Christian belief
God
Christians believe in the one God, who made, loves, and cares for all that exists - a God of love, who delights in justice, and is rich in mercy and compassion.
People
Human beings are made in the image of God, created to relate with God. But the relationship between God and us is not what it ought to be - it has been marred by personal and social evil (sin).
Jesus Christ was sent from God to set us back on the right track and restore our relationship with God. In Jesus we see what God is like and what we can be like. In the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus (ie, his being raised from the dead by God), God has acted for us to overcome all that alienates us from God, from each other and the rest of creation.
Life
Jesus Christ is alive today. We know him through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit, who brings us to new birth as the children of God our heavenly father.
Jesus gives us freedom to admit our own vulnerability, and to live with purpose in a frustrating world. Jesus is the foundation on which we build lives of integrity and justice, practising God's love in care and compassion for all.
The Holy Spirit, God's enabling presence, helps us to live the life of faith in God, and binds us together for ever as one body in Christ. This 'body' we call the Church, the varied community of people who belong to God. We enter this life in theh Spirit by being joined to Christ, and so being admitted to the Church, through baptism.
Baptism means being washed with water, as a dramatic way of a person dying with Jesus, and being raised to new life through the Holy Spirit, as the child of God. Our old way of living is left behind, and we commit ourselves to live for God - we are 'baptised into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit'. Anglicans welcome to baptism people of any age with the intention that they will live the Christian life.
The Church is the community of people who belong to Christ of every time and place. We gather regularly as God's people to pray, to learn and reflect, especially from the Bible, and to share our lives together.
In a Symbolic meal called Holy Communion, or Eucharist - which means thanksgiving - or the Lord's Supper, we proclaim the death of Jesus and we are fed with his life as we receive bread and wine signifying the body and blood of Christ. We are strengthened to love God and our neighbours, to care for others, and to work for social justice, so making Christ known.