What We Believe

For a shorter summary of what we believe, just read  the words displayed in brown and green.

We believe in Jesus.

Even though Jesus walked the earth over 2,000 miles away, over 2,000 years ago, we know a huge amount about him because a number of people from his era wrote about his life.

As you might expect, the most detailed accounts of his life were written by the first followers of Jesus, some of whom knew him deeply and personally. The Bible contains four such accounts of Jesus life: and they all tell the same story...

Jesus is an amazing man with an amazing message who did amazing things with amazing results.

So, what was Jesus message?

Sometimes you will hear people describe this world as a "God-forsaken" place; and when you look at all the suffering in the world, it's not difficult to see why! Even if we accept that it's our fault this world's in such a mess, we still wonder why God (if he's there) doesn't step in and do something about it.

From the age of 30, Jesus spent the following three years of his life telling everyone "the good news"...

God hasn't abandoned this world or the people he made and he's inviting each and every one of us to discover life-as-God-intended by coming to know him as our own perfect Father and King which means we don't have to stumble through this life alone, without God's love, help and guidance and when God finally puts things straight once for all and creates "a new heaven and a new earth" where "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" we can enjoy eternity there with him!

The most remarkable thing about Jesus' message is that it wasn't just words. Everywhere Jesus went, he did things that demonstrated the reality of God's love for this world.

For example, the doctor/historian "Luke" describes how, when a desperate woman who had been haemorrhaging blood for 12 years reached out and touched Jesus, "immediately her bleeding stopped". Similarly, another writer, known as "Mark", describes how (after sunset one evening, when Jesus was staying in a town called Capernaum) "the whole town gathered at the door and Jesus healed many who had various diseases". Anyone can make big claims but Jesus is different - the amazing things he said were supported by the amazing things he did.

So, who is Jesus?

Once, when Jesus and his followers were caught in a life-threatening storm while sailing, Jesus stood up and commanded the wind and the waves to be quiet. All the various accounts of this incident tell the same story: "the wind died down and it was instantly calm". All this led Jesus' (understandably terrified!) followers to ask the same important question: "What kind of man is this?"

Humble as he was, Jesus never claimed to be an ordinary man. His amazing miracles were a sign that he was, as he claimed, God's own Son, sent to us by God himself on a mission. As Napoleon once said: "I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison."

So, what did Jesus come to do?

Jesus told people "the good news" that we can discover real life in a relationship with God, both in this life and in the next life, after God puts things straight once and for all.

So what's the catch?! After all, most religions follow a similar pattern: if you do the right things, become the right person and earn enough points, you'll be rewarded. But Jesus' good news is different: according to Jesus, God's offer of eternal-life is a free gift that anyone can receive by simply turning back to God sincerely.

There seems to be two problems with this...

"If God's going to put things right and create a perfect new world, why would he want people like us there?! Wouldn't we just mess it up again?!"

Part of the good news is that, when people truly turn back to God and come to know him, God's Spirit comes and makes himself at home in that person's heart, giving them the power and the desire to be less selfish and more like Jesus. This means we don't have to keep hurting God, ourselves and others by our frequent tendency to do stupid, selfish things! With God's help we can gradually become the kind of person God made us to be.

"Even so, isn't God bothered by all the selfish things we’ve already done? How can he just give eternal-life away to anyone, even if they've done nothing to deserve it? Surely that wouldn't be right!"

God is bothered and, indeed, deeply angered by human selfishness. The hard truth is that none of us deserve eternal-life because we all frequently think, say and do selfish things.

According to Jesus, God made us to gladly love, trust and obey him with all our hearts. Yet most of us are content to simply ignore God and his ways (if necessary, by persuading ourselves that he doesn't exist!). According to Jesus, God also made us to love others just as much as we love ourselves. By God's standard of "goodness" we all fall desperately short!

This is where Jesus comes in.

Because God loves us, he wants to forgive us so we can know him forever. But because God is good (and therefore takes human selfishness very seriously) he can’t just “turn a blind eye” to the selfish things we think, say and do (as if he approves of being selfish).

Jesus came to make it possible for God to freely forgive us without excusing our selfishness. How? By dying in agony on the cross as a punishment for all the selfish things we have done. What did Jesus come to do? Strange as it may seem, Jesus came to die for each and every one of us.

The Bible says, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

So, what does all this mean?

To be continued...