GOD Christians
believe that the world and everything in it is created by a loving God who gives
meaning and purpose to each person and thing. No person has
ever seen God, and no one is able to understand God fully.
But we believe we know what God is like through the life and teaching of
Jesus of Nazareth. JESUS Jesus was
born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, both places being in present day
Israel. He learned a
trade as a carpenter-builder. At
the age of 30 he became a teacher for three years until he was executed as a
common criminal. Against all
the expectations of his friends God raised him from death and this great fact
compelled his followers to tell people far and wide about him. THE
CHURCH His followers formed a community known as the Church. All Jews at first they soon included non-Jews. The Church's task is to continue the work Jesus began. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Jewish scriptures and therefore we believe that the Church is the new Israel. We become members of this community through the ceremony of baptism whereby we are 'born again' into a new relationship with God through Jesus. GOD AS FATHER Jesus taught people to think of God as a loving Father - he creates us, loves us, protects us, provides for our needs and guides us through life. God is love. Jesus taught us to speak to Him in prayer as "Our Father in Heaven". The word he uses for 'father is 'abba' which means 'Daddy'. JESUS AS DIVINE Jesus called himself Son of Man but he said that whosoever saw him had seen the Father. He was the human expression of God, showing God's will for peace and healing and goodness by his actions, and supremely showing God's love for the world by his death on the cross. After his resurrection, one of his friends could say of him "My Lord and my God!". In worship, prayer and service we recognise him as Lord in our lives. GOD'S SPIRIT Jesus wants his followers to know that God is with them always. We call his presence the "Holy Spirit". God inspires us through His Spirit and gives us gifts to minister in His name to others. THE BIBLE Christians use the Jewish scriptures, believing that they lead up to the coming of Jesus into the world. We accept as scriptural also some writings of the early Christians - the accounts by his friends of his teaching, death and resurrection and letters written by the Apostles to the first Churches. We believe that the writers of the first scriptures were inspired by God's Holy Spirit and we regard the Old and new Testaments as a fully sufficient basis for our beliefs. SALVATION We believe that by dying on the Cross Jesus has won for us forgiveness from all the effects of sinfulness. We live in God's love now and we hope that beyond this life we shall be united with our loved ones also in the presence of God. We seek our fulfillment as human beings in the heavenly life of Eternity. FROM THE BIBLE "God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved". (John 3:16-17)
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