Becoming a Christian

What is a Christian?

The simplest way to define a Christian is as “a follower of Jesus.”

That means, someone who tries to learn from Jesus Christ what he has to teach about:

• God
• Life and how to live it 
• Death and how to deal with it. 

In a real sense, a Christian is a student of Jesus Christ the Teacher. Another way to think of a Christian is as someone who has responded to the Good News or Gospel message that Jesus taught.

What is the church?

The simplest way to define the church is as "the gathered followers of Jesus."

    Why do Christians gather together?

• To learn more about how to follow Jesus
• To pray together
• To encourage one another in the faith.

The church is the school of Jesus. In most churches when they are gathered together, they also break bread and drink wine (variously called the Mass, Communion, Holy Eucharist, or Lord's Supper) as Jesus instructed his followers to do. Christians also gather together because Jesus taught that God is interested not only in individuals living good lives, but in people learning to live as members of a diverse and harmonious community.

What is the Good News or Gospel?

It is about something Jesus called "the Kingdom of God" - the state of affairs where things are done in the way God intended from the beginning of creation. Jesus taught that this Kingdom came into the world when God sent his Son into the world.

    What is the Good News of the Kingdom?

    That God in love has not given up on our world, with all its pain, suffering and wars. Rather, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, God is at work to put things right, to shape a world where all pain, suffering, self-centeredness is over. God has invited human beings everywhere to be part of this kingdom and way of life.

    How do you become part of God's mission, part of God's Kingdom?

    This is where becoming a follower of Jesus comes in, because it is from Jesus that we learn most clearly what it means to partner with God in His mission of restoring the world. Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom himself by:

• The way he lived.
• The way he died.
• His resurrection from the dead.
• Teaching others how to walk the same path.

This is why if we want to participate in God's Kingdom the best way to do it is in the school of Jesus - the church.

    How do you become a follower of Jesus?

    Jesus used two old-fashioned-sounding words to describe it:

• Repent
• Believe

Repent means to turn away from one thing, and believe means to turn towards something else: a 180 degree change, as if we set off walking west and then turn right around and start heading east. Another word for turning around like this is conversion. For some people this is sudden and happens almost instantly, for others it takes a long time.

    What does this new direction look like?

    As you might expect, it means a complete change of view.

• Before, it meant living life as though it belonged to you. After, it is recognizing that it is a gift from God.
• Before, it meant setting the priorities of life according to what you thought was important. After, it means learning what God's priorities for your life are. 
• Before, you could be as selfish as you wanted. After, you learn to serve God and others.

As you may have guessed, the changes are huge and can take time. Does it sound difficult? Well, yes! Jesus never said it would be easy. He was very clear that in some ways it would feel like a death, and any experienced Christian will tell you that following him is often difficult.

But:

The good news is that in following Jesus, you are actually learning to follow God's way, which means you're learning to live your life how it was intended, and in the end that means experiencing what Jesus called "life in all its fullness" - becoming the person you were created to be, and doing what you were made to do, in the company of the God who made you and who loves you.

Does this sound intriguing?

If this sounds intriguing, come check us out one of these Sundays. As you can tell, becoming a Christian is a big decision - probably, the biggest decision you could ever make - and nobody wants you to rush into it.

Come see what the church is like. 

• How do we experience the Christian faith? How do we handle difficulties? What are the joys? How do we keep going? How do we experience the love of God? 

Listen in on our praying, our singing, our teaching, our conversation. We welcome your eavesdropping!

And if, after a time, you decide that this is indeed what you want, talk to the priest about baptism. If being a Christian is being a student in the school of Jesus, getting baptized is the way you register in the school. It's a public ceremony (you can't be a private Christian) and involves you stating your desire to be a follower of Jesus. The whole Christian community (your fellow students) are there to cheer you on, promising to support and encourage you in your new life.

Perhaps you were baptized as a baby, but have never really done anything about it. In that case, if you decide you want to be a follower of Jesus, there is something called “Re-affirmation of Baptismal Vows,” where you are not baptized again (that’s not necessary), but you take the promises that were made on your behalf as a baby and make them your own as a thoughtful adult choice. And that can be just as meaningful as baptism itself.

Do email us or phone if you would like more information. And, wherever you are at in your spiritual journey, we look forward to meeting you one of these Sundays.