If you've recently come to Christ, but you're not sure what to do next, then read this guide to the exciting next steps God has in store for you.
Making a commitment to become a Christian is truly the most important and far-reaching decision you could ever make in life, so if that's you right now then congratulations — you couldn't be in a better place!
But now comes the interesting part…church.
If you’re contemplating going to church for the first time, then this may be the prospect you're most unsure about; I mean, isn’t church a crumbling old building where elderly people go? Isn’t it all just dull ceremony and weird rituals…something you endure? Aren’t Christians uncool — judgmental even?
The truth is Christians are really no different from any other demographic; besides generally having two arms, two legs, a head, and a body, they actually display all the same behavioural, skills-based, class-based, gender, sexuality, wealth, and racial-based characteristics as non-Christians do. So don’t worry about stepping into some kind of parallel dimension and becoming an unidentified object; it will be fine — we promise you!
But what does separate Christians from the rest of the world is actually something pretty amazing, and it’s called the Holy Spirit — and that really is the otherworldly part. You see, now you’ve made a decision to trust your life and salvation to Jesus, you join a body (quite literally) of people who transcend time, place — and even dimension (think history, geography, and even life and death) who have all received this special gift from God.
So earlier on we said, “now comes the interesting part”. Well, this Holy Spirit that you have received from God is not just for you, but for others too. You see, the amazing thing about God is that not only did he send his own son to die for us on our behalf (really, he did: check out the Our Beliefs section for more) but now his son, Jesus, has sent us his spirit, so that we can serve others on their behalf.
Confused? Don't worry — this is where church comes in. Church isn’t just a building you attend, and it’s not just a ceremony that you take part in; Church is you — and everybody else with you — who holds this treasure within them, and makes up the body of Christ. What you don't yet understand, someone else will — and they'll be only too happy to help you with it.
So if you've recently made a decision to follow Jesus, then probably the next best step is simply to find a good local church that believes in Jesus, crucified and resurrected, that teaches the whole Bible. And from there, well — just keep coming back!
So if you fancy giving us a try, simply contact us at this link, and we'll respond to your enquiry as soon as possible. Better still, if you're in the Caversham area, why not just come and see what we're all about?