While my Christian friends were very encouraging, my non-Christian friends merely shrugged their shoulders with indifference. Any negative peer pressure was limited to a postmodern ‘it’s great for you, but don’t push your views onto me’. Our broader culture was neutral and even positive toward Christianity in those days.
But in the following decades, our secular culture moved from being positive or indifferent to the Bible, to now seeing many of its teachings as harmful and bigoted. Especially in the areas of sexuality and gender.
And this cultural change has led to increased pressure on Christians.
On the one hand, we feel pressure to keep silent about our faith (or at least the aspects of our faith that touch on sexuality and gender). If we are too vocal about what we believe, we might experience all sorts of pushback: from raised eyebrows, scorn from colleagues and friends, or even a memo from the HR department about how such beliefs are not welcome in our ‘inclusive’ work environment.
Such pressure may cause us to question the truth and goodness of God’s word. Is the Bible trustworthy and true in its views on sexuality and gender? Are its views harmful to vulnerable sexual minorities? The narrative of harm is a powerful one permeating our culture, and Christians are not immune from its impact.
And so, what Christians need in these times is what they have always needed: faithful men and women who can teach them the truth of God’s word clearly and confidently (c.f. 2 Tim 2:2). They need men and women who do not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
Without such shepherds, the people of God are at risk of shipwrecking their faith on the rocks of trendy secular ideologies and teachings: ideologies that (in today’s West) see the Bible as bigoted and evil. Such ideologies can weaken people’s trust in the goodness and truth of the Bible. Sadly, we see this in the younger generation, as some walk away from the faith after swallowing our culture’s narrative about sexuality and identity.
And so, herein lies the challenge: in a world that is growing ever more suspicious and hostile to Biblical faith, we need more gospel workers, not less. And we need them to have rock-solid confidence in the truth of the Bible.
This is why Moore College is vital to the continued mission of God’s people here in Sydney and the wider world.
Our vision is to see God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches, and reaching the lost. And we do this by providing excellent evangelical theological education, equipping men and women to trust in God’s word, and to teach God’s word, no matter the pressures they face.
Our faculty are sharp thinkers, able to engage with the pressures and challenges of our modern world. But they are also pastoral, helping shape and form our graduates into gospel workers who can share the Bible’s truth clearly and compellingly with people in our churches and the wider community.
And our graduates go out to Sydney, Australia, and all over the world, taking the truth of the Bible with them wherever they go. The impact of our graduates is measurable. In the Anglican Church of Australia, many clergy and Bishops are Moore College graduates, as was seen in the recent General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Our graduates are also heavily involved in movements like the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES), the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) and City Bible Forum (CBF), taking the gospel to many corners of our society. You will find our graduates holding fast to the gospel in regional churches, in areas where the gospel preaching is otherwise lacking. And you will find our graduates taking the gospel overseas with organisations like the Church Missionary Society (CMS), exporting Reformed Evangelical theology to countries where the teaching of God’s word is often compromised.
And so, as the end of this financial year approaches, would you give to Moore College’s End of Financial Year appeal so that we might train many more Bible-believing gospel workers for the harvest? Without faithful teachers of the Bible, God’s people are at risk from all sorts of dangers, while the lost are less likely to hear the Biblical gospel.
Please consider giving generously to Moore College’s EOFY appeal today so that the truth of the Bible would be advanced in churches, ministries, and nations across the world.
