This podcast is relaunching because of Helen Ryde (September 11, 1965 - September 2, 2025)

Helen and Derrick recorded this conversation on July 1, 2025.

For thirteen years, Helen Ryde worked tirelessly through Reconciling Ministries Network for LGBTQ+ justice and inclusion in The United Methodist Church and beyond. They were an organizer in the truest sense, a delegate to the 2024 General Conference, a co-convener of the Queer Delegate Caucus, and a key leader in the transformation of our denomination. They had so much more left to do.

In this conversation, you'll hear Helen's journey of faith from a Church of England primary school to evangelical charismatic communities, then moving to the United States and meeting the love of their life, Kate Schiappa aka Mrs. Lovely. You'll hear them reflect on the lead up to General Conference 2024, and on what it looks like to love people in a way that is genuinely felt and received. You'll also hear them wrestle with a question that never left them: what does revival look like in the progressive Christian space? Helen closes the conversation with hope and a firm belief that we still have something to offer this world. Listen with the kind of attention Helen deserves.

For those who want to honor Helen's memory and support the work they gave themselves to so fully, visit the Helen Ryde Memorial Fund at Reconciling Ministries Network.

Bar of the Conference is hosted by Derrick Scott III and produced by the team at Wesley's Revival, a ministry of Studio Wesley.