In this episode of Theology for the People, host Nick Cady sits down with Michael Payne, Worship Pastor at White Fields Community Church, to talk about what makes worship in the church both biblical and healthy.

Drawing from the insights of "Worship Matters" by Bob Kauflin, they explore 9 essential tensions that every church must navigate when it comes to worship and music.

What does it look like to be:

• Spirit-led and Scripture-rooted?
• Emotionally expressive and doctrinally grounded?
• Skilled and sincere?

Rather than choosing one side or the other, healthy worship holds these tensions together in a way that honors God and serves the church.

Whether you're a pastor, worship leader, musician, or church member, this conversation will help you think more clearly about what worship is—and what it’s for.

👉 Topics include:

• The purpose of music in gathered worship
• Balancing excellence and authenticityChoosing songs that shape theology
• Leading people, not just performing for them
• Why tension is not a problem—but a necessity

If you care about Christ-centered, congregational worship, this episode is for you.

What does persecution actually look like in the places where the gospel is least known? And how should Christians think about persecution in relation to missions?

In this episode of Theology for the People, Nick Cady speaks with missionary and author Matt Rhodes about his 15 years serving as a church planter in North Africa among a Muslim-majority tribal community. Matt shares stories from the field and discusses the central thesis of his book Persecution and Missions: A Practical Theology.

One of Matt’s key insights is that persecution is not merely an occasional obstacle to mission—it is often a structural reality in places where the gospel is advancing. In many communities, the greatest barrier to faith in Christ isn’t intellectual objections but the social and familial cost of conversion.

Nick and Matt discuss:

• Why persecution often prevents people from even exploring Christianity

• The immense social cost faced by converts from Muslim backgrounds

• Common mistakes Western missionaries make when discipling persecuted believers

• The tension between contextualization and compromise in missions

• How the New Testament frames persecution through the lens of the Exodus and the Promised Land

• Why missionaries must be honest about the cost of following Jesus

• The dangers of wealth, financial incentives, and dependency in missions

Matt also shares practical wisdom from his experience serving in a village context in North Africa and offers specific ways listeners can pray for believers who face intense pressure for their faith.

This conversation offers an important reminder: following Jesus has always come with a cost—but the hope of resurrection and eternal reward makes that cost worthwhile.

📘 Matt’s book: Persecution and Missions: A Practical Theology

In this episode of Theology for the People, Nick Cady is joined by recurring guest Shane Angland to explore the question: Did the early church fathers view Scripture the way Protestants do today—or is the Protestant view of the Bible a Reformation novelty?

Nick and Shane walk through patristic theology and discuss how figures like Irenaeus, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine spoke about the inspiration, authority, sufficiency, and clarity of Scripture. They also examine the “rule of faith” and whether it functioned like a controlling magisterium—or more like a summary of Scripture’s core teaching that guided interpretation.

Along the way, they discuss:

• What “patristics” are, and where the patristic era generally begins and ends

• Whether the fathers believed Scripture could contain errors

• How early Christians handled difficult passages (textual issues, translation, and humility)

• The unity of Scripture and the Christ-centered reading of the whole Bible

• The Reformation’s claims about sola Scriptura and the perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture

• Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine and why it’s really about how to interpret the Bible

• Whether the church creates Scripture’s authority or recognizes it

• How medieval developments changed the relationship between Scripture and tradition

If you’ve ever wondered whether the Reformation recovered an earlier Christian approach to the Bible—or introduced something new—this conversation is for you.