Join Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger for their annual recap discussion on the biggest stories affecting the church around the world in the last year. This conversation was originally featured on TGC's Gospelbound podcast.

It’s important to remember as Christians in America that the global church consists of churches from all countries and continents. God is building his church continually, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He displays his faithfulness even amid the brokenness we witness in our local church contexts. Christ came to rescue his Bride, and he won’t stop perfecting her until he returns.

In this episode of Glo, Blair Linne, Aixa de López, Sharon Dickens, and Soojin Park discuss what God is doing in their local congregations and share hopeful stories and statistics of God’s work around the world. The hosts close their conversation and the first season of Glo by praying for churches that God has placed on their hearts. May we listen closely to the stories of God’s work worldwide and be encouraged to persevere in our faith and devotion to his church, knowing he remains faithful.

Episode time stamps:

• Episode and topic introduction (0:00)
• Aixa's hope for the church in Guatemala (3:43)
• God's work at 20schemes in Scotland (6:07)
• Hope in the American church (9:25)
• The local church as a healing agent (12:54)
• Hopeful statistics about the global church (15:24)
• Encouraging stories from different parts of the world (17:04)
• Praising God for believers doing work in hard places (26:09)
• Praying for churches around the world (29:30)
• What is one part of the world you've always wanted to visit? (46:00)

"Part of the promise of the new heaven and new earth is that you are going to have a new mind." – Soojin Park

In this episode of Glo, Blair Linne, Aixa de López, Sharon Dickens, and Soojin Park discuss the importance of creating a safe space within the local church for Christians to share their emotional and mental health struggles and receive encouragement without shame. They vulnerably share their own stories of struggling with mental health and describe how the hope of eternity, when we will be fully restored in body and mind, gives us the endurance to persevere.

The struggle with anxiety and depression is one that might require medical help, professional counseling, and tools of God's common grace in order to find healing, and we serve a God who meets us in our weakness and lovingly bears our burdens. By fostering open and compassionate conversations about mental health within the body of Christ, may we create an atmosphere where those silently suffering can find hope.

Episode time stamps:

• Episode and topic introduction (0:00)
• The stigma of mental health in the church (5:13)
• Mental health as a Christian woman (7:36)
• Postpartum depression and anxiety (10:57)
• Biblical joy and the range of human emotion (14:42)
• We don't have to edit our prayers when we are struggling (17:21)
• Pray without ceasing and cast your cares on the Lord (20:30)
• Depression and a future renewal of our minds (22:19)
• How to walk with someone who is struggling with mental health (25:03)
• Recommended resources (28:40)

Recommended resources:

• Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons
• The Wounded Heart by Dan Allender
• A Small Book for the Anxious Heart by Edward T. Welch
• Depression: Looking up from the Stubborn Darkness by Edward T. Welch
• Blame it on the Brain by Edward T. Welch
• Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones
• The Emotional Life of Our Lord by B. B. Warfield
• The Allender Center