Support individuals' faith journeys

We are offered the enormous privilege of coming to know Jesus as our saviour and our friend, and being invited to join in with God’s work in our world.

Sometimes our journey of faith brings challenges. Joining with other Christians in worship, study and prayer can give us ways for our own personal faith to grow, help us to live as Christians in our everyday lives, and lets us be supported by – and support – other people who are on their own journeys of faith. 

Questions about the Christian faith?

There are some really helpful articles and videos out there about becoming and being a Christian:

• Check out the Christianity website 
• Also visit The Alpha Course website or go straight to their Alpha course locator page and put in your details to find a course near to you. Please note some courses may be affected by the coronavirus outbreak but many churches are running courses using video conferencing technology so don't let that stop you finding out more!
• Order the 'Why Jesus?' book mentioned by Bishop Jill in this online Sunday service:
  • Order in regular format
  • large print edition

Everyday Faith

Faith is a gift from God, which is built up, shared and worked out as we spend time learning about and listening to God, and as we meet together with other Christians.

As we encourage one another in our faith, we also hope to make the Church a place where those starting out on their journey of faith can feel welcome and free to walk at their own pace. 

For more on parishes in our Diocese, visit The Church of England's 'A Church Near You' website. 

As Christians, we believe in a God who not only created our world, but continues to care for it and be involved with it. In Jesus, God became human and lived as one of us. This mean that it’s a huge mistake to think that God is only interested in what we do in church on Sundays, or when we read our Bibles or come to Him in prayer. Our faith should affect every aspect of how we live our lives. This is sometimes called discipleship – for more on this, see the Whole life discipleship page.

We also look for opportunities to share our faith in Jesus Christ by offering the same forgiveness, loving kindness and joy that Jesus offers us to those we meet, praying that they too will come to know the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. To find out more about what Christians believe, see the Share the Christian Faith page.

Worship

Worship involves offering our prayer and praise, our love and adoration to Almighty God, who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us so that we can be reconciled with Him.

Worship takes many forms, from high energy contemporary praise, stunning choral adoration, art, movement, prayer, social action, lifestyle/career choices, stillness and silence. Sometimes we gather together with other Christians to worship; sometimes we worship in quiet places by ourselves; and we can offer the whole of our lives to God as an act of worship.

For some worship is beautiful and extravagant, for others, it is found in simplicity, but for all Christians the object of our worship is the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons.

For some resources about using music when we worship together, look at the Music and worship page.

Reading the Bible

The Bible is our best source of information about God and God’s relationship with people.

In the Old Testament we read about God’s sometimes stormy relationship with the people of Israel; in the gospels we find out about Jesus, about His life and death (and what happened next), and in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles we read about St Paul and the growth of the early church.

The Bible can give us inspiration about issues we face in our daily lives; it includes history, songs and poems, love stories, laws, and letters; and within its pages you will find people speaking God’s word, praising God, running away from God, telling God their problems, and sometimes getting angry with God.

We can read the Bible ourselves or with other people. There are lots of resources to guide us through the Bible (it’s not usually a good idea to just start at the beginning and work through it) and to help us to understand what we’re reading: you will find links to some of these on the Bible study page.

Prayer

Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as Father, and it can be helpful for us to think about prayer as a conversation with someone who is incredibly wise and powerful, but who knows us really well and loves us very much.

We don’t need to use fancy words to talk to God, although sometimes other people’s words can express what we feel but can’t quite work out how to say.

Our prayers can thank God for what He’s done for us, and for being who He is; we can ask God for things, for ourselves and others; we can bring the things that concern us in our daily lives and in the world to God; we can ask for guidance about things we’re confused about; and we can say sorry for things we’ve done that we wish we’d done differently.

But listening to God is also part of praying, and sometimes prayer can change us. For some resources that other people have found useful to help them to pray, see the Prayer resources page.

Confirmation

Confirmation marks the point in the Christian journey at which you affirm for yourself the faith into which you have been baptized and your intention to live a life of committed discipleship.

This affirmation is confirmed through prayer and the laying on of hands by the confirming bishop.

The Church also asks God to give you power through the Holy Spirit to enable you to live in the way of Jesus. To find out more about confirmation, contact the vicar at your local church and/or look at these frequently asked questions