Everything we do is rooted in our Christian faith, based on two core beliefs.
- Firstly, that the universe is God’s creation and exists because of God’s loving purpose. It is not accidental: there is a point and therefore there is hope. Everything is gift, springing from the generous love of the creator.
- Secondly, this purpose, this gracious gift, is made known in Jesus Christ, who lived, taught, died and rose from the dead.
We accept that each of us has a different story to tell and therefore will see this faith through different eyes. How that is seen will change as we grow.
All religious language uses metaphor to express what it is trying to say and so this picture language allows plenty of scope for a breadth of interpretation to be accommodated and celebrated. These enrich our common life and help us learn from one another.
We aim to allow space for these to exist side by side. St John’s does not force people into a mould they do not fit, but we do seek to model our life on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Teachings of Jesus
Central in the teachings of Jesus is the concept of the Kingdom of God. This means that the world belongs to God and we find our true place when we commit ourselves to live in love, joy and peace, pursuing justice and honouring the inherent dignity of all people.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray giving them the Lord’s Prayer as the model. This contains everything we need to say when we pray:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Death and Resurrection of Jesus
After Jesus died on the cross his followers expected that to be the end of his story. A few days later they were surprised to find his tomb empty and started talking about him being alive, but in a different way. They called this his resurrection – being raised to a new life after death. We celebrate this at Easter – the most important day of the Christian year.
They came to see Jesus as having been God among us and worshipped him as God. Those who follow Jesus today see the divine revealed in a unique way in him and through him. We pray to God through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
How we decide what is true
Since the sixteenth century the Church of England has held to three key pillars for deciding what is true: Scripture, Tradition and Reason.
- Scripture – The Bible. We accept this as an inspired work, which reveals timeless wisdom but it has to be understood in the context of its day so that we can work out how it can relate to our own times. It is the product of different writers, over centuries, using different styles including poetry, story, letters and reflections.
- Tradition. There is a long story of thought and reflection which maps out how we have got to where we are now. Over that time understandings have changed and deepened. While God doesn’t change, how we see God does and therefore what we think about significant issues changes. We are inheritors of a living tradition.
- Reason. There are many disciplines to help us understand the world, not least science and philosophy, history and the arts. These play vital roles in informing our faith and how that faith relates to our lives and contemporary world. So for instance, we accept that the universe that we know is some 13 billion years old and was not made in 6 days! Faith needs to make sense and be intelligible.
These three pillars of Scripture, Tradition and Reason have to be held together and it is in balancing them that we find faith has credibility.
Find out more
If you would like to know more we would be pleased to talk with you and you will be very welcome to worship and pray with us. Times of services can be found here.
You can read more about the story of Jesus on the Christian Enquiry Agency website.