Leadership, Virtue, and Ethical Concern, through Goodness, Truth and Beauty
Send your questions to The Little Flock Podcast
Send your questions to The Little Flock Podcast
our work
The Lifenet Charitable Trust is a New Zealand Christian organisation dedicated to planting and nurturing the seeds of leadership, virtue and ethical concern by promoting human flourishing through the intentional living of goodness, truth and beauty.
Our primary work is education and formation, and we offer impacting and engaging presentations at conferences, schools and churches on worldview issues, bioethics, and more. We also offer special training events, personal mentoring, sessions tailored specifically for retreat days at Christian schools, as well as a monthly podcast and other online content and resources.
our ethos
Goodness
We believe that the goodness in the human person finds it’s flourishing through the practice of the virtues, and in particular, acts of self-giving love. Our work is aimed at encouraging and equipping people to live this important principle in a deep and robust way in all aspects of life, especially in their relationships and interactions with others. For us, this is at the heart of a properly ordered vision of morality and authentic leadership, it is how the world is truly changed, and it is the only way to leave a profoundly meaningful legacy in life.
Truth
We are committed to the reality of truth, and the ability of well-formed human beings to be able to discern what is true and what is not. Our work is guided by the Christian natural law vision of reality. We believe that wisdom shows the Christian tradition to be the most reliable roadmap for human fulfilment, for shaping humane and peaceful societies, and for making sense of ethical questions and complex aspects of the human experience such as suffering. We believe that human beings thrive when charitable and honest dialogue about difficult and challenging issues is encouraged, and that such dialogue brings us closer to truth and community with others. We believe that a proper discernment of truth relies on the good of communities of tradition, and that the first and most important community of tradition is the family we are born into.
Beauty
We believe that authentic beauty is a transformative power, and that it is essential to human meaning and flourishing. While aesthetics are vitally important, we also believe that one of the most profound forms of beauty is encountered when human beings recognise, respect and relate to each other from a place of our inherent and shared human dignity. We believe that one of the fruits of living lives of virtue and self-giving love which respect the human dignity of others is that they radiate a powerfully transformative beauty for individuals and societies, while our selfishness can be the cause of much ugliness and dysfunction in the world.
“Drawing upon a depth of cultural insight, and with apologetic precision, Brendan is our nation’s go-to person for training the next generation.”
- Jason, NZ Church Pastor -
“Brendan is an effective communicator. He engages teenage audiences with the relevance of the gospel amidst the chaos of a largely secular society.”
- Anita, NZ High School HOD -
“Brendan speaks with a humble honesty, a depth of wisdom, and a conviction that calls the audience to go beyond simply listening, to live counter-culturally. ”
- Kate, VFL NZ President -
“You have changed my perspective about the importance of ethics in my role as a future doctor. I cannot thank you enough.”
- Niel, NZ Trainee Medical Intern -
“Being a small, provincial College it has been great to zoom an expert in front of our students. They have enjoyed the sessions and we have appreciated the follow up Brendan offers when they have extra questions.”
- Jane, NZ High School Teacher -
The Little Flock Podcast
The monthly podcast with Brendan and Katie Malone, offering practical advice to anyone who wants to live a Christian counterculture of goodness, truth and beauty