Becoming a Christian
What is a Christian?
A Christian is someone who trusts Jesus Christ as their Saviour and follows him as their Lord. It isn’t mainly about where you were born, whether you go to church or how good you are. It’s about being brought back to God through Jesus.
More than a label
In the 2021 census, 46% of people in England and Wales described themselves as Christian. For many that is a statement about family or background, and far fewer are in church on a Sunday. The Bible uses the word more precisely. The first followers of Jesus were nicknamed “Christians”, meaning “Christ’s people”, in the city of Antioch, because their whole lives had come to centre on him (Acts 11:26).
What a Christian believes
- God made us, knows us and loves us.
- All of us have turned away from him. The Bible calls this sin.
- Jesus, God’s Son, died for our sins and rose again from the dead.
- Forgiveness and new life are a gift, received by trusting Jesus rather than earned by being good.
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name.
What a Christian is not
- Not simply someone born in a Christian country or family. Faith can’t be inherited; each person has to respond to Jesus for themselves.
- Not simply someone who goes to church. Christians do go to church, but sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.
- Not someone who is perfect. Christians still get things wrong, sometimes badly. They are forgiven people, not flawless ones.
- Not someone who has every answer. Christians have questions and doubts like anyone else.
How someone becomes a Christian
Nobody drifts into being a Christian, and nobody earns it. A person becomes a Christian by turning away from running their own life and putting their trust in Jesus, relying on his death and resurrection to put them right with God. For some people that happens in a moment they can name. For others it happens gradually, and they realise one day that they now believe.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
How a Christian lives
That trust shows itself in everyday life. Christians pray, read the Bible, belong to a church and try to love God and the people around them. They don’t do these things to earn God’s love. They do them because they already have it.
He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Following Jesus affects everything: how you use your money and time, how you treat people at work and at home, what you do when you are wronged. It is a whole life given a new centre.