Commending & Contending
A podcast of The Gospel Coalition Australia about how we are commending and contending for the gospel in our daily lives.
Episodes
The Gospel Coalition Australia has written a Theological Vision for Ministry. Part 5 of this Foundation Document asks the question: What is Gospel-Centred Ministry in Australia?
The very first answer is: Weekly Gatherings of God's People.
For most Christians this means a Sunday Church service - but why do we believe this is so important? What is our theological grounding for committing to this? I invited a few of of my guests from ...
We are joined this episode by the Chief Operating Office of TGCA, Sarah Kuswadi, who chats with us about her own experience of joining online training offered by the U.S. TGC. We also talk about the very first TGCA Online Workship, all about preparation for preaching.
Dan Anderson, from the Lachlan Macquarie Institute, joins us on this episode to wade into the complex waters of our shared political life. How might the good news of Jesus enable us to engage with other Christians who have a different view on politics to us? And how could Christians be involved in politics in a way that commends the gospel?
Find out more about the Lachlan Macquarie Institute
God saves people into local churches, where we shape one another, especially over the long haul, through the ups and downs of life. Rick Maude has been doing exactly this in the one spot for many years.
Rick chats with us about the challenges of recruiting people, and the joys of centering the gospel in relationships and ministry.
Comms? Socials? Ops? what are these things and how do they happen in churches. In the background of every ministry there are administration actions that keep them going.
Communications: getting the word out. Social media: reaching people where they are. Operations: making sure the logistics all work and don't get in the way.
Sam Jensen, founder of Virtual Church Assist chats with us in this episode about how these admin tasks fit i...
We're joined by TGCA website editor Mikey Lynch, who brings a couple of new pieces from our website, while I pull out something old, but still very much worth reading. There's so many excellent articles at the website to explore. You can subscribe to our email to update on new articles and follow us on social platforms to get the 'throwback Thursday' recommendations.
Engaging with Western Post-Christian Inquierers Today, by Kamal W...
Award-winning author, and TGCA Council Member, Murray Capill returns to the podcast to talk about his recent book about gospel clarity and church leadership. How does a church leadership team commend and contend for the gospel of Jesus, and not just manage finances and repairs? Murray calls church leadership teams to give proper attention to a gospel vision for a healthy church.
One key part of the ministry we share as the body of Christ is the pastoral care we extend one another. In this episode we are joined by Sarah Condie to talk about how our pastoral care might commend the good news of Jesus.
Council Member, David Starling has served for two decades in Theological Education. He is well placed to reflect on the changes over time and current state of play. How are our Bible Colleges going?
Anxiety is a real and very common experience for many Christians. How do we understand our anxious feeling and where is God in that distress. Nicky Chiswell helps us take a look at what anxiety is and how our faith in God interacts with our experience. We talk about how to remind ourselves of God's loving presence and also consider how to care for someone who is struggling with anxiety.
In our last episode for 2024, we are joined by Council member and AFES Director, Richard Chin, to hear his reflections on the Meet Jesus project which spread across university campuses and local churches all over Australia.
Richard shares many encouraging stories and talks about how raising the spiritual temperature of our our outward-looking prayers can be a powerful way to lean on God's saving activity in our midst, and beyond in...
We're almost at the end of the year and the end of Season Two of Commending and Contending. For this episode I went back through clips that ended up not being included in the episodes they were recorded for. Whether it was an extra bit of the conversation, or part of the chat we had to prepare, there is so much more encouragement in my conversations with guests that I wanted to share with you.
Come with me, in this episode to the isolated town of Roxby Downs in northern South Australia. We'll get to hear from local pastor, Glen McDonald about the unique features of this mining town and how the local church looks for ways to connect people to the saving work of Jesus. There may be a surprise in how this regional town is learning from the ways of the big capital cities.
Over the past month the team at TGCA have been praying for one hundred new supporters who commit to giving one hundred dollars a month, to sustain the valuable work which has grown over the past decade.
Join me, your host Jonathan Holt, as I dive into a recent article by Council Chair, Rory Shiner and a much older, and every early article which tells some of the origin story for the TGCA.
Christina and Peirce Baehr (and their little baby) join us this episode to talk about Pilgrim Hill, which is both a hostel for travellers, and place for Christians in the arts to work and meet and create.
Christina and Peirce something of their own journey and how they see the gospel of Jesus commended in the space they have created to host backpackers and also the arts festival they run.
See more about them and their labour fo...
It's a good thing when we are commending and contending for Jesus ourselves, but there is an important ministry of cheering-on others who do this around us. Amy Stopher is our guest on this episode and she shared some of the way she takes us this ministry of cheering on and also tells us who is her cheer squad.
In this episode Simon Camilleri joins us to talk about epicly big Bible readings, where a whole book of the Bible is read in one sitting. Simon explains why this can help our understanding and how he plans to do this in connection with the Meet Jesus project.
Find our details about the plans for the epic reading of John's gospel.
Two of Simon's Epic Bible Reading Articles at the TGCA website, here and here.
In this episode we will take some encouragement from a recent article at the TGCA website about the progress on the Meet Jesus mission. We will also dip back into one of the Bible talks from the 2022 National Conference, Gospel Fueled Holiness.
Living and working in the Northern Territory has given Naomi Ireland a deep understanding of the impact of the changing seasons on the people of Australia's Top End. The result of this is an awareness of how to shape ministry to respond and move with the changing seasons.
Hear from Tim Thorburn about the profound difference that connection beyond the local church made to the wider gospel-ecosystem in Perth. What will only happen if we do it together, across like-minded churches? Tim shares from his experience in the emergence of the Perth Gospel Partnership (or PGP).
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