The Christian Faith

What is the Christian faith all about? Depending on your experience you may already have some answers to that question. Some people might say that Christianity is about going to church and trying to be good. To treat other people as you would like them to treat you. Others may say that it’s about following a set of rules – but that we can never be good enough and God is just waiting for us to step out of line so he can punish us.

It may surprise you to know that Christianity is not about any of those things. Christianity is about having a relationship with God. And that is only possible because of Jesus – who gave his life in our place. So by trusting in Jesus we can have that relationship with God.

Sound too good to be true? Well, that is what the ‘gospel’ is all about. ‘Gospel’ is a word that means ‘good news’. Our relationship with God doesn’t depend on us being good enough – it depends on Jesus’ death on the cross.

So how does a person become a Christian then?

Well, let’s go back to the beginning.

The story of the Bible opens with God creating the world and living in close relationship with human beings. But these humans decide that they want to live their way, to be the ones who set the rules and who got to say what was ok and what wasn’t. The Bible calls this rebellion against God ‘sin’ and this broke the perfect relationship between God and people.

The punishment for this rebellion was separation from God. But right from the point where God announces punishment on human beings he also hints at a rescue plan. And that rescue plan takes the form of a man called Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life so that through his death and resurrection (coming back to life again) we can experience forgiveness for our desire to live our own way and not God’s.

So a person becomes a Christian when they acknowledge that they have not lived the way that God would have wanted them to live, and they say sorry for this. And they choose to follow Jesus living a new life that is pleasing to God.

So what about all the rules?

When you’re in a close relationship with someone you want to spend time with them and you want to do the things that make them happy. That’s why Christians do things like read the Bible, pray, go to church, and live in a way that will please God. Not because they have to. But because they want to.

Do Christians still make mistakes?

Absolutely – all the time. But God is loving and forgiving. And so when we say sorry God forgives us over and over.

Living as a Christian is not easy. There are all kinds of temptations and desires that try and pull us away from doing what we know to be right. That’s one of the reasons why we are a part of a church family. Together we are able to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus and we are able to support and encourage each other.

That’s a very quick overview and you probably have a lot more questions. We’d love to talk to you about our faith and to open the Bible together to explore some of your questions. Please get in touch. Alternatively you might want to spend a bit more time exploring online. A great place to go next would be the website