Insights

New Research From Barna Finds Young Christians Turning to Chatbots for Spiritual Guidance A growing number of young adults are turning to artificial intelligence not just for information or productivity, but for matters of faith. New research from the Barna Group, conducted in partnership ...

A growing number of young adults are turning to artificial intelligence not just for information or productivity, but for matters of faith.

www.insights.uca.org.au/new-research...

Speaking Truth with Gentleness in Divided Times In First Epistle of Peter 3:15–16, believers are instructed to set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts and to be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks for the reason for their hope. The instr...

In divided times, we try to hold together what Scripture holds together. We don’t water down truth just to be accepted, and we don’t harden our tone to prove a point. Instead, we aim for a way of speaking and living that reflects the hope we proclaim.

www.insights.uca.org.au/speaking-tru...

In Defence of the Em Dash (and Its Slightly Shorter Cousin) There is a very loud campaign underway against the em dash. You’ve seen it. A raised eyebrow on social media. A snide comment in a writers’ forum. “Ah yes,” someone types, “another em dash. Clearly wr...

There is a very loud campaign underway against the em dash.

You’ve seen it. A raised eyebrow on social media. A snide comment in a writers’ forum. “Ah yes,” someone types, “another em dash. Clearly written by AI.”

www.insights.uca.org.au/in-defence-o...

Bringing Emotional Intelligence to the Family Table Family is often where we first learn how to speak, how to listen, and how to belong. And yet, it is also where communication can become the most emotionally complicated. With friends, colleagues, even...

Family is often where we first learn how to speak, how to listen, and how to belong. And yet, it is also where communication can become the most emotionally complicated.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/bringing-emo...

Carrying Your Cross Today Carrying Your Cross Today: Luke 9:23 in Everyday Life. Jesus says in Gospel of Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The verse ...

Jesus says in Gospel of Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The verse is direct. If you want to follow him, you deny yourself. You take up your cross. You do it daily.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/carrying-you...

Colonisation on Pandora Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Waterand Avatar: Fire and Ash. Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third instalment in James Cameron’s hugely successful Avatar franchise, ...

If you’ve seen the first and second films in the franchise, then in one sense you know what Fire and Ash is about. James Cameron has never shied away from admitting that these stories are about environmentalism and colonisation.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/colonisation...

When Forgiveness Costs Everything: Revisiting The Mission 40 Years On "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1: 5 In 1986, The Mission arrived with the confidence of a prestige epic: sweeping landscapes, Ennio Morricone’s aching s...

In 1986, The Mission arrived with the confidence of a prestige epic. Forty years on, some of its assumptions sit uneasily.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/when-forgive...

Leaning Into Lent This year Lent begins on 18 February. It is one of those observances in the Christian calendar that people know is about giving something up. But Lent is also the season that asks you to stop pretendi...

This year Lent begins on 18 February. It is one of those observances in the Christian calendar that people know is about giving something up.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/leaning-into...

Is This Thing On?: Connection, Marriage and Comedy I have been on a journey towards re-embracing my creative pursuits in a way that doesn’t force them into the box of monetisation and functional utility. In the past I have tried so hard to find a way t...

I have been on a journey towards re-embracing my creative pursuits in a way that doesn’t force them into the box of monetisation and functional utility. Is This Thing On? explores this idea through the medium of the time honoured romantic comedy.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/is-this-thin...

Chris Pratt, Mercy, and the Faith That Shaped His Life Chris Pratt’s new sci-fi thriller Mercy is in cinemas, casting him in a dramatically different light from the roguish charm of Guardians of the Galaxy or the affable action-hero energy of Jurassic Wor...

Chris Pratt’s new sci-fi thriller Mercy is in cinemas, casting him in a dramatically different light from the roguish charm of Guardians of the Galaxy or the affable action-hero energy of Jurassic World.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/chris-pratt-...

Gratitude as Action: Practising Thankfulness When You Don’t Feel It Many people treat gratitude as something you feel only when lifelines up neatly. The faith tradition takes another view. Scripture presents gratitude as action. You choose it. You practise it. You let...

Many people treat gratitude as something you feel only when lifelines up neatly. The faith tradition takes another view. Scripture presents gratitude as action. You choose it. You practise it.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/gratitude-as...

Time to Check What Your Body Thinks of Doomscrolling You probably notice how often your phone pulls you out of the present moment. You check it while waiting in line, before a conversation ends, after a pause in your thoughts. That pattern is not incide...

You probably notice how often your phone pulls you out of the present moment. You check it while waiting in line, before a conversation ends, after a pause in your thoughts. That pattern is not incidental.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/time-to-chec...

What C.S. Lewis Can Still Teach Us About Technology As the new year begins, many of us start doing a quiet audit of the year that was and the year ahead. What drained us. What helped. What we want to carry forward and what we’d like to leave behind. In...

As the new year begins, many of us start doing a quiet audit of the year that was and the year ahead. What drained us. What helped. What we want to carry forward and what we’d like to leave behind.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/what-c-s-lew...

Religious Extremism and the Cult of Personality in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland reinvented the cinema zombie in 2002 with the modern classic 28 Days Later, a film that still feels remarkably fresh and innovative upon a rewatch today. Th...

Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland reinvented the cinema zombie in 2002 with the modern classic 28 Days Later, a film that still feels remarkably fresh and innovative upon a rewatch today.

www.insights.uca.org.au/religious-ex...

Why Your Presence in Christian Community Still Matters Gathering with other believers is still a central practice for Christian life. You can access sermons, music, and teaching online, but Scripture calls you to something more than receiving information....

Gathering with other believers is still a central practice for Christian life. You can access sermons, music, and teaching online, but Scripture calls you to something more than receiving information.

www.insights.uca.org.au/why-your-pre...

The Difference Between Guilt and Truth There is a scene in Wake up Dead Man, the third instalment of the Knives Out film series, when Jud the priest believes he has murdered someone. Except that he hasn’t. The scene is a stormy, dreary nig...

There is a scene in Wake up Dead Man, the third instalment of the Knives Out film series, when Jud the priest believes he has murdered someone. Except that he hasn’t.

www.insights.uca.org.au/the-differen...

Philip Yancey, Celebrity, Brokenness, and Me Philip Yancey shaped my faith. His books on grace, pain, and the mysteries of God met me in seasons when I needed language for experiences I couldn’t articulate. When I learned about his eight-year af...

Philip Yancey shaped my faith. His books on grace, pain, and the mysteries of God met me in seasons when I needed language for experiences I couldn’t articulate. When I learned about his eight-year affair and its recent exposure, something in me collapsed.

www.insights.uca.org.au/philip-yance...

A Queer Christmas Message If you have heard or felt you are “too much”, “not enough,” or “not quite fitting in… you have made yourself smaller, quietened your laugh, fixed your walk, not spoken when you should, or skipped the ...

If you have heard or felt you are "not enough"… you have made yourself smaller, quietened your laugh, fixed your walk, not spoken when you should, or skipped the morning tea because it was easier, Christmas is for you!

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/a-queer-chri...

Living with Inner Peace When the World Feels Uncertain When the world feels uncertain and restless, the call to inner peace can seem out of reach. News cycles move from one crisis to the next, and even within your own circles there may be grief, division ...

When the world feels uncertain and restless, the call to inner peace can seem out of reach. News cycles move from one crisis to the next, and even within your own circles there may be grief, division or fatigue.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/living-with-...

Wake Up Dead Man: A Rejection of Fear-Based Faith, and a Call to Genuine Discipleship Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films, following detective Benoit Blanc as he solves elaborate and contemporary murder mysteries. These films have become one of th...

Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films, following detective Benoit Blanc as he solves elaborate and contemporary murder mysteries.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/wake-up-dead...

The Traitors: Revenge, Redemption, and the Gospel According to Claudia Winkleman Don’t judge me, but I’ve recently become a fan of the UK version of The Traitors, specifically the most recent season on Channel Ten, Celebrity Traitors. Sure, in a landscape of prestige television, T...

Don’t judge me, but I’ve recently become a fan of the UK version of The Traitors, specifically the most recent season , Celebrity Traitors. Sure, The Traitors is the weirdest reality show ever devised, but perhaps this is what makes it watchable.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/the-traitors...

The Master of Horror’s Ghastly Yet Strangely Hopeful Vision of 2025 Stephen King is without a doubt one of the most prolific and well-known novelists of the modern era. He has transcended the literary community and become an icon of pop culture, and most people would h...

Stephen King is without a doubt one of the most prolific and well-known novelists of the modern era. He has transcended the literary community and become an icon of pop culture...

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/the-master-o...

Following Jesus in a Culture of Consumerism A crucial part of being a disciple of Jesus is the ability to integrate your faith into your life in a meaningful and tangible way. It isn’t enough to simply understand the theory behind your faith - ...

To truly embody the life of a Jesus person is to allow the truth of the Gospel to transform your inner life in such a radical way that it informs your external behaviour.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/following-je...

How the Bible Shapes Christian Discipleship and Spirituality There are few things more radical than believing that the living God speaks: still, now, through words on a page. Compared with the views of our age, it’s an astonishing conviction to believe that the...

For Christians, the Bible isn’t merely a sacred text among others. It’s the inspired witness to God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ: the Word through whom all words find their meaning.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/how-the-bibl...

Plur1bus Episode 4: The Cost of Truth Episode four ‘Please Carol’ pushes Carol (Rhea Seehorn) further into her interrogation of the hive-mind now that she has confirmed they cannot lie. A calm conversation with Larry, one of the hive’s re...

Episode four ‘Please Carol’ pushes Carol (Rhea Seehorn) further into her interrogation of the hive-mind now that she has confirmed they cannot lie.

Read Our Recap of Episode 4 of Plur1bus: www.insights.uca.org.au/plur1bus-epi...

Choosing Forever: Faith and Love in the New A24 Film Eternity A24’s film Eternity places you in a world that asks questions about life, love, and what lasts beyond death. Directed by David Freyne, the story follows Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), who arrives in the afte...

A24’s film Eternity places you in a world that asks questions about life, love, and what lasts beyond death. The story follows Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), who arrives in the afterlife to discover she has one week to decide where to spend eternity.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/choosing-for...

“The Promised Land” Finds Holy Humour in the Wilderness of Faith The Bible is a pretty hot property at the moment with the character-based drama of The Chosen, the fantasy stylings of House of David, and the modern-day dystopian take of Acts in Testament.  They all...

The Bible is a pretty hot property at the moment with the character-based drama of The Chosen, the fantasy stylings of House of David, and the modern-day dystopian take of Acts in Testament.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/the-promised...

Plur1bus Episode 3 Turns Loneliness into Defiance Note: This commentary contains spoilers for Episode 3 of Plur1bus Episode 3 of Plur1bus titled “Grenade” opens by deepening the isolation of Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) who remains the un-joined indiv...

Episode 3 of Plur1bus titled “Grenade” opens by deepening the isolation of Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) who remains the un-joined individual in a world now subsumed by the hive-mind.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/plur1bus-epi...

One of Biggest Global Christian Events Ever Happened This Week At noon. On a Tuesday. The reason? Well, a mobile app hit a milestone.Okay, you may think, ‘well that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to create a global Christian event!’ But actually, it is. T...

That is a serious milestone. 1 billion Bibles, downloaded on digital devices around the world. Hebrews 4:12 says, ‘Indeed, the word of God is living and active…’, and that is exactly what was celebrated at this ‘Beyond a Billion’ event.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/one-of-bigge...

Humanity Isn’t Dead: A Conversation with Dr Daniel Widdowson Sitting across from Dr Daniel Widdowson, it becomes clear that reconnecting is not just the first step of our conversation, but one of the very actions his new book encourages. It has been years since...

Sitting across from Dr Daniel Widdowson, it becomes clear that reconnecting is not just the first step of our conversation, but one of the very actions his new book encourages.

Read On: www.insights.uca.org.au/humanity-isn...