Becoming a Christian

Christians are people who know, trust and obey Jesus Christ as their "rescuer," friend and the Lord of their life. Through this relationship with Jesus, Christians know that all they have ever done wrong is forgiven. They enjoy a confident relationship with God as their Father in heaven and, helped by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, they serve God as part of a local church - God's family on the earth - until Jesus returns and draws history as we know it to a close.

Obviously, then, none of us are born Christians - rather it is something we need to become. The good news is that although we all start off far from God, He wants us all to come home to him. He sent his Son Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man, to rescue us! Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and then died publicly on a cross, taking our punishment from his Father in place of us! On the third day Jesus rose from the dead - alive forever - showing that sin (wrongdoing and being away from God) and death had been defeated! Jesus promised that whoever came to him personally asking for forgiveness and trusting in him would be forgiven and accepted as a child of God. Jesus said it would be just like being "born again!"

You can become a Christian, you can be "born again", even right now! But how?

First, you need to ADMIT that you are away from God because you have ignored Him, not lived to please Him, and that you deserve God's punishment (Romans 3:23). You need to tell God that you are sorry for having lived this way and consciously turn away from sin. Left to yourself, you have no hope of putting this right - you need Jesus to rescue you.

Secondly, COMMIT yourself to Jesus, trusting in who he is and what he did on the cross. Take his promise of forgiveness and new life personally - thanking him for it and believing it is effective for you now (John 6:40).

Thirdly, SUBMIT your life to Him, day by day (Matthew 16:24). He wants to change you into the person he wants you to be. He has a destiny for you to fulfil as a member of His church. He will guide you and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit who will come and live in your life.

Jesus is the way to God. If you want to know God, then talk to Jesus from your heart, admitting, committing and submitting your life to him. He will not ignore you. Better still, talk and pray it through with an experienced Christian. A local church like ours can help you with this. Also, millions of people worldwide have been tremendously helped by attending an Alpha Course which looks at the basics of Christianity. Please look at the Alpha page for more details.