What does it mean to be a Christian

What Christians believe

Christians believe that there is a God with whom we can have a relationship through his Son Jesus Christ. We believe that the best hope for us all is to follow the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible.

As Christians we understand God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
 

Father: God is a God of love, who cares for the whole of creation and for every human being as God's beloved children.

Son: God was revealed to us in the historical person of Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus' life, death and resurrection that we make sense of life before and after death. It is also the key to knowing and loving God.

Holy Spirit: God is alive and active today through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires faith, truth and justice in the world. The Holy Spirit helps sustain the life of the world, gives spiritual gifts to the church and bears spiritual fruit through changed lives and a transformed society.

What do Christians do?

Christians seek both to deepen their relationship with God and express that relationship through serving Him and His world.

We do this through:

Reading and studying the Bible. Seeking to understand the God that is revealed to us in the Bible is an important part of a Christians life.
Praying We believe that our relationship with God is improved through prayer. Prayer is like talking to God, telling him our concerns and offering him our hearts
Serving Christians seek to live out our belief by finding ways to serve God and the community. You will find Christians in many communities showing their concern for others through the work they do.

Community is important

We know that we can read and study the bible, pray and find ways to serve individually but Christianity is about relationship and community. That is why we have church. Church maybe seen through the people who meet in a traditional building. But it could be seen in a small house group, through people meeting in a school hall, community building, in the workplace or even through the internet. The important thing is that it contains Christians who are seeking to deepen their relationship with God. Together.

The Church of England is one of the Christian churches in this country and we seek to work with other Christian denominations as much as we can. The Church of England seeks to serve every community in the country. We do this by dividing the country into parishes - each one with a church. So you are never far away from a Church of England church. Our churches have different styles and different traditions but each is seeking to help people in their journey with God.

What you can do to find out more?

You can find out more about Jesus online. Try visiting www.rejesus.co.uk or www.christianity.org.uk

You can find out about Jesus by reading the Bible. You could start with one of the Gospels in the New Testament. Why not try the Gospel of Mark. You can buy a bible in any good bookshop, borrow a copy from your library or you can look online. www.biblegateway.com is a good place to find bible passges online.

You can be inspired by other people's stories which you can find on the Church of England website

But the best way to find out more is to go to church
 

Christianity is about relationship and community and you can find that in church. There you can meet Christians. You can ask questions, express your doubts and seek help.

You can find you local church on the pages Our parishes on our site.

You can also look for your local church via the A Church Near You website

What about prayer?

A lot of people find prayer and praying difficult. So to help you we have put some thoughts about how and when to pray. Go to our page how to pray to find out more.