Stephen Backhouse joined us in Jersey earlier this year to take part in "Host". Whilst here he delivered a talk which blew our minds!

The talk seeks to explain why the Christian church is "the most successful organisation of all time" by examining the political actions and ethos of Jesus and his very earliest followers. Broad in scope this talk discusses subjects such as black magic, power and politics and involves a detailed exposition of the 'Philippian Hymn'

At this CHOW session we will watch the video recording of Stephen's talk together before enjoying a time of open facilitated discussion on hisideas and what they might mean for us as we think about our own political actions and the true nature of Christian leadership.

What was the posture of the early Christian movement towards the political power space? How did the people who knew Jesus and who knew the people who knew Jesus think he affected their posture towards power?

Dr Stephen Backhouse asks us to consider the 'kenotic hymn' of Philippians 2, a key document of the early church positively vibrating with political and public associations which would have been forefront in the minds of the original audience but which tend to be missed by Christians today.