Centre For Christian Living Podcast

Violence is not only a physical activity, it's also something that lurks in our hearts. The Lord Jesus cautions us that refraining from physical violence is only half of the equation. We are also liable for our thoughts towards one another. Kingdom righteousness demands that Christians pursue reconciliation with one another, rather than harbouring a grudge. This is urgent work! At our first live event in March 2022, CCL Director Chase Kuhn and Archdeacon for Women Kara Hartley consider how the command to not murder exposes the anger in our hearts. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-075/

A little bit about the Centre for Christian Living podcast. Find out more at https://ccl.moore.edu.au/podcasts/

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we get to know another one of the students on our CCL team—a young man named Jordan Cunningham who, as you’ll learn, has come from quite a long way to study at Moore College. Jordan’s story is quite different to Brooke Hazelgrove’s, who we met in an earlier episode, though there are similarities in some of the steps they both took on their path to theological education and ministry. Jordan was not raised in a Christian home, he did not attend a Christian school, and when he answered God’s call to ministry, it was because he first answered God’s call to faith. It is our hope and prayer that as you hear Jordan’s story, you’ll come away encouraged and eager to pray for and support not just him and his future in ministry, but also the college as it carries out its vision of seeing God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources

For many Christians, the law is one of the most challenging topics for their life. It’s as if they feel they’re walking a tightrope between legalism on the one side and licence on the other—as if they either need to perform, or else they’re simply embracing a loose way of living. But careful examination of the teaching of Jesus helps us gain a richer picture of the law and its place in our lives. When we encounter the law in Christ, we see something beautiful. Today on the podcast, and in preparation for our four live events this year, we’re looking carefully at how Jesus reframes our experience of God’s law with David VanDrunen, the Robert B Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Westminster Seminary in California. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-073/

Some of our modern church practices can fool us into thinking that our faith is a private matter, or perhaps even that church itself is something for us to sit and enjoy, listening to a nice message and then leaving. But the Christian life is inherently focused on others, not just on self. A quick search of the New Testament will show that there are more than 50 occurrences of commands for one another. Think about the Lord Jesus’ teaching to his disciples in the upper room when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). Jesus expects that all who follow him will take an active role in loving others. In this episode of the CCL podcast, we explore several of the “one another” commands and consider how, in becoming aware of them, we might live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus. For a full transcript and show note

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we get to know one of the students on our CCL team—a young woman named Brooke Hazelgrove. In some ways, Brooke’s path to ministry and Moore College was quite typical of many of our students: she was raised in a Christian home, she attended a Christian school and she decided to answer the call to ministry around the time she graduated from university. But in other very key ways, Brooke’s journey is far from typical and she doesn’t fit neatly into the cookie cutter idea of what many people think a Moore College student is. It is our hope and prayer that as you hear Brooke’s story, you’ll come away encouraged and eager to pray for and support not only her and her future in ministry, but also the college as it carries out its vision of seeing God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-071/

Community isn’t something that is static; it stretches through time, as culture is passed from one generation to another. The Bible has many commands about ensuring that its truth is passed on to the next generation. Yet as simple as this command is, the practice of raising up children and new leaders can cause great anxiety. At our October 2021 event, Ruth Lukabyo, Dean of Women at Youthworks College, Paul Dudley, Chaplain at Shore School, and Mark Earngey, Head of Church History at Moore College, offer us some instruction about how we might work to raise the next generation in the Lord. Whether we are young or old, a parent or a friend, we need to take an interest in seeing the next generation of the church grow to be followers of Christ. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-070/

In every age, societies have had methods for finding a future spouse. For better or worse, our culture embraces dating. But what is dating? Is it Christian or not? And if it isn’t, is it redeemable, or should Christians be looking for an alternative? In this episode of the CCL podcast, we feature a recent event from our partner, the Priscilla & Aquila Centre, at which Moore College Dean of Students Paul Grimmond explores God’s wisdom for dating and answers some audience questions. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-069/

When Paul and Silas came to Philippi in Acts 16, a woman who was demon possessed began to pester Paul. Paul commanded the demon to come out of the woman and she was set free from spiritual bondage. But Paul and Silas then got into trouble, because setting this woman free came with economic consequences: she had been enslaved by owners who exploited her demonic abilities for profit. Now their slave was worthless to them. Tragically, this story highlights one of the worst evils known to humanity—the enslavement of others for economic gain. Many Christians in Western nations like Australia see slavery as a thing of the past or something unrelated to everyday life. But is this true? What comforts might we enjoy at the expense of others? What slavery might be taking place even in our own land? In this episode, we consider what modern slavery looks like and how we might take action against it. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-068/

Children are vital to God’s great plan to save the world: Jesus one said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:14-15). But as simple and stark as this object lesson is, it also has packed into that simplicity, incredible profundity and complexity, and some huge challenges for all of us who belong to Jesus. How can we best love and care for the precious gift of the children God has given us? How do we prepare them to grow and stand strong in a very uncertain and bewildering future? And what steps should we be taking to raise the next generation to be followers for Christ? For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-067/

Perhaps you’ve noticed that awareness about issues surrounding mental health has risen sharply in recent years. More and more people have been coming forward, sharing their own experiences of their struggles with depression and anxiety. New articles and books about this topic seem to come out every month. In Australia, RU OK? day in September has become a national annual fixture. And of course, the COVID-19 pandemic and various lockdowns have led to a sharp decline in mental health around the world. But despite growing awareness, increased activism, and an abundance of information and think pieces, the mental health crisis doesn’t seem to be getting any better. If anything, it seems to be getting worse. What’s going on here? If the current ways of tackling the problem aren’t working, how might we go about addressing it? Furthermore, how are we as Christians to think about mental health issues? And what role can we play as a community to help those who struggle? For a full transcript and show notes, visit ht

The most liberating truth of the Christian life is that our sins have been forgiven. But one of the most difficult challenges of the Christian life is forgiving others as we have been forgiven. Does forgiving mean forgetting? If we forgive, must we still trust? At our August 2021 CCL event, Kanishka Raffel, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, and Philip Kern, Head of New Testament at Moore College, lead us through what the Bible teaches about forgiveness and how we might in wisdom learn to forgive those who have sinned against us. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-065/

What do you choose to rejoice in? What do you give thanks for? In the middle of a pandemic, do you thank God for your health, for your home, for your job that continues to provide for you through the restrictions? Could it be that you are focusing merely on the circumstantial—material and “desirable” lifestyle matters—rather than the theological? In this interview with Archie Poulos, Director for the Centre for Ministry Development and Head of the Ministry Department at Moore College, Chase and Archie look closer at the biblical command to rejoice. In the Book of Psalms, the command to rejoice is specifically to “rejoice in the Lord”—the Lord who is unchanging, the Lord who is faithful. The command is actually a call to faith—to continue taking God at his word and trusting that he is good, irrespective of our circumstances. But how do we Christians _do_ that? For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-064/

One of the most horrible realities of living life in a broken world is knowing violence in your own home. Each person expects to have safety and security amongst their nearest and dearest. And yet, because of sin, too many people—women, children and even men—don’t enjoy safety in their homes. This has been true of families since the first family, when Cain killed Abel. But unfortunately, this remains true for too many families even now. On this episode of the CCL podcast, we’re considering the terrible reality of domestic violence. Many have been coming to terms with the sad fact that this isn’t just an issue “out there”, but actually one that is “in here”—that is, in our churches. What _is_ domestic abuse? How should you respond if you’re a victim? How should we care for perpetrators? And what can or should we do as onlookers? For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-063/

There’s a been a long history of discussion about living life with purpose. This goes back to ancient times and the works of philosophers, but features more recently in Christian books like “The Purpose Driven Life”, or in secular leadership and lifestyle books. There’s something sensible in recognising that purposeful living is better than simply drifting. And yet while many of us think about wanting to live life with purpose, we find there is often a disconnect: circumstances press in upon us, prohibiting us from being as intentional as we might otherwise like. Decisions have to be made on the fly. Or sometimes it’s our sinfulness that steers us away from the purposeful ends we confess that we believe in. Today on the podcast, we’re discussing convictional intelligence—that is, living life governed by what we believe. I believe in the gospel, what does it mean for me to _live_ like I believe it? For a transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-062/

Our most recent event from our series on community focused on “Dealing with sin”. Today on the podcast, we bring you a special follow-up episode with our speaker, Moore College lecturer Chris Conyers, to answer some of the many outstanding questions that came to us during the event.

Sin is a real threat and problem to our lives and our communities. The Apostle Paul warns us that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor 5:6) and Jesus told his disciples that it would be better to lose an eye or cut off a hand that causes one to sin than for a person to go to hell (Mark 9:42-48). But how are we supposed to deal with sin? We hide it in our own lives, and we are quick to judge it in the lives of others, but this only makes things worse. At our May event, Chris Conyers, Lecturer in New Testament at Moore College, helped us think about how the gospel enables us to deal with sin together and how, in practical terms, we can continue growing in our Christian lives, putting sin to death. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-060/

Women undoubtedly face very different struggles than men. They have pressures related to body image, beauty and sex that men are often unaware of and certainly don’t understand first-hand. While there are many times women talk about facing up to these challenges, one question we don’t often ask is how men can help. Today on the podcast, Chase talks with Akos—another man—in full recognition that these issues are not their own as men, to consider what responsibility men have in helping women in the things they struggle with on a daily basis. Certainly men are complicit in creating and driving many of the problems. So, how in the home and in the church can Christian men better care for their daughters, wives and other sisters? For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-059/

Over the past few years, the mistreatment of women has been brought to the forefront of media attention through things like the #MeToo movement. It is as if a spotlight has been shone upon the terrible ways women have been objectified by men. In recent weeks in Australia, there has been accusation of sexual misconduct against women in our highest government buildings. There have been a range of responses in these very public discussions—from the vilification of all men to blaming women (as absurd as this may be) for this sort of mistreatment. Today on the podcast, together with Akos Balogh, CEO of The Gospel Coalition Australia, we aren’t weighing in on the political discussion as much as we are recognising the responsibility that men have to women. How can Christian men treat women better—as they should, as Jesus did? And how in a society such as this can we raise the next generation of men to not continue this sort of mistreatment of women? For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.

In Christian circles, we often talk about the fact that we’re all on mission. In fact, the Great Commission has been the battle cry for many believers passionate about living their purpose in the world: we are called to make disciples of all nations. But not all of us really understand what it means to think and live missionally. It is one thing to say mission is important, but another to know our place in it. Today on the podcast, Chase Kuhn is joined by a friend who is preparing to move overseas for mission with the Church Missionary Society, often referred to as CMS. But this isn’t, strictly speaking, a change in his life; he’s been thinking about and living on mission for years, even in his own workplace and neighbourhood. Our hope for you as you listen is that you’ll be encouraged to think about how you can live missionally wherever you are. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-057/