131: Who am I? The search for identity with Rory Shiner

Our culture is obsessed with identity: we’re often told, “You do you” and encouraged to live according to our “true and authentic self”, expressing publicly how we feel about ourselves internally.However, the very concept of personal identity is inherently slippery. It encompasses things like ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, belief, educational background, profession and personality, but it’s not fixed: it can change through time, circumstance, and even through self-invention.So as Christians, how should we regard identity? God created us as unique individuals; how does our creatureliness affect who we are? Furthermore, as sinners redeemed and sanctified by the Lord Jesus and adopted into the household of God, how does Christ’s work change the way we view ourselves? How does the encouragement to “find your identity in Christ” actually play out in the complexities of competing sources of identity?At our final event in our series on “Culture creep” in October 2024, Rory Shiner, Senior Pastor of Providence City Church in Perth, showed us how losing ourselves for the sake of the kingdom will help us find ourselves once and for all (Matt 10:39).For an edited transcript and show notes, visit our website.Complete our podcast listener survey.Support the work of the Centre by making a tax-deductible donation.