The Faith
As Jesus said that he came so that we could have life in its fulness (John 10:10), exploring Christianity is like exploring life. When we realise that there is more than what we can touch and see, we may want to explore this. When we realise that this exploration is possible because things that are invisible to us were made visible when God breaks into human history, particularly in Jesus Christ, we may want to find out more about the Christian faith.
The Bible
When God has made the invisible visible to us by breaking into human history, God reveals something of himself to us. Humans have sometimes been inspired to reflect on these revelations and record these in written form. A collection of these writings have a central place in the Christian faith’s history and have done so for most of its history. By reading the bible, you are not only peering into the history of the faith, but you might allow the stories, correspondence, wisdom, poetry and revelation to shape you and understand how it has already shaped the world we live in.
If you want to explore the Christian faith further, get to the prime sources that shaped the message that is told in the videos above and journey towards the heart of God, then there is no better way than to read the bible for yourself. However, the bible is a collection or library of writings and you would not start reading all the books in a library by starting on the left hand side of the first shelf and keep progressing from left to right. You may need guidance on how to meaningfully read the bible, but you can simply read it for yourself. The bible is available free here. Mark’s Gospel is probably a good place to start as it tells you about what Jesus said and did.
Prayer
Reading the bible helps us to know God, perfectly revealed to us through Jesus. The bible also helps us to understand ourselves as humans, as individuals and as communities. There are various levels of knowledge and understanding. Reading a biography of a person might help to gain knowledge and an understanding of that person, but ultimately, that person is not known in the same way that a parent is to their child. There is no substitute for spending time with someone, in their presence. God, the author of creation, makes himself available to us, his children. God is with us even if we do not notice him.
Prayer is the activity that can help us become aware of God being alongside us; prayer can be described as being present to God’s presence. It is in prayer that, ultimately, we become aware of who God is and who we are, his beloved child. Try spending time with God; try speaking to him, try listening and try noticing him. If you would like some help with this, then it some is help is available here. You can also ask us to pray for you by clicking here.
Belong
Although someone can venture into their journey of faith, their discovery of God and themselves through reading the bible and praying alone, they don’t have to. They can become aware that, through God, we are drawn together by his love and, when they do, they realise that none of us are on this journey of life in our own. We can support each other (just like this website or the links to other fellow travellers’ websites), we can learn from each other, we can pray together, we can worship God together, we can serve those in need together. This is what the bible means when it talks about church; it is the community of God.
There are sixteen church buildings (excluding three ruins) in Flegg Parish Churches (served by the clergy in the Team Ministry) and there are other groups of Christians who meet in our villages, but there is one church, as we are all a part of God’s community. It matters less about which part of God’s church that you belong to than the fact that your life is more likely to be fulfilled if you do belong to one of these groups. Church is a place of mutual journeying where people may start by thinking that they are going to church but develop to the point when they realise that they are being church.
If you choose to explore life with us then you would be most welcome. There are no barriers for you to belong, there is no dress code, no expectation that you would give us money, you don’t have to sign up to any particular belief and you don’t have to commit to anything. There are places to park at each church or we can offer you a lift if you are local, there are activities for children at our Martham church and details of when the services are can be found on our homepage [click here]. There are also a number of activities that can be found on our Services & Events page [click here] and we occasionally run courses to learn more about the faith.
If you would like to ask questions, discuss your faith journey, would like to visit us or get connected with us, then please do not hesitate to contact us