Jesus isn’t a swear word.

Jesus was a real man who lived for around 33 years, two thousand years ago. There are historical documents written by Romans and Jews which tell us about his life. We call the most detailed documents the Gospels, written by people who knew him, or by people who knew those who knew him. These Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are found in the New Testament part of the Bible. The rest of the New Testament tells us about many people whose lives were changed by Jesus’ life and death and when he rose from the dead (resurrection), and how they tried to live together as followers of Jesus. The New Testament also gives us some idea of things which will happen at the end of time as we know it, when Jesus will come again. Jesus is also known as Jesus Christ, or just Christ, because Christ means the special, chosen one.

So Christ isn’t a swear word either!

God is real.

There is an intelligent being who made the universe and keeps things working. We call that being God. In the Bible, the Old Testament tells us that he made the world and, together with the New Testament, about the way he relates to human beings. There are things about God we don’t understand, and there are things about the universe we don’t understand, such as what time looks like to God: why to us the universe looks so old and why to God it doesn’t look old at all.

God is a bit like an apple.

Imagine you have an apple, and that it is the only apple in the universe. If you take a bit of skin, it’s different to the flesh and the pip, but it’s still apple from the only apple. Now eat some of the flesh, it feels and tastes different, but it’s still apple from the only apple. Now eat the pip! Of course you won’t, nobody eats the pip (actually, some people do), but it’s still apple from the only apple. So you’ve got three bits of the same apple, which you can see are one, and can eat all of, but are all different.

There is only one God, but we can experience God as creator (who we call Father), as Jesus (who we call Son) and through his presence with us (who we call Holy Spirit). That’s what people mean when they say God is three in one, or Trinity.

When we pray, we speak with the Father, through the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus.

Yes, that’s what I said, Jesus is God – that’s what Christmas is about.

You can sort of understand that the creator, an intelligent being, can be present through a spirit, but you might find it hard to believe that a man was/is God, so let’s explain: The Gospels tell us that Mary had Jesus because it was the Holy Spirit that made her pregnant. This is the only time it has ever happened in history. That means that Jesus, when he was born, was God and a baby (man). Whilst Jesus was living on the earth, lots of people heard him say, and saw him do, incredible things that meant they believed that he was God. Some of them saw him alive after he had been killed by execution as a criminal on a cross (two bits of wood that criminals were nailed to). That made them believe even more that he is God, and the New Testament tells us what happened because of that.

Sorry, what? Jesus rose from the dead? – Yes, that’s what Easter is about

Yes, he even spoke with people and told them things that they should do. And they did them. One of those things was to tell everyone else about all the things he did and said, and to believe in him. So they did, and that’s why lots of people decided to follow Jesus and had their lives changed for the better by him. Today we can still have our lives changed by him.

Jesus changes lives

Everyone has stuff they have done that they realise are wrong, most of us are embarrassed by them. Everyone has stuff they wish they had done, but didn’t. We are embarrassed by them too. Some people don’t care, but that doesn’t mean that what they did wasn’t wrong. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter that they didn’t do the stuff they should have done.

The same is true about groups of people, like communities or countries. They do stuff wrong too, or don’t get done the things which should have been done.

These things we do wrong make it hard for us to relate to God and make it hard for us to relate to each other. At best we fall out with each other. At worst we go to war and kill each other. Things like greed and ambition are also the reason we’re making a mess of the planet.

Lots of people end up feeling lonely and without a purpose in life.

You might have heard the word “sin”. Sin is the thing which makes us do these things, and have these bad relationships with God, ourselves and others.

Jesus went to be executed on a cross not because he was a criminal, but because he chose to, so he could die, take sin with him to death, then rise from the dead and give us new life through his Spirit living in us. He didn’t want people to die and be separated from God forever. He wants to give them this new life.

If you say to Jesus you want to live differently, better, and ask him to forgive you for the wrong things you do, he will live in you through the Holy Spirit. You won’t be perfect (that will only happen later, when your body dies, but the rest of you lives for ever with God), but your life will be so much better than it is now. You will be able to relate to other people better, and care for them more, and you will be able to relate to God better.

What’s different about a “Baptist” church?

“Baptist” means someone who dips someone in water. Basically, we have a big pool (baptistry) and dip people in water when they themselves have decided to follow Jesus, and then say they are a “Christian”. We don’t do it when they are babies, because babies can’t really decide for themselves.

The idea is to say that Jesus has “washed” the person of all the bad stuff, which they have “died to”, and they are rising out of the water to a new life.

It’s all about love:

There are lots of other things we believe at Faringdon Baptist Church, (there’s a lot to learn from Jesus, who us shows how to live through prayer and the Bible, and the Bible is a big book, where we get the stuff we believe and want to do from), but in the end it all comes down to love.

The New Testament (and some bits of the Old) tells us how Christ came to show us what love is and how we can live in love, and how different people from all over the world can stop hating each other and love each other.

We know that some people over history have said they follow Jesus, called themselves Christian, but still disliked, hated and killed other people, even invading other places in the name of Jesus.

The New Testament itself says that people who do this haven’t really understood what God wants.

God is love and God wants us to be able to love ourselves, love other people and love God.

If you want to know more about what we believe click in the links below: