Centre for Christian Living podcast

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.au/resources/podcast-episode-058/

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 community, and audience questions and answers. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-056/

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/