What we believe

What we believe

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. It’s 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 it’s 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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