It was here I stood as a teenager, under the Dome of Giggleswick School Chapel, to first declare my belief in Christ. Paul and Silas in Acts 16:31 state that necessity for becoming a Christian: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’. This invitation focuses that of Peter in Acts 2:38 ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’
Repent, believe, ask, receive – this is how we dispose ourselves to meet the Lord. That started for me at my confirmation, when I stood before the Bishop, in Giggleswick Chapel. It’s also an ongoing process. I turn to Jesus, put faith in him, ask for and receive the Spirit. Then the Spirit shows me my need once again to turn to Jesus, believe in him, ask and receive from him – this is the day by day reality of my life!
You become a Christian when you put faith in God’s love, having recognising it’s for you, turn from wrong, ask for and receive God into your life and join God’s family. The lost son in Jesus’s parable prepared his confession of sin and returned to his father who ‘ran and put his arms around him and kissed him’ (Luke 15:20). Christianity, living as a Christian, is an accompanied journey so the context of your reading this booklet now becomes vital. The lost son repented and found forgiveness through the embrace of his father and joined a celebration meal. In the same way Christian enquirers come into Christian fellowship in the holy meal of bread and wine we call the Eucharist, Mass or Holy Communion. You are never alone as a believer. You may start your journey towards becoming a Christian through reading about it but to go further you need to get into conversation with practising Christians to be prepared for church membership through baptism, confirmation (in some traditions) and first Communion.
How do you believe? If your heart has been ignited to see Jesus as divine Saviour you already believe. If not, pray for a personal revelation to come through the Holy Spirit, like that which came to Peter when he said to Christ “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you… for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 16:16-17). It will help if, after research, you accept the existence and resurrection of Jesus as reasonable truths. You go on to make an act of faith like those of one who engaged with Jesus in Mark’s Gospel: ‘Jesus said to him… All things can be done for the one who believes… Immediately [he] cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”’ (Mark 9:23-24)
To believe as a Christian is to acknowledge Christ as Son of God and Saviour who sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us in the fellowship of the Church. Since the earliest days of Christianity the Apostles’ Creed used at baptism has expressed fuller implications of acknowledging Christ’s divinity in three paragraphs linked to belief in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. (Church of England Common Worship text)
*Catholic here is not ‘Roman Catholic’ but ‘universal’ meaning the whole Church to which Anglicans, Orthodox and Protestants also have allegiance.
Here is a short act of faith built from joining Mark 9:24 and 2 Corinthians 4:6 into a simple prayer:
Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. Shine in my heart to give me the light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Amen
