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what we believe |
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What is the Christian faith ? Is it a set
of things we have to believe or do (or not do!) ? Christians do
believe certain things about Jesus, and we are meant to live in
ways that please God. But these aren’t the real heart of what our
faith is about.
The real
heart of being a Christian is a relationship. Its knowing Jesus as
a living person, and being able to call God our Father. So, who
is Jesus ? Jesus lived
some 2000 years ago in a country occupied by the Roman empire. Why
do we say
he’s
so special today ? You can read
in the Bible about
him
and what he did. There we see that what
he
taught, the love
he
showed, the miracles
he
did and the claims
he
made for who
he
was all marked
him
out as somebody very special. We recognise
him
as the Son of God. What does that mean? Well, God
himself
is so far beyond our
understanding that its hard to
see how we could ever know
him.
But, when we’ve seen Jesus, we’ve seen what God is like. Above all,
what is special about Jesus is that
he
died on the cross for us and rose again. |
Why did Jesus
die ? Jesus died on the
cross
because of our sin. None of us can
claim to be perfect, and we’ve all done things we know are wrong. God is
holy, and those sins of ours must be punished and would keep us away from
him
forever. What Jesus did by
dying on the cross was to take the punishment for our sins on himself, so
that we can be forgiven and have a
relationship with God.
Jesus could
do this
because he
was both God’s Son and a human being like us. That’s why the cross is at
the heart of the church’s message. What do we
need to do ? The Bible tells us that God’s forgiveness isn’t something we can earn by trying to live a moral life or performing religious acts. Instead, it’s a gift we accept. Its what the Bible calls faith, just accepting what Jesus has done and trusting him. When we do that, Jesus promises us forgiveness for our sins, and that God will give us his Holy Spirit to live with us and help us to live lives that please him.
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Information
Exploring the faith We run an Alpha
course to help people who want to explore what the Christian faith is
about. This is an informal series of
presentations and
discussions (with a meal) on
one
evening a week for 10 weeks. Click here for details or Email Us I want to discuss a particular problem We have a pastoral team who are available to talk. Please contact us and we will put you in touch with somebody suitable. I would welcome prayer for healing or other needs
We hold a
service of prayer for healing once a month. Please contact us for
further details. The Cell Group and Fellowship Groups exist for mutual support and prayer. |