Centre for Christian Living podcast

Centre for Christian Living

Bringing biblical ethics to everyday issues.

  1. 148: Men and women in God’s family with Simon Flinders

    27 NOV

    148: Men and women in God’s family with Simon Flinders

    Christians have always been very pro-family. In fact, historically and in some parts of the world, Christianity and traditional family values are seen as much the same thing. This makes the actual content of the Gospels and what Jesus says about family very surprising—even shocking. It's not as if Jesus is against marriage and family, but his teaching about how to relate to our families brings a radical challenge to our total and unquestioned devotion to our families and to our practice of putting our families first, above all else. CCL Director Tony Payne chats to Simon Flinders, Archdeacon to the Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, about Jesus’ radical new perspective on family life. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Find out more and register for the 2026 Priscilla & Aquila Centre Annual Conference (Mon 2 Feb 2026). Simon Flinders will be delivering the plenary addresses on the topic of “Radical kinship: Men and women in God’s family”. Support the work of the Centre by making a tax-deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    36 min
  2. 147: A biblical response to transgender theory with Rob Smith

    28 OCT

    147: A biblical response to transgender theory with Rob Smith

    One of the commonplaces of our culture is to distinguish between sex and gender. However, it wasn’t that long ago, when filling in forms, that we were asked about our sex—whether we’re male or female. Now forms ask us for our gender, and they often give us more than two options. But did you know that the word “gender”, as applied to someone’s sexual nature or expression or identity, is a very recent invention? We only really started doing that in the late 1950s and 60s. The introduction of the idea of gender, and its separation or decoupling from the concept of sex so that we now have two potentially different things—sex and gender—is one of the extraordinary features of the story of Western culture over the past 30-40 years. In this episode of the Centre of the Christian Living podcast, Rob Smith tells the story of how that happened, why it’s had such a massive impact on our society, and how it all relates to God’s theory of sex in his word. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Find out more and register for the 2026 Priscilla & Aquila Centre Annual Conference(Mon 2 Feb 2026) Support the work of the Centre by making a tax-deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    48 min
  3. 146: A biblical theology of faith with Peter Orr

    9 OCT

    146: A biblical theology of faith with Peter Orr

    If there’s one word or concept that you would say is at the very centre of the Christian life, it’s the idea of faith. In fact, sometimes we describe the whole of Christianity as simply “the faith”. Yet for something that’s so central and so foundational, it’s surprising how often people are confused or have misunderstandings about the nature and meaning of faith. In this episode of the Centre for Christian Living Podcast, we’re going to seek to dispel that confusion and sharpen our understanding of faith and its place at the foundation of the Christian life. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax-deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    34 min
  4. 145: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 3)

    8 SEPT

    145: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 3)

    On the CCL podcast, we’ve been exploring the topic of “Neurodivergence and the Christian life” in a special three-part series. In Part 1, we opened up the issue and heard many wonderful and moving stories from neurodivergent people about their experiences, and the questions and issues that arise from their experiences—especially in relation to Christianity, the Christian life and church life. In Part 2, we looked at what the Bible has to say about these questions, and how to think about these things from the perspective of God and his revelation about his world and our lives through the themes of Creation and the Fall; ability, the Spirit and weakness; and community and the body of Christ. In this final episode of our series, we return to the experiences of neurodivergent people and to the questions we have about how neurodivergence affects our lives, families and churches as Christians, and we explore some paths forward. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax-deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    40 min
  5. 144: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 2)

    25 AUG

    144: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 2)

    On the CCL podcast, we’ve been exploring the topic of “Neurodivergence and the Christian life”. In our first episode, we opened up the issue and heard many wonderful, extraordinary and moving stories from neurodivergent people about their experiences, and the questions and issues that arise from their experiences—especially in relation to Christianity, the Christian life and church life. In this episode, which is Part 2 of 3 in our series, we will look at what the Bible has to say about these questions, and how we might think about these things from the perspective of God and his revelation about his world and our lives—through the themes of Creation and the Fall, ability, the Spirit and weakness, and community and the body of Christ. (Please note: Part 3 will be published in a fortnight’s time.) For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    52 min
  6. 143: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 1)

    11 AUG

    143: Neurodivergence and the Christian life (Part 1)

    Neurodivergence, such as Autism and ADHD, is increasingly identified and understood in our society. Almost everyone has experience of neurodivergence either in themselves or in close friends or family. How do we think about neurodivergence as Christians? What particular challenges and opportunities does being neurodivergent bring with it, especially in responding to the gospel and living as a Christian? How can we love all people in our families and churches? In this first episode of a special three-part series on neurodivergence and the Christian life, we explore and assess what neurodivergence is—the experience, questions and issues of neurodivergent people, as well as the experience, questions and issues of parents, friends and ministers of neurodivergent people. We also look briefly at medical, clinical and social perspectives on neurodivergence. Finally, we raise questions that we will attempt to answer in more depth in Parts 2 and 3 of this series. (Please note: Part 2 will be published in a fortnight’s time, while part 3 will be published in a month’s time.) For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. To ask questions or to get in touch with us about this series, send us a voice memo or email to ccl AT moore edu au. Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    59 min
  7. 142: Being progressive with Charles Cleworth

    24 JULY

    142: Being progressive with Charles Cleworth

    Moral progressivism is a feature of the best and brightest of our culture. It’s the idea that, just like technology, which is progressing all the time and getting better, so our moral beliefs, values and sensibilities are improving over time. There’s a relentless forward march to the moral status of humanity such that many of the beliefs and values we hold today will be seen as outdated and even irrelevant tomorrow. Christians are often wary of moral progressives and moral progressivism, because it frequently wants to declare that the long-held moral beliefs or standards we get from the Bible are not only outdated, but positively harmful or evil. Yet on the other hand, many of the causes that moral progressives espouse do resonate with us as Christians. We do want the world to be a more just, more peaceable and more compassionate place. So what is progressivism exactly? How do we come to be progressives in our modern culture? In addition, how should we think about this as Christians? Hear Tony Payne and Charles Cleworth consider these questions in this episode of the CCL podcast. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. Next Priscilla & Aquila Centre evening seminar: A history of Complementarianism (Wed 13 Aug). Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    38 min
  8. 141: Ministering to older people with Ben Boland

    3 JULY

    141: Ministering to older people with Ben Boland

    Around 19 per cent of Australia’s population is of school age. A similar proportion—around 17 per cent—are seniors, if that’s defined as 65 and older. Are those percentages reflected in the time, people and resources that your church devotes to evangelising and ministering to these age groups? Most of us would admit that our church has put vastly more effort into youth and children’s ministry than we do into ministry to older people. But why is that the case? Is it just a natural focus on the next generation, or is it a blind spot and a huge missed opportunity? In this episode of the Centre for Christian Living Podcast with Ben Boland, chaplain for Churches of Christ Queensland, we think about the marvellous opportunities and challenges of ministering to older people. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website. Priceless People: Loving Older People and People Living with Dementia (Ben R Boland): available from Koorong, Reformers, The Wandering Bookseller, Word, 10ofThose and Amazon. Next CCL event: The smartphone disciple (Mon 27 Oct). Support the work of the Centre by making a tax deductible donation. Please note: The episode transcript on your podcast platform may have been generated by AI and has not been checked for accuracy. If quoting, please check against the audio.

    41 min
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