When?
Monday, 2 February 2026
Where?
Moore Theological College, 1 King St, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia, and via live stream.
Recordings: All talks and electives (where speakers have given their consent) will be recorded. All delegates will have access to the plenary talks for two weeks after the event. The other electives will be made available at https://paa.moore.edu.au/resources/ at a later date.
Program
| Time | Session | Speaker/s | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00am-10:30am | Plenary session 1 | Simon Flinders | Talk 1: Discipleship as new love: Jesus’ invitation to radically rethink “family” |
| 10:30am-11:00am | Morning tea | ||
| 11:00am-12:30pm | Plenary session 2 + Q&A session | Simon Flinders | Talk 2: The apostles’ invitation to live as siblings |
| 12:30pm-1:30pm | Lunch | ||
| 1:30pm-3:00pm | Electives 1 | Matt Varcoe Michelle Varcoe and Moussa Ghazal Ros Ghazal | Serving Together: Seasons in Ministry for the Ministry Family |
| Mal York Kara Hartley | Domestic Abuse in the family of God | ||
| Lionel Windsor | Widows in the Household of God: A deep dive into 1 Timothy 5:3–16 | ||
| Tony Payne Kate Morris | Neurodivergence and the Family of God | ||
| 3:00pm-3:30pm | Afternoon tea | ||
| 3:30pm-5:00pm | Electives 2 | Caroline Lichfield Susan An | Seasons in Ministry: Serving as a Single Woman in the Family of God |
| Paul Williamson Sarah Balogh | Handling problematic texts (Ezekiel 16 and 23) both faithfully and sensitively | ||
| Mark Thompson Veronica Hoyt | Slots and Spots in the Church Gathering | ||
| Jono Squire Karen Lawson-Smith | Applying Complementarianism in a Changing Context |
Plenary Sessions
Main speaker
Simon Flinders
Radical Kinship: Men and Women in God’s Family
Talk 1: Discipleship as New Love: Jesus’ invitation to radically rethink “family”
Talk 2: Church as Family: the apostles’ invitation to live as siblings
Simon is married to Tamara, and they have three daughters. He is the Archdeacon to the Archbishop of Sydney, assisting him in serving the work of the gospel across the Sydney Diocese. After graduating from Moore College, Simon served in parish ministry in Georges Hall, North Sydney, and from 2013 until 2022 he was the rector of Northbridge. Simon has also served as a volunteer chaplain to Cricket NSW and as a board member of Sports Chaplaincy Australia. He has been a Canon of St Andrew’s Cathedral since 2019.
Electives
Group 1: Serving Together: Seasons in ministry for the ministry family
Level: Popular.
For a ministry family, complementarianism is first expressed within marriage, as husband and wife serve the Lord Jesus and his Church, together. However, no two families are alike. Each family also travels through different seasons.
In this session, two ministry couples (Matt & Shell Varcoe and Moussa & Ros Ghazal) will present their rationale for serving as a family and what this has looked like for them over the years.
Whether you’re in a “ministry family” or ministering to (or with) them, this session will help you to better understand their challenges and joys, and also spur you on to both support and pray for them.
Moussa & Ros Ghazal
Moussa and Ros have been married for 32 years and have 3 adult children. They share a passion for cross-cultural mission and were involved together in Parish ministry in a multicultural Anglican church in south Sydney for 15 years. Moussa now specialises in ministry to Muslims at the Evangelical Union, Sydney University, and Ros is the Assistant Minister at St James Berala, focussing on mission in its culturally diverse local area. Recently, they have been working on the backyard in their new home, building a pizza oven, fire pit and garden, where they can relax as a family, and invite friends and strangers to enjoy their middle eastern style hospitality.
Matt & Michelle Varcoe
Matt and Shell have been married for 11 years and live in Mascot with their three children. Matt graduated from Moore College in 2015 and has been on staff at Grace City Church serving as the Mission and Maturity Pastor since 2016. Prior to bible college, Matt was a primary teacher. Shell is an accredited Mental Health Social Worker, and has worked in child and adolescent mental health in the public sector, as well as more recently joining the team at the Family Systems Practice and Family Systems Institute.
Group 1: Domestic Abuse in the Family of God
Level: Popular.
What is domestic abuse and what does the Bible say about it? In this elective Kara and Mal will share the lessons that they have learned about this topic over many years of pastoral ministry. Their elective will include developments in the Sydney Anglican Diocese around pastoral response to domestic abuse, and will also give practical strategies around teaching/education on domestic abuse as well as how to care well in the immediate crisis and also in ongoing care.
Kara Hartley
Kara is the Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry in the Sydney Diocese. She is involved with teaching the Bible to women at events, conferences and retreats; meeting with and supporting women in ministry as well as recruitment and training women for ministry. She was Deputy Chair on the Sydney Diocese Domestic Violence Task Force and currently co-chairs the Domestic Abuse monitoring committee. She has presented at the Anglican Church National Family Violence Research conference as well as been a spokesperson for the Sydney Diocese on matters to do with Domestic Abuse. Kara is married to Brett and they live in the Hills District of Sydney. They attend Norwest Anglican Church.
Mal York
Mal is the Dean of Students at Moore College. He has been involved in ministry for the past 27 years in a variety of locations and roles from Youth Ministry in Saskatchewan in Canada and Mosman, to an assistant minister and school chaplain in Shellharbour City, and then a Senior Minister at West Ryde Anglican Church, and Roseville Anglican Church. He was a volunteer NSW Ambulance Chaplain for 8 years, and trained pastors in PTC in India and revitalising churches in Chile. Mal is married to Heather, and they have four adult children. Mal and Heather attend St Matthias at Centennial Park.
Group 1: Widows in the Household of God: A deep dive into 1 Timothy 5:3–16
Level: Academic.
Lionel Windsor will help us to explore Paul’s instructions about widows in 1 Timothy 5 in light of some recent scholarly discussions. Who are the widows, what does it mean to “honour” them in the household of God, and what is the significance of Paul’s instructions?
Lionel Windsor
Lionel has been lecturing in New Testament at Moore College since 2015. He is married to Bron and they have been blessed with three children. Lionel loves seeing people grow in joy and confidence in understanding God’s word and speaking it to others.
Group 1: Neurodivergence and the Family of God
Level: Popular.
Join Kate Morris and Tony Payne for a theological and pastoral conversation about neurodivergence in Christian families and in the household of God.
How should we think biblically and theologically about neurodivergence? How can we be understanding and pastorally encouraging as we support parents of neurodivergent children in raising their kids in the Lord? How can our churches better welcome and minister to neurodivergent kids and adults in our programs and community life?
Tony Payne
Tony is a Lecturer in Christian Thought at Moore College, and director of the College’s Centre for Christian Living. He is also the author of more than 30 Christian books and ministry resources. He and his wife Ali are blessed with five children and ten grandchildren.
Kate Morris
Kate is a writer, speaker, and podcast host who supports families with neurodivergent children. She and her husband have three children, two of whom are neurodivergent. With a background in education and biblical studies, along with further study in neurodivergence, she equips families and churches with practical, Bible-shaped resources.
Group 2: Seasons in Ministry: Serving as a single woman in the family of God
Level: Popular.
The Bible describes the church repeatedly as a family. Caroline Litchfield and Susan An will explore what it means to live out this reality as single women in pastoral ministry. They will discuss the biblical principles that informed them in their life within the church family; how this reality evolved over time in different season of their lives; observations from times when this went well (and not so well!); as well as why they will continue to work to live out this command in and out of season.
Caroline Litchfield
Caroline is the Membership Director at Christ Church St Ives in Sydney’s North, helping to build wholehearted disciples of Jesus who love one other deeply by overseeing the Belonging, Care and Community areas of church life. She also helps to look after the Late Mornings (10:45) congregation. Caroline can often be found trying out new cafes – accompanied either by friends or a book – and loves a good jigsaw.
Susan An
Susan is a child of God, daughter, sister and aunty (to her adorable nephews) who works as Dean of Women at Moore Theological College. In her free time she likes to read, drink coffee and hang out at the beach (preferably all at the same time).
Group 2: Handling Problematic Texts (Ezekiel 16 and 23) Both Faithfully and Sensitively
Level: Popular.
Ezekiel 16 and 23 are probably not often read (at least in their entirety) and perhaps not often preached in church. This is quite understandable given their content, and the rather vulgar manner some of this is expressed. Not surprisingly, these chapters are often considered particularly insensitive, if not intentionally demeaning, to women. So what should we do with these chapters in Ezekiel? Simply skip over and ignore them, try to accommodate them to modern sensitivities, or ensure that they are better understood and appropriately handled?
In this seminar Sarah Balogh and Paul Williamson will discuss the issues arising from these texts, reflecting on how this problematic material can be handled appropriately, yet articulated and applied faithfully within a church setting.
Sarah Balogh
Sarah is a Christian, wife, mother, friend, and psychologist, living in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Sarah’s ministry experience spans her entire life, having grown up in a ministry family and later working alongside her husband in AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) ministry on the north coast of NSW. She has also served as a Chaplain at Moore College, bringing pastoral care to the college community. Sarah is an active member of Springwood Anglican Church, where she continues to live out her commitment to the local church community. Her qualifications as a psychologist complement her ministry background, enabling her to offer both clinical expertise and pastoral care. Currently, Sarah serves as Manager of Pastoral Supervision for the Diocese of Sydney. She teaches Pastoral Supervision at Moore College and operates her own Pastoral Supervision practice, providing specialised support to ministry workers.
Paul Williamson
Paul has been on Faculty (in the OT department) since 2001, and has taught the book of Job and the book of Ezekiel each year since he started. In 2025 Paul’s long-awaited Tyndale Old Testament commentary on Exodus commentary was published, and he is now working on the Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary on Ezekiel (Lexham), which he hopes to have completed by by 2028. Paul and his wife, Karen, are members of Newtown Baptist Church, and in their spare time enjoy reading fiction, going for brisk walks, and keeping in touch with friends and family.
Group 2: Slots and Spots in the Church Gathering
Level: Popular.
Complementarianism recognises that the differences between men and women mean that each gender adds a uniqueness to our life as God’s family. How might this be expressed in our weekly gatherings as God’s people? On the one hand it is critical that we uphold the imperatives in 1 Timothy 2:11-12. At the same time, how do we also maintain the importance of expressing the principle of the goodness of men and women serving together? In this elective, Mark Thompson and Veronica Hoyt will have a conversation about how men and women might participate in the weekly gathering, and will include Mark’s thoughts on how Moore College includes an occasional sermon “side-bar.”
Mark Thompson
Mark is the principal of Moore College and teaches in the area of Christian doctrine. He is also involved in a number of writing projects. Mark is married to Kathryn and they have four young adult daughters. He continues to be grateful to God for the opportunity to serve at Moore College and to see God at work in the lives of its students.
Veronica Hoyt
Veronica lectures in the Ministry department at Moore College and is also the director of the Priscilla and Aquila Centre. She is married to Berwyn and they have one adult son.Veronica loves wam weather and the beach, and spending time with her family and friends. Most of all she loves being part of the God’s family and is looking forward to the time when they all form that great multitude in heaven worshiping our living Lord Jesus.
Group 2: Applying Complementarianism in a Changing Context
Level: Popular.
At Grace we’ve been through a season of significant change (transitioning from two morning church locations to one, changing staff team, transitioning to a portfolio model for structuring our staff team, planning and preparing to plant into the green fields). Come and hear about how have we sought to hold onto and embrace our convictions and work together well as men and women in our team.
Jono Squire (Senior Minister) and Karen Lawson-Smith (Assistant Minister) work together at Grace Anglican Church Camden Valley.
Jono Squire
Jono is married to Jenny and they have four kids – James, Rachel, Matthew, and Daniel, and a dog named Archie. Jono loves hiking, bush walking, and running! He grew up in Armidale before moving to Sydney to study at the University of New South Wales.
Karen Lawson-Smith
Karen loves opening the Bible with women and young people, especially when it involves coffee. She enjoys baking and reading and delights in being an aunt!
