Centre for Christian Living podcast

Do you ever get that feeling that the teachings of the Bible, and the complex and painful things that actually happen in your life don’t always connect? Do you ever feel that when you’re in the midst of pain, grief and difficulty, you’re not exactly sure what the gospel has to say about it?

Andrew Nicholls, Director of Pastoral Care at Oak Hill College in London, had exactly that experience as a pastor, trying to help his parishione...

Have you ever had one of those moments of self-awareness when some relationship or perhaps some conversation has just gone badly, and for some reason, you stop and think, “Why did that just happen? What did I do? What attitudes, behaviours and underlying thoughts did I bring to that conversation that contributed to what just happened?”

If you’ve ever managed to do that and also thought to yourself, “I really should do that more ofte...

What does it mean to live the Christian life as a man or as a woman? Does whether we are men or women make any difference to living as a Christian and seeking to be a godly person in response to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Does godliness look any different for men as it does for women, or, for that matter, for young people as opposed to old people?

These kinds of questions can often cause controversy. But they’re also hard to avoid ...

Last year in 2024, Tom Schreiner, Associate Dean for the School of Theology, the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, delivered the Annual Moore College Lectures on the Book of Galatians.

In this episode of the CCL podcast, Peter Orr speaks with Tom about Galatians and how what God says in this marve...

In the past, people used to date by asking each other out and getting to know each other over coffee, a meal or some other activity. But these days, many people use dating apps as a way of meeting others. How should we navigate this area as Christians? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach? What are the dangers we need to be aware of?

Jocelyn Bignill, Assistant Minister at All Saints in Petersham, Sydney, has been w...

Gospel ministry in our schools is incredibly important and strategic, and has changed many lives. But what does it mean for the gospel to do its work in a school? What sort of work does a school chaplain do? In addition, how does the ministry that takes place within our schools sit alongside, complement and relate to the broader ministry of the gospel that we’re used to seeing in our churches?

In this episode of the CCL podcast, Pet...

What’s the place of mission in the Christian life? In this episode of the CCL podcast, Peter Orr speaks to Tania Snowdon. Tania and her husband Mike spent a number of years on the mission field in Spain and have since returned. Tania speaks about the whole mission experience—why you would go; how to decide whether to go; how to decide where to go; the training you receive before going; what it’s like when you arrive and start speak...

As Christians, we know that evangelism is important. But most of us feel that we’re not very good at it and that we don’t do enough of it.

In this episode, Peter Orr speaks with Dave Jensen, who works as an evangelist for Evangelism and New Churches Sydney Anglicans. Dave helps us think about how we can increase in our fervour and ability for evangelism, and how we can do it as Christians together.

For an edited transcript and show n...

It seems if you talk to anyone and ask them how they’re doing, one of the most common things they’ll say is that they’re feeling tired. I think that’s true of Christian and non-Christian alike. What we all need is rest.

In this episode, Peter Orr talks to Jocelyn Bignill about some recent thinking she did in a talk on rest, and how we can rest spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s a really helpful and challenging d...

Our culture is obsessed with identity: we’re often told, “You do you” and encouraged to live according to our “true and authentic self”, expressing publicly how we feel about ourselves internally.

However, the very concept of personal identity is inherently slippery. It encompasses things like ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, belief, educational background, profession and personality, but it’s not fixed: it can change ...

Peter Orr speaks with Jocelyn Loane about her new book on Christian motherhood from Matthias Media: Motherhood: How the gospel shapes our purpose and priorities. In the book and in our conversation, Jocelyn helpfully shows how the gospel, more than anything else, should shape Christian motherhood. It’s very easy to read parenting books that contain a lot of helpful things, but in this conversation, Jocelyn shows us how key gospel t...

The Centre for Christian Living exists to bring biblical ethics to everyday issues, and on each episode of our podcast, we seek to do exactly that. But every now and then, we like to share stories of how God’s people seek to apply biblical ethics to the everyday and specific issues in their own lives.

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we get to know yet another member of our student team: a Moore Theological College student named ...

For centuries, theologians have debated the doctrine of total depravity, the belief that people are wholly and naturally corrupt due to original sin. In this episode, Peter Orr speaks with Jonny Gibson, who has edited a 1,000-page book on this topic. They talk about why it’s important for Christians to have a clear grasp of sin, and what can go wrong if we don’t.

For an edited transcript and show notes, visit">https://ccl.moore.e...

In this episode, Peter Orr chats with Nick and Dorothy Jones about their life as a family—particularly loving and caring for their son William, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Nick and Dorothy reflect on how their Christian faith sustains and strengthens them as they love and care for William, and they offer some very helpful insights not only about caring for a child with a significant disability, but also about how ...

The world is becoming wealthier and wealthier. Since the turn of the century, the net worth of many countries in the West and in Asia has tripled, poverty rates have fallen, and life expectancy has increased by more than six years.

At the same time, the divide between rich and poor has increased, with the richest one per cent owning almost fifty per cent of all the world’s wealth. Five to ten per cent of people still live in extreme...

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most famous portion of the Bible. It’s a psalm that has brought comfort to Christians throughout history. In this episode, Peter Orr speaks to David Gibson, who has released a book that walks through the psalm in detail—“The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus our shepherd, companion and host”. David shows us that there are wonderful depths that are easy to miss, and how, in so many ways, this psalm encapsulates the ent...

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we speak to Jackie Gibson about her book, You are Still a Mother. The book recounts how Jackie and her husband Jonny lost their daughter Leila just before she was due to be born. Through this terrible experience, Jackie came to appreciate the comfort of the Lord Jesus.

We hope this episode is of comfort to you if you’ve experienced this kind of grief, or that it helps you to care for a friend or f...

Artificial intelligence or AI is one of the most important concepts that people are discussing today. It’s something that, as Christians, we need to think carefully about. Akos Balogh spoke about AI at our March event earlier this year. In this episode, Peter Orr talks to Stephen Driscoll about his new book on AI—“Made in Our Image: God, artificial intelligence and you”—particularly looking at how the gospel helps us to engage with...