Centre for Christian Living podcast

Digital technology like smartphones has revolutionised the way we navigate daily life and the way our whole society functions. Such technology has its downsides. Even so, our stance as Christians is often something like, “Let’s use this technology wisely, but not abuse it”, as if the technology is simply a neutral instrument. But the good things of our world (like technology or money) can become much more than this: they can become master-teachers that dominate and disciple us.In this final episode of the series, Tony Payne brings the discussion to its practical conclusion. If our smartphones are not neutral tools, but powerful forces that shape our habits, attention and desires, what does faithful Christian living with technology actually look like?Building on the foundations from episodes 1 and 2, this episode asks the key question: what should we do now? How do we respond as followers of Christ? What does it look like to live wisely and deliberately with the devices that are constantly discipling us?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 “Left right out: The strange position of the political Christian” (Wed 20 May 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.

They unpack how smartphones and money can become rival masters that shape how we see, think and act. They trace human vocation from Genesis and contrast creative, Godly making with idolatrous manufacture. They explore technological powers that possess culture, the limits of human creatureliness, and how the gospel might free our senses and minds from technological captivity.

Digital technology like smartphones has revolutionised the way we navigate daily life and the way our whole society functions. We have supercomputers in our hands that can answer almost any question instantly and perform many tasks that make life easier.Such technology has its downsides, like the explosion of accessibility to pornography and the prevalence of online bullying. Even so, our stance as Christians is often something like, “Let’s use this technology wisely, but not abuse it”, as if the technology is simply a neutral instrument. But the good things of our world (like technology or money) can become much more than this: they can become master-teachers that dominate and disciple us.In this first episode of a special three-part series, we explore this issue—interrogate and ask questions about what the smartphone really is and how it does affect our lives. How does this technology disciple us? How does it reorder our attitudes, operating beliefs and behaviours—not just personally, but on a society-wide level? Finally, what have been the costs and disadvantages of all this?For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website.(Please note: Part 2 will be published in a fortnight’s time, while part 3 will be published in a month’s time.)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 “Left right out: The strange position of the political Christian” (Wed 20 May 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.

It does us a lot of good to read a book on prayer every couple of years, because the Christian life is a praying life, and Christians need the occasional reminder and encouragement to keep praying or to start praying again after an overly busy or overly anxious period of life.Enter Prayerfulness, a recent book by Peter Adam that, according to CCL Director Tony Payne, is the best book on prayer and the Christian life he’s ever read. It’s warm and full of pastoral wisdom, theological richness, and many practical helps and resources.On this episode of the CCL Podcast, Peter Adam speaks about prayerfulness, how prayer is an expression of our relationship with God, why written prayers are helpful, and why we don’t pray.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 annual conference: “Radical kinship: Men and women in God’s family” (2 February 2025)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.

If you’ve been saying the words of the Nicene Creed for most of your life, you’ll have some sense that this ancient creed is profound and important, and that it summarises something basic and unifying about the Christian faith.But why and how does it do that, exactly? Why is the Nicene Creed a big deal? Why have Christians been saying these words for around 1700 years? And what difference does it actually make to our Christian lives? Tony Payne talks to Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore College, who recently attended a conference celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, when the Nicene Creed was first written.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 about studying at Moore Theological College.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.

In this discussion, Simon Flinders, an Anglican minister and Archdeacon to the Archbishop of Sydney, dives into the radical teachings of Jesus on family and kinship. He highlights how Jesus challenges cultural faithfulness to biological families, prioritizing allegiance to God. Simon explains the shocking notion of 'hating' one’s family in light of discipleship and explores the concept of adoption into God's family. The talk emphasizes that church community should reflect true kinship, transcending personal family expectations in favor of biblical practices.

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.

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.

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.

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.