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4. tell your mates: use these words
Some of us aren't great with words, and may not be the most confident of communicators. Well that's ok. If you struggle to articulate what you believe as a Christian, some of the stuff on this page might help...
but what should I say?
All of us have different experiences of God, which is great. We're all unique and our relationship with Jesus will differ from the next person.
So these things below are just basics, rather than exhaustive theological explanations about God (please forgive us if we've missed something out you know is really important). However, you might find them helpful in chatting to your friends about Jesus.
Anyway, on with some basics that you can tell your mates...
stuff to tell your mates about God...
God is awesome: Not like surfing, more like gob smackingly awesome. He created the universe, is all powerful and totally magnificent.
God is love: God loves us and loves his world. He created humankind for relationship with him and each other, and he longs to show his love to everyone.
God is three: Not in age (he's not a toddler), but he exists in three separate, yet equal and the same persons. There is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
God lived, died and rose again: God the Son became fully human (whilst still being fully God) in the person of Jesus and lived to the age of about 33 two thousand years ago in a place called Nazareth (in the ancient Near East).
Jesus lived a perfect life, showing humanity the full extent of God's love, dying for us to bring mankind and God back in relationship with each other after we had grown or fallen apart.
God lets you choose: Like any good parent, God will let his children (that's us) go our own way, make our own decisions and, at times, mistakes. God wants us to choose to live in relationship with him as he knows this is best for us, but won't force us to recognize, follow and love him. He leaves us to make that decision.
The Holy Spirit is how we know God: The person of God who is the Holy Spirit is here with us now. He leads us to relationship with God the Father, through the sacrifice of God the Son. He's an amazing comforter, friend, healer and guide.
stuff to tell your mates about us (humanity)...
We were created for relationship: God created humans as social beings. 'He's not meant to be alone' is how the Bible tells us God reacted when he'd created Adam (some believe the creation in Genesis to be a story giving an image of what happened when God created, some believe it to be literal).
The point is, God created humanity for relationship with him and with one another. Relationship, community, friendship and love is what makes us all tick.
We try to do it ourselves: Somewhere along the line something got broken, we shunned our relationship with God believing we could do life and everything else ourselves.
Some people talk about a 'fall' from friendship with God, where humanity disobeyed the creator of the world (or sinned), and therefore became separate from him.
Others see the story of the fall in Genesis as humanity rebelling from God as a teenager would from their parents. Either way, something got broke and we lost relationship with God.
We can't fix it ourselves: Humanity can't fix what got broke! God has to (and has). Jesus, who lived as a human, led a sinless life. He died an unjust death, and rose again, creating a way in which God not just showed his love for us, but restored the relationship we could have with him.
If you know anything about the Old Testament sacrificial systems that maintained God's relationship with his people, you'll know that Jesus' death can be seen as a sacrifice for our sins (or rebellion against God).
This sacrifice allows us to be seen as pure in God's eyes and able to enter a relationship with him again.
God shows us who we are: Importantly Jesus lived for 30-odd years as a human. He was God, but also fully human. He therefore gives us an image and example of what humanity can be. Kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving, gracious and the rest.
None of us can be exactly like Jesus, but his life does show us that when humanity and God are in relationship with each other, humanity is better, fulfilled and who we were meant to be.
and there's more...
We just came up with this stuff fairly quickly, and as a Christian you'll probably realise, we skimmed over a lot of good things (mainly because we don't have the space and weren't sure whether you'd want to sit hear for 2 days to read it all!).
People have dedicated their whole lives to studying just one of the points we've mentioned above, so we know we have missed some stuff.
The key is to look for yourself and get into reading and learning about Jesus and Christianity in your own way.
*We've used a lot of 'He's' in describing God. That doesn't mean we think God is masculine and not feminine, it's just tradition and convention. God isn't male or female... he created both genders and as creator displays characteristics stereotypically associated with both sexes.
the basic steps
Down here we've also put some key steps that people usually go through in their journey to become a Christian.
People come to know Jesus in a mass of different ways. Everyone's own journey is totally valid and there's no perfect method for becoming a Christian. However, that said, it's helpful to get some things down... the stuff below seems useful and common to us, so take a look and use it as you need!
1) We need to know that God loves us for who we are and not what we do. He has a wonderful purpose for each of us and wants to make us whole and complete.
Jeremiah 29: 11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
2) We've got to admit to God that we've made a mistake,
been selfish and done wrong things. Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We were designed for relationship with Him, not separation.
3) We'll grasp a bit of who Jesus is; our best friend, the Son of God, and the only way to have relationship with God. His death was God's payment for our selfishness. Romans 5: 8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
4) It's good to pray. We need to sincerely seek forgiveness for our wrong doing, telling God we 're sorry and asking Jesus to be the centre of our lives: our past, present and futures.
5) Time to tell others. It's great to tell people when we make a commitment to follow Jesus. Romans 10: 9 "..if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
6) Have a party and celebrate the fact that our old lives have gone and that we are new people, ready to discover our new purpose in life. And remember God is celebrating too. Luke 15: 10, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
What to pray...
Most often people become Christians through a simple prayer that highlights that they recognize who God is, what he has done, and how they have messed up. You might find the one outlined here helpful...
"Lord Jesus,I see that I need you.
Thank you for dying for me on the Cross. I have said, thought and done wrong things.
Please forgive me. I invite you to be the centre of my life for the rest of my life.
I choose now and always for you to be my guide and my God.
Thank you for forgiving me my selfishness and giving me a second chance. I give you permission to take charge of my life and make me into the kind of person you want me to be.
Father thank you for loving me so much you sent your Son to die for me.
Amen."