Pain that arrives overnight. Hospital staff who doubt you. Church spaces that sometimes turn prayer into pressure. If you have sickle cell disease, love someone who does, or want to understand why this matters for the Black British community, this conversation is one for you.

This week, I'm joined by my brother, Jonathan Williams, who has lived with sickle cell anaemia his whole life. He describes sickle cell as “uncompromising” and explains what a crisis feels like in plain, human terms: pain in joints, back, and everywhere blood flows. We also talk about the mental impact that gets ignored once you leave hospital, and how stereotypes can shape the way patients are treated, including the painful assumption that someone asking for relief must be drug seeking.

From there we go deeper into faith and suffering. We unpack what Christians often get wrong about chronic illness: the expectation of instant healing, the subtle blame placed on the person still suffering, and the way some churches can make illness into a spectacle. We come back to Jesus’ question to Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”, as a model for whole-person care, better prayer, and real community. Jonathan also shares practical wisdom on resilience, advocating for yourself in medical settings, and what dating and marriage can look like when sickle cell is part of the story.

If you found this meaningful, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. What would you want your church, your GP, or your hospital team to understand about sickle cell pain?

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If you’ve ever felt like church wanted your emotions but not your mind, this conversation puts words to that tension without turning it into church-bashing. This week, I sat down with Leondre Douglas, a church minister, educator, diocesan secondary faith adviser, and young adults leader, to talk about education versus anti-intellectualism and what it means to build a genuinely thinking faith.

We unpack why some Christian cultures can unintentionally elevate “what feels spiritual” over careful reasoning, biblical interpretation, and historical grounding. Leondre shares his experience of studying philosophy and religious studies, the fear that university will “kill your faith”, and why tested faith can become trusted faith. We also tackle a hot topic with nuance: speaking in tongues, church history, and how making one gift the sign of being “filled” can create hierarchy, pressure, and confusion.

From there, we get practical. We talk church culture, Bible study habits, valuing teachers, and how preaching style shapes discipleship. You’ll hear why expository preaching can help congregations read scripture in context, why thematic preaching can become limiting when it dominates, and why a healthy church makes space for hard questions and the whole counsel of God’s word. We end with a vision for a church that loves God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, keeping God as the main character rather than turning faith into self-centred motivation.

If you want more conversations like this, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one question you wish your church had made room for?

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A lot of people assume leaving church means leaving religion completely. But this might not be the full story, especially in Black British communities. People can often step back from church life, keep hold of scripture, and go looking for a spiritual home that takes history, identity, and power seriously.

This week, I sat down with Dr Eleasah Phoenix Louis, an independent academic consultant and confessional Christian, to unpack her book *Black British And Dechurched: A Church Message To The Mainstream*. Eleasah explains what “dechurched” looks like on the ground, why some people remain on the fringes, and why others move towards scripture-centred alternatives such as Rastafari, the Nation of Islam, Black Hebrew Israelites, and the Holy Coptic Church. We also explore the roots of these movements, including Ethiopianism, and why familiarity with the Bible can make the transition feel less like a jump and more like a transfer.

We do not dodge the hard stuff: the cultural weight of white Jesus imagery, the legacy of slavery and colonialism, and the real damage done when churches refuse frank conversations about race, history, and belonging. We talk discipleship, the overlooked role of teachers in the local church, and how the internet has become a substitute teacher for anyone with questions.

If you care about Black British Christianity, racial justice theology in the UK, dechurching, apologetics, and what faithful belonging could look like now, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who has big questions, and leave us a review telling us what your church needs to talk about next.

Follow Dr Eleasah's work here: https://lostintheologies.com/

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