QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME HERE
Exploring
faith.
You are welcome to explore Christian faith with us, ask questions and discover more about Jesus.
THE CHRISTIAN STORY
What is Christian faith?
Christians believe in one God, creator of all things, revealed in the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our faith is not a human invention. There are signs of God’s existence and work in creation for anyone to see. But God has also come to seek us out and make himself known to us.
God reveals himself in the Bible. But God revealed himself most clearly through the gift of his son Jesus Christ.
Christians recognise Jesus Christ as the Son of God who reveals to us God our Father and is available to us through the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus lived, died through crucifixion, and was raised from dead to save humanity from death and sin. We believe that repenting of our own sin, faith in Jesus Christ graciously opens the way to a right relationship with God, as we experience God’s love and forgiveness in him.
HOPE, LOVE AND EVERYDAY LIFE
Known
and loved.
Christian faith assures us of a future even beyond death itself with Jesus Christ; ultimately expressed in bodily resurrection and the renewal of all things as God’s kingdom is revealed in all its fullness.
Meantime we seek to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, living out our faith with love and compassion, in accordance with Jesus’ teaching that the two most important commandments are to love God and to love others. So it is that Christians try to follow Jesus’ example of humility, selflessness, and sacrificial love in their relationships with family, friends, and even strangers. We don’t always live this out as we should or would like to, but in repentance we always come back to the love and forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ and try again.
Christian faith is not about completely understanding all this. Faith is a different sort of knowledge. It is about personally believing it and trusting it to be true. The knowledge that you are known and loved by God and of loving God in return.
If you would like to explore Christian faith for yourself, you can start reading the Bible, if it is new to you a good place to start is the part known as the Gospels (the first four books of the New Testament; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). You are welcome to come along to church or sign up to our next Alpha course where you will find people who can help with your questions.
FIRST STEPS
How to become a Christian
If you want to explore Christian faith, are looking for answers or considering the next steps to take, please get in touch with us and come along to church if you are able. However, you don’t have to come along to become a Christian. Becoming a Christian is not about going along to a church but of becoming part of the Church, joining God’s people all around the world, bearing witness to Jesus in many different languages and individual communities. If you are sensing God speaking to you, you can respond to that and become a Christian right now following these simple steps :
Recognise your need for change
Often the first step of faith is simply recognising that things need to change in our lives. Realising that we need forgiveness for trying to live without God, going our own way and the many ways we have failed others. Realising that we need to find better purpose, direction and guidance for all of life so we can put things right and keep heading in the right direction.
Pray something like, ‘Lord God, I need to change and your help to do that.’
Believe in Jesus as the Son of God
Believing Jesus is who he claims to be, the Son of God who came to show you God’s great love and to save you through his life, death and resurrection.
Pray something like, ‘Lord, I believe in you. I believe you are the Son of God. I believe that you love me and came to save me.’
REPENTANCE AND GRACE
A response
of faith.
Repent of and confess sins
As we believe, we come to see the awful consequences of our own sinful thoughts and actions in separating us from God. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins, so we confess our sin and turn away, repent, of it.
Pray something like, ‘God, I am a sinner, and have sinned against you by choosing my own way. I repent of that, turning away from it and chose now instead to turn towards you.’
Accept God’s grace and salvation
Jesus died for our sins, and he rose again to show that debt has been settled. God doesn’t wait for us to get things right, that’s not going to happen. God reaches out to us in our sinful and lost state and in Jesus offers us the free gifts of his love and forgiveness - such undeserved mercy is called grace. Like any gift, you need to accept it with thankfulness.
Pray something like, ‘Lord, I accept your gift of grace. Thank you for dying for my sins. Thank you for rising to give me new life. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for the forgiveness I can now find in you.’
GROWING AS A FOLLOWER OF JESUS
A lifelong
journey.
Though it only takes a moment to pray and take your first steps to becoming a Christian, you now have a journey ahead that takes a lifetime; that of being a disciple or follower of Jesus, learning to live like him, think like him and act like him. Some important steps that will help you on this journey are:
Join God’s community
Find a local fellowship of God’s people that you can be part of. If you take a coal out of a fire, it soon cools and so can our faith if we try to go it alone. God intends for us to grow, learn and serve in community.
Be baptised
Baptism is an outward sign of inner transformation. Being immersed symbolises cleansing, as well as the grave, emerging from the water symbolises rising to new life in Jesus. It is a very public and dramatic way to confess your faith publicly. The Bible asks us to commit to this step of faith, ‘Believe and be baptised.’
Develop a relationship with God
Now that you know God in Jesus, commit to spending time with him and knowing him deeper every day. This will happen as you read God’s word, the Bible, reflecting on what God is saying to you and as you pray sharing your thankfulness and needs with God.
Live out your faith
Believing in and following Jesus will change your life. As we learn more there will be implications for all of life; what we do with our bodies, how we think about things, our attitudes to money and possessions, just to name a few. Christian faith is a call to lifelong learning - doing what God asks of us instead of following our own ideas. It is not always easy, but you’ll find as Jesus promised, that it is the way to life in all its fullness.
Bridge of Don Baptist Church
Dubford Road, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8GS
01224 826256 · [email protected]
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Registered Scottish Charity: SC052088