we can overcome barriers to showing compassion through action.
- Show Notes
Ray Aldred is the Director of the Indigenous Studies Program at Vancouver School of Theology
Raise Your Voice by Kathy Khang
Season 1 Episode 7: Justice
- In this last episode of season one, our loveable hosts Andy and Caroline give shape to biblical justice and tease out what it means for campuses to commit to pursuing justice for the long haul. Their personal stories and encouragement will challenge you to take one small step of living out justice in your life (and maybe also make you want to have deeper conversations with your friends about these topics!).
- Show Notes
Share this post
About the authors
Caroline Lancaster serves as InterVarsity’s Associate Director for Multiethnic Initiatives and is on South Asian InterVarsity's national leadership team. She is a second-generation Indian American that has lived in California, Singapore, Boston, and the Chicago 'burbs. She is a creative at heart and loves equipping students, faculty, and staff to pursue justice in their contexts. Caroline is a certified Cultural Intelligence Trainer, participated in Rev. Dr. Brenda-Salter McNeil’s Reconciliation Leaders Cohort, and is currently pursuing an MDiv at Fuller Theological Seminary. Find Caroline on instagram @carolinesusie!
Andy Kim is a strategist, storyteller, and ministry leader who helps the next generation imagine and pursue their place in God’s global mission. He currently serves as Associate Conference Director for Urbana, InterVarsity’s triennial student missions conference that has inspired hundreds of thousands to say “yes” to God’s global call.Andy has helped shape multiethnic leadership development, intercultural formation, and missional innovation across a variety of roles within InterVarsity and higher education—including as a campus minister at Northwestern University, Director of Intercultural Development at Trinity International University, and Multiethnic Resource Director for InterVarsity's Multiethnic Ministries. Most recently, he served as Associate Director of InterVarsity’s Creative Labs where helped launch the Ministry Playbook, a digital training platform that has equipped thousands of staff, students and partners in campus ministry across the country. He holds an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Northwestern University. He and his wife Madeline live in Urbana, Illinois, with their three children.
Related Resources
Flourishing Communities Large Group Series
This 7-week series features 15-minute large group talks that explore values and practices in the Bible that are necessary for a community to truly flourish.
Flourishing Communities Bible Study Series
Want real community? Dive into our 7-week Bible study series on how Jesus calls us to love one another and change the world around us.