Introductions

How to sum up Christian faith?

There are as many responses as there are Christians, and our own beliefs may change over time.

The word Christian means “little Christ”, named after Jesus, perhaps the most appropriate place to start.

Christians believe in the incarnation, that God became human in a Jewish teacher called Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus died for our sake, and that he rose from the dead in anticipation of God’s coming new creation. We explore this in our Jesus, Salvation and Resurrection sections.

As Christian theology (a fancy word for belief) developed over the first few centuries, Christians came to believe that Jesus was distinct from his heavenly Father, who sent Jesus into the world, and distinct from his Holy Spirit, which Jesus gave to his followers as he returned to heaven. We explore this in our Trinity section.

Alongside these debates came questions about scripture – which historical writings about God were reliable? So too came questions about the role of experience, tradition and reason, and whether one of these should be prioritised over the others. We explore this in our Sources section.

These core beliefs were summed in up several “creeds” (Latin for “I believe”), short statements put together by Christians. The most famous is the Nicene Creed from 325 AD.

Of course, all the above are “beliefs that” – statements that describe what we think is true about God. Ultimately, Christians also have “belief in” – a trusting relationship in God, whom Christians claim to encounter as a living being.

Across the rest of this site, we explore the whole host of other beliefs Christians hold. This is part of the task of discipleship – seeking to understand our God more deeply, that we may know them more deeply too.

In this section

Further resources

Books
Lamorna Ash, Don’t forget we’re here forever
Alistair McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction
Dorothee Soelle, Theology for Sceptics
Linda Woodhead, Theology: A Very Short Introduction 
Frances Young, The Making of the Creeds
Frances Young, Can these dry bones live? The excitement of theological study

Media
Timelines is a brilliant collection of videos from various theological and philosophical experts.
Faith in the North has several practical resources and an invitation to explore personal faith.
The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity has several resources on faith in everyday life.

Churches
A Church Near You (or Google Maps!) is a good first step in finding a church you might be interested in

Courses
Alpha is one of the best known Christian introductory courses, with a talk leading to small group discussion.

There are several courses which welcome people earlier on in their spiritual journey, for example Start!. As a good series of short videos, Nooma explores what Jesus’ teachings could mean in both their original and modern contexts.

Being With is a course which takes a less directive approach, encouraging everyone to share how their stories influence their beliefs.

Love, Joy, Peace explores how Christian contemplative spirituality can apply in modern contexts.