In depth | Evangelicals Now

Glamazon women?

Rebecca Chapman

Reality TV has not had a good summer. Married at First Sight has been in the media for all the wrong reasons. Despite this, Netflix has brought us the third season of its megahit America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

The show follows the iconic cheerleading squad as potential members navigate auditions, training camp, and then the ups and downs of the (American) football season. Series One was a breakout hit in 2024, Series Two showed us the women fighting to unionise, despite their highly controlled environment, in an attempt to secure better pay (spoiler: they succeeded!) Series Three holds up a mirror to the new-found fame the team have – now they are globally famous Netflix stars, with all the scrutiny and social-media horrors that this brings. It’s a damning portrayal of how social media can provide an ugly forum for the harsh judgement of others, encouraging us to see commodity over humanity.

You need deep, gospel-centred relationships

Alistair Chalmers

We live in the most connected generation in history, yet many people have never felt more alone.

We can message hundreds of people instantly, follow thousands online, and remain constantly updated on each other’s lives, but still lack genuine friendship.

scattering seeds of hope

The evangelistic power of poetry... and pudding

Naomi Hutchison

Poetry and pudding - two of my favourite things. Creativity with a side of sweetness – what’s not to love? That was our premise when we created the "Poetry & Puds" women’s event for our church and local community.

We gathered in our church café space on a Thursday evening, having invited women from church and encouraged them to invite their friends.

Why is everyone crying after watching Wicked?

Milla Ling-Davies

What do you do when a friendship goes wrong? Do you call them up and explain how you were hurt - or do you stop replying to messages and remove them from your life entirely?

If you are a part of Gen Z, you might do the latter. Sociologist Jenny van Hooff recently published a paper exploring how our culture views ‘toxic friendships’^[1] and found ‘dispiriting’ results. Toxic behaviour was described as anything ‘unsympathetic or simply negative’ and ending a friendship like this was seen as a ‘desirable… even courageous’^[2].

Broken friendships and the power of the gospel

Graeme Shanks

'Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms’. Those were the chilling and frank words of Alex Salmond in the recent BBC documentary¹ exploring the breakdown of the long-term political partnership between him and Nicola Sturgeon.

She in turn spoke about the uneasy feeling that she lives with, when considering that some of the best moments of her life feature the man with whom she is now at odds. Certainly no love lost in this textbook impasse.

culture watch

A ‘friendship recession’?

Rebecca Chapman

This February the phenomenon that is the streaming show The Chosen has hit cinemas again, with the first two episodes of Series Four showing us more of Jesus and His disciples.

Director Dallas Jenkins hopes that watching will be a shared experience for many of us, encouraging people to ‘get together during a time that’s very divisive’. This new series is a step up in many ways – more focused, more confident storytelling, and more compelling with its mix of light and dark, sorrow and humour, faith and frustration.

How can we mend broken relationships?

Carl Chambers

Book Review RELATIONSHIPS: How do I make things right?

Read review

The precious commodity of biblical friendship

Adrian Reynolds

On a recent holiday visit to the Scottish Museum of Modern Art, I was struck by the entrance hall artwork which was made up of a long list of names: everybody the artist, 53-year-old Douglas Gordon, could ever remember meeting in his life. You can see it in my holiday snap (right)!

Now this kind of art may not be your cup of tea – you may prefer the more realistic brush strokes of Canaletto or the landscapes of Constable. But I like art that makes me think – and this installation certainly got me thinking, and not only about the GDPR consequences of such a display.

Crossing the Culture

Venom in Love & Friendship

Angeline Liles

Lady Susan Vernon’s reputation precedes her, and not in a good way.

Brought to life on the big screen by director Whit Stillman, with Kate Beckinsale in the leading role, Jane Austen’s posthumously published Lady Susan has finally been given the Hollywood adaptation treatment. Adopting the title of an entirely separate piece of Austen’s juvenilia, Love & Friendship attempts to find a home amongst the established Austen adaptation canon by mirroring titles like Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.

The Single Track

Friendship and dating

Jacqui Wright

I am coming to this very difficult topic from a position of weakness.

There was a period of 16 years when I had no success in older post-divorce ‘dating’. In fact, I got things hopelessly wrong! On reflection, it was related to three factors: my personality, my past, and God’s providence.

Healthy friendships

Stefan Cantore

One Christian author has written: 'Today, true friendships seldom occur. Very few sing the praises of friendship because very few have experienced its heights.'

Someone else has said that 'friendship is God's way of apologising to us for our families'!

In Depth: friendship