Centre For Christian Living Podcast

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/

Community is challenging because, quite frankly, it involves people. I want something different from you; you want something different from me; and we probably all need something different than what we want. How do we meet the needs and expectations of individuals while maintaining the interests of the whole group? As Christians, we look to Jesus as our example. He laid aside his own interests—even his own life—for the sake of others. But in practice, this can be very difficult. How are we to get on in our churches when our churches are filled with so many different people? In this special episode of our podcast, we share with you the audio from our recent live event, “Can community be good for you, me and everybody else?” CCL Director Chase Kuhn was joined by Moore College Dean of Students, Paul Grimmond, as well as Moore College chaplain and chair of EQUIP Women, Isobel Lin, on Wednesday 3 March 2021, and together they discuss biblical and theological principles for community, practicalities of this for c

Most of us want to live the good life, but we’re not always sure what this means. In particular, we hear words like “wisdom”, but don’t understand how what we read in the Bible leads us to wise living. The Book of Proverbs has long been considered one of the greatest collections of wisdom literature. But how are Christians supposed to read it? Does applying it to our lives lead to moralism? Is such an old book irrelevant in our modern day and age? In this episode of the podcast, Chase Kuhn speaks with Old Testament lecturer and colleague Dan Wu about how the Book of Proverbs helps us grow in wisdom as Christians. This is Part 2—the final part—of their conversation. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-055/

Most of us want to live the good life, but we’re not always sure what this means. In particular, we hear words like “wisdom”, but don’t understand how what we read in the Bible leads us to wise living. The Book of Proverbs has long been considered one of the greatest collections of wisdom literature. But how are Christians supposed to read it? Does applying it to our lives lead to moralism? Is such an old book irrelevant in our modern day and age? In this episode of the podcast, Chase Kuhn speaks with Old Testament lecturer and colleague Dan Wu about how the Book of Proverbs helps us grow in wisdom as Christians. This is Part 1 of their conversation. For show notes and a full transcript, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-054/

There is nothing more grand than Jesus bringing peace between us and God. A close second, perhaps, is that Jesus also brings peace between _us_, his people, who come from all sorts of backgrounds, social statuses and ethnicities. In many wonderful ways, this peace signifies how Jesus grants us the grace to obey the greatest commandment—to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength—and the follow-up command to love our neighbour as ourselves. But is peace just something we know on paper? What about the real experience of life together? Unity is good when it’s good, but we all know that churches are not immune to divisions. In fact, often churches are the places where fracturing is felt most acutely. So how should we think about unity _within_ our churches? On today’s episode, Chase follows up with Dr Peter Jensen, building on their last conversation on the unity of the church and moving from the universal to the local. They discuss how each local church relates to denominations, why relationships i

For centuries now, people have questioned whether or not the presence of denominations actually hurts the unity of the church. In the 20th century, there were many attempts to try to bring all Christians together. In some ways, this “worked”, either reconciling parties or smoothing over differences. But in many other ways, it only clarified the divide. As we think about what we should do as Christians, is it bad that we can’t agree on everything? Is unifying denominations a must? _Should_ we? Today on the podcast, our guest Dr Peter Jensen speaks with Chase about unity, considering much of his own journey in helping to set up the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) as well as current events closer to home in the Anglican Church of Australia. Many have seen GAFCON as a threat to unity, but Peter and many others claim that this is actually a way for contending for the gospel. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-052/

The sexual revolution has spun many of us out. What once was taboo is now not only acceptable, but saying otherwise attracts accusations of bigotry and hatred. What has led us to this point in our society? In this episode, Chase talks with Professor Carl Trueman about his new book, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution”. They discuss some of the movements that have brought us to where we are and how understanding these roots help us as Christians to better engage the world around us. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-051/

Infertility is one of the most difficult challenges Christians can face. In any given church, there will be people—family members, friends, fellow Bible study members—who long to conceive, but seem unable. In a time of incredible medical advances and seemingly on-demand treatments, how should Christians think about wise and godly options? More particularly, what do Christians need to be aware of in the midst of the marketplace of assisted reproductive technologies (e.g. IVF)? At our October 2020 event, we heard from two leading Christian doctors—Professor Jonathan Morris and Dr Megan Best—on what needs to be considered as Christians seek to face infertility faithfully—whether personally, or in support of others in our communities. For episode transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-050/

As the world watches the US election in the coming weeks, it will raise afresh questions that have been considered by many Christians throughout the years. What should we hope for in elections? How should Christians participate in politics? Can we support a politician with whom we don’t agree entirely? Furthermore, how does what happens in the society relate to God’s gospel purposes? In this episode of the podcast, Chase Kuhn speaks with Professor David VanDrunen, author of "Politics After Christendom: Political theology in a fractured world", about God’s plans for politics in his world. After discussing how to think about these things theologically, they discuss an array of practical questions related to Christian participation in the world. This episode is a must-listen for all Christians thinking about responsible citizenship in society. For transcript, links and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-049/

Christmas gets forced upon us by shopping malls and TV ads. But in the hustle and bustle of all the demands of the holiday, it is easy not to approach it thoughtfully. Furthermore, there are many challenges that come at holiday celebrations—reminders of what we’ve lost, what we don’t have, how distant we are from loved ones, and so on. At Christmas, we celebrate an incredible miracle: God’s Son took on flesh for us. In this episode, Chase Kuhn speaks with his wife Amy about how they’ve sought to cultivate good traditions together to remind them of this deep truth in order to help them celebrate, even in the face of distance, grief and longing. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-048/