What’s a Christian?

What’s a Christian? Is it something to do with the country we were born in, or the culture we prefer, or the colour of our skin? Is it something to do with rules and regulations and trying really hard to please a God who’s always disappointed in us? Is Christianity for people who enjoy feeling guilty?

Being a Christian is none of these things; it’s all about following Jesus Christ.

Jesus is a real man who lived about 2000 years ago, and he claimed to be God in the flesh. He claimed that when he died he served our death sentence for rejecting our life-giving creator God. He claimed that when he rose from the dead, he pioneered new eternal life that he shares with everyone who belongs to him.

So Christianity isn’t about race, country or culture; Jesus’ offer is for everyone. And it’s not about trying really hard to please God; Jesus alone could do that, did do that and has done it for us, on our behalf. And it’s not about feeling guilty; it’s about being so thankful that Jesus has taken our guilt on himself that we now want to live for him.

A church is a family of people who follow Jesus. We read the bible together to explore what God says about himself, about Jesus, about us and about our world. We sing to praise God and to cheer each other on as we live for him. We pray because belonging to God’s son, Jesus, means we get to speak to the true and living creator God as our father too. And we tell others about Jesus because there’s nothing better and nothing more important than knowing him.

We’d love to hear what you think and what questions you have about all this. You can come any of our Sunday services, but from time to time we also run a informal course called Christianity Explored, looking into these things using a DVD and time to chat. Check out our page for that and get in touch!