In the few short weeks I’ve been working as the Director of the Centre for Christian Living (CCL), I’ve been asked the obvious question numerous times by friends: “So what exactly is this Centre thing and why are you working for it?”
Here’s the answer I wish I could give if I was thinking clearly at the time, and if something didn’t always interrupt the conversation after about 15 seconds.
I’d want to say that it all stems from Moore College’s aim and mission, which is to “serve our Lord Jesus Christ by equipping men and women to know God better”.
As part of this mission, the College runs ‘Centres’ that explore the implications of the knowledge of God for different areas: for ministry practice (the Centre for Ministry Development), for women’s ministry in partnership with men (the Priscilla and Aquila Centre) and for the everyday Christian living (yes, the Centre for Christian Living).
So the Centre for Christian Living exists to serve the Christian community by exploring what the knowledge of God in the Bible means for every aspect of our lives: for our character, in our homes and families, in the workplace, at church, in our neighbourhoods and in society more broadly.
Now that’s a pretty broad brief, but so is the Christian life. With so many issues confronting us, we need all the encouragement and input we can get to keep shining the light of the gospel into all the ethical nooks and crannies of our daily walk. I want the CCL to address anything and everything across the spectrum of Christian living—from what forgiveness means in our personal relationships, to how we can navigate their way ethically through our increasingly complex financial system; from the place of conscience in everyday ethics, to how we can contribute to a truthful gracious discussion about Islam in our society—the subject of our launch night on March 11.
In all of this, the idea is to bless the broader Christian community with the riches that God has blessed Moore College with — in particular the deep biblical wisdom of the College faculty. I certainly won’t be doing all the talking at CCL events. A key aspect of my job is to take the world-standard scholarship of the faculty and tug it out into the broader Christian community, and bring it bear on the issues that we confront every day.
In 2015, the work of the CCL will revolve around five public events spaced throughout the year:
- CCL Launch on March 11 2015 at Moore College
- May 26 at Toongabbie Anglican Church
- August 26 at Moore College
- October 22 at St Michael’s Wollongong
- October 28 at Moore College.
Feel free to drop me an email (at ccl@moore.edu.au) with any requests or suggestions for topics that you would like the CCL to address.
And finally, as CCL gets back into swing and as I find my feet in this new role, please pray that through it all God would be pleased to bring people to know him better through the Lord Jesus Christ.
