Whether or not you were raised in the Church, to be a Christian requires a deliberate, personal commitment to Jesus Christ, much like the commitment a person makes in marriage. Being a Christian is a process of continuing forward in faithfulness to Jesus from that point on. In order to make this commitment to Jesus, you need to know the essentials about who he is and what he has done for you. This is the Gospel (“good news”) of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is the good news
that God loves the world and offers salvation
from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ.
God created the world and made us to be in loving relationship with him. Though created good, human nature became fatally flawed, and we are now all out of step with God. In Bible language, we are sinners, guilty before God and separated from him. The good news of the Gospel is that God took loving action in Jesus Christ to save us from this dire situation.
The key facts of this divine remedy are these: God the Father sent his eternal Son into this world to reconcile us to himself, to free us to love and serve him, and to prepare us to share his glory in the life to come. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and rose bodily from the dead to restore us to God. Given authority by his Father, Jesus now rules in heaven as King over all things, advancing God’s kingdom throughout the world. In the fullness of time, Jesus will return to establish his kingdom in its glory on earth, and all things will be renewed.
Reigning in heaven over all things, Jesus Christ continues to draw sinners to himself. He enables us by his Holy Spirit to turn wholeheartedly from our sinful and self-centered ways (repentance), and to entrust ourselves to him to live in union and communion with him (faith). In spiritual terms, sin is the way of death, and fellowship with Christ is the way of life.
— Taken from the first chapter of "To Be A Christian: An Anglican Catechism"
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHO JESUS IS?
We'd encourage you to get to know Jesus from the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who wrote the first 4 books of the New Testament in the Bible. They follow Jesus' life from birth, to death and resurrection, speaking of all that Jesus began to do and to teach, fulfilling the Old Testament promises of God.
WATCH THE ALPHA VIDEO SERIES
Every so often, we get to run an Alpha Group, which is a small discussion group where you get to eat, watch a short video talk, and can share your own views without feeling judged.
This acclaimed video series tackles several different topics of the Christian faith, such as “Who is Jesus?”, “Why and how do I pray?” and “How does God guide us?”. Take a look!