Mere Christianity?

I was quite interested this week to see that Lou Crabb was doing some research into people's opinions of the Church and Christianity for a uni project, and I've been having a little look at everyone's answers. A bit of a stalker I know...

Naturally I'm a bit of a rambler, and trying to put my thoughts about Church and Christianity into just one word each was a tad tricky. But it did get me thinking.
What do people really thinking Christianity is about? What do you think Christianity is really about?

Before I was a Christian I very much assumed that Christianity was a nice religion, for nice people who wanted to do nice things, and followed the teachings of a nice man.

C.S.Lewis says in Mere Christianity

"I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I am ready to accept Jesus as the great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a boiled egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."


Christianity, could be summed up in any number of ways, and I definitely agree with some that wrote, 'love' or  'grace' or 'life' or 'hope'. Christianity is all of those things.

But a Christian is a Christian because they follow Christ, not just his moral teachings, but that they are worshippers of Him. Several people said 'Jesus'. And I think I'm with you on that one. Without Him, we're nothing. He is everything.

Guy reminded us on Sunday that Romans 12 says

" Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 


Let us not conform to what the world perceives Christianity to be, but instead grow in our understanding of what it is to live a life in God's good, pleasing and perfect will.
People described Church as 'family', 'community', 'home'. And again, I love all of these descriptions and truth of each of those words. There are so many ways to describe the Church, but I love that above all, we belong to Jesus. We are His people, and are drawn together and kept together because of Him.

Take a listen to this song, it's a new favourite of mine, and the lyrics remind me of who I am made for, and what I made to do. 

Yesterday we gathered for PPP and it was great to see so many new faces with us - we love having you with us and you are so, so welcome! We spent some time looking at mission, and being filled with the Holy Spirit and knowing that the Holy Spirit is a promise for ALL believers.

This weekend we're looking forward to a big Students and Twenties lunch, before we have Baptisms in the evening!

Some of our Students are going to be getting baptised, and we're really excited to hear their testimonies, and their passion for Jesus so make sure you are out and about to display your love and support. I'm sure we'll be heading to the pub after to continue the celebrations!

Upcoming events to make a note of -

April 22nd Good Friday Celebration 11am

April 23rd St George's Day Treasure Hunting and BBQ
April 24th Easter Sunday Celebration 9.30am and 11.30am

April 30th Evangelism Explosion
June 18th LOST season 3

We're having some technical problems at the moment, in that Facebook seems to strongly dislike us, so keep an eye on statuses, walls etc. as me and James can't seem to send out real messages! We're thinking about setting up a new FB group, which we'll add you to automatically. 

Anyway, I've rambled true to form, but should probably get on. Have a fantastic few days, enjoy Jesus Culture and I shall catch you at the weekend.

Love Vicki x