Commending & Contending
A podcast of The Gospel Coalition Australia about how we are commending and contending for the gospel in our daily lives.
Episodes
Relaunching the old Lydia Project podcast (with a new name) Taryn Hayes joins us in this episode to talk about conversations and asking questions.
There is wisdom in staying curious and getting to hear the stories of how and where God has been at work in the lives of sisters and brothers, with whom we will share eternity.
You can find This I Know on Youtube, and one whatever pod-catcher you use.
Scroll down far enough and you'll see a heading for 'Most Read' and another for 'Now Trending'. In this episode Joseph Hewitt, our Reviews Editor joins us to talk about a couple of items at The Gospel Coalition website that many of us are reading.
At the time of recording* we noticed that the Most Read was "Things I Wish I Heard In A Funeral Sermon"
And the article that was Now Trending was "Blessing: It Doesn't Mean What You Think...
We are joined in this episode by Annabel Nixey, who recently spoke at the Canberra Women's Christian Convention, and is on the pastoral team at the local church she attends with her family.
We talk about the place of para-church conventions and also about going deep into God's word so that it goes deep in us. Annabel has some wisdom to share on how to foster the kinds of growing together in God's Word that might bear fruit.
And we ...
In this episode we are joined by Brendan Hurley, who chat with us about the many places he's lived, around Australia and where he's planted now.
When people live and minster in a place most of us think of as a holiday destination, what is it like? And how does it shape the ministry?
Brendan is the pastor at Northern Hope Anglican Church, in Cairns.
For this episode I went back to re-listen to some of the earliest episodes of Commending and Contending, and I found some gems.
The guests in that first season shared about joys and challenges - and if you've joined the faithful band of listeners in the last year or so, you might like to go all the way back and tap into some of those early conversations.
The Gospel Coalition Australia exists to encourage and equip Australian disciples to commend and contend for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of how we aim to do that is bringing on a National Director, the recently appointed Dave McDonald.
You can read the extended interview with Dave here.
In our conversation we chat about how Dave heard about this role and what he hopes to do, as he serves in it.
The Bible tells us that older disciples should teach younger disciples, that in the family of Christ, we can learn from (and with) one another. In this episode we are joined by Betty Wan, who has found many ways to encourage and challenge younger disciples around her.
Prayer demonstrates our dependence on God, it helps us lay aside false beliefs about how "in control" we are, and how self-sufficient we are.
Peter Adam is our guest on this episode to talk with about prayer and give some insights from his recent book, Prayerfulness.
Peter helps us to think about what is stopping us from praying and how we might be able to take what we are learning in the Bible and have it shape our prayers.
We have an all new online workshop to share with you in this episode. We're joined by Bethany Lattimore, from Virtual Church Assist, who helped run last year's Online Workshops on Preaching Preparation.
This time, Council Member Rory Shiner will use the four Monday nights of the Online Workshops to t...
When we ask ourselves, 'What is Gospel Ministry?' there are a few important answers; and in our Foundation Documents, one of those answers is all about how we trust and use the Bible in our churches, congregations and ministries.
In this episode I am joined by co-workers Ann Moseley and Rory Shiner, who serve together at Providence Church, in Western Australia. Together we talk about what it looks like to trust and use the Bible fo...
What a journey The Lord has taken Emma on. To find herself working as a freelance writer and getting a collection of her writing published in a book.
Emma joins me to talk about life and writing, and the things we might pay attention to that reveal more about ourselves, our world and the God who made and loves us.
You can find her book (being released in early July, 2026) to read Emma's writing.
Explore more of her work at her webs...
All around us are Eastern Orthodox Churches. Their buildings look different to many other church building and their teaching is unfamiliar to us. We are joined in this episode by John Diacos to get started in understanding Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and why it might be important for us to understand it.
John has written some book reviews for our website
More of John's resources can be found at his website.
And here's a review o...
God's word helps us to talk about, and think about difficult parts of our lives, the parts we might put under the heading of 'Ethics' (or even, 'Bio-ethics'). Knowing who God is and who we are, will help us navigate the world we find ourselves in.
Robyn Bain joins us to talk through these things and to help us address how we might show compassion and kindness in talking about tricky issues, and why we struggle to share about our ow...
They can go places we might not be able to; and they can say things we might not be able to; continuing conversations that we might not be able to.
Books are a passion for Jonathan Carswell, especially as they can serve the greatest news the world has ever heard - the saving work of the the Lord Jesus.
Jonathan is the founder of 10 of Those, a book selling website aiming to get multiples of clear and faithful gospel resources into ...
James Hoey joins us on this episode to dig into that last dot point of the Doubling Vision: the need to grow (even double) the number of leaders being raised up.
We talk about why this needs to be in the statement and how we might take action to pray and work towards reaching this outcome.
This is the last in our series on the Doubling Vision. All the other episodes:
The Doubling Vision calls on us to pray and work towards bringing Christ clothed in his gospel to all kinds of people. There is a particular commitment to seek out those who are under-reached, under-represented in our existing congregations and equally in need of the life giving news of Jesus.
Laura Wolfenden joins us in this episode to talk through the reasons why this might matter to us and the implications it might have for our ...
When we talk about a movement of Christians and churches and ministries praying and working towards doubling the number of disciples, we intend to measure that with a target of five percent growth.
For some of us a concrete target like this gets us motivated and engaged. For others, the whole idea of counting and measuring feels wrong. In our conversation with Jo Gibbs we get to unpack some of why a five percent target might be hel...
Before we jump into the action - the call to pray an d work towards doubling - we would be wise to take a breath and pause over the preamble to the statement.
We are joined in this episode by Board of Directors member, Anne Eckermann, who will help us pay attention to the anchoring truths expressed by the preamble. Here is that preamble:
We acknowledge God works out all things according to the counsel of hi...
We return for the new year, in the wake of some exciting developments at The Gospel Coalition Australia and among Australian Christian leaders.
In TGCA we have established a Board of Directors to enact our vision and mission, with new directors joining some of the existing Council members. In this episode we are joined by Bill Salier, the Chair of TGCA and also chair of the the Board of Directors.
We also had the Doubling Vision st...
This is part two of our series looking at The Gospel Coalition Australia foundation documents - particularly when we ask ourselves the question: what is gospel ministry in Australia?
In this episode we consider the importance of effective evangelism in our ministry. We hear from past guests on this topic, including:
Richard Chin (episode 40)
David Shaw (episode 53)
Jess Fields (episode 56)
Helen Bell (episode 23)
Tori Walker (episo...
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