Faith is exciting and difficult at the same time, much like trusting the ground at your feet as you take your first step out into a bright new day. We exercise ‘faith’ many ways. We have faith that school teachers will have the ability and knowledge to help us learn. We show faith when we accept the promise of someone else. We are faithful when we make vows of marriage, or professional vows [nurses, doctors, lawyers, ministers, even politicians], and do all we can to keep our word and be true. We live out a faith even when we keep to a diet, make long lasting financial investments, or begin to raise a family.
	Religious faith is like these examples, except religious faith draws on a deeper sense of being then a promise from someone. It begins with a statement we begin to write in our hearts as we learn and grow in the world. That is why everyone’s ‘faith’ has subtle differences from everyone else’s. Still, there are core beliefs that draw people into the fellowship  to some sort of religion, reflecting a shared  faith.
	This is what we will explore, so that when you do come to make statements about you believe, you will be able to say these things with confidence. You will come to recognize truth and the source of truth. You will learn ways of seeking truth, and understanding God’s guidance. Finally, you will learn that Christian faith is something you have now and yet it is far from being fulfilled. In the covenant of faith you will come to make you will also you will discover that your faith can grow through every moment of life; through fun and thoughtfulness, through every joy and sadness.
In a couple of lines write down a brief statement abut what you believe
Who/What is God?
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	We all have a belief in God. Some people limit this belief and focus only on what they can see, touch, and manipulate. Their god(s) is only fixed to a time and a place of understanding, but there are aspects of life that are beyond our understanding; what use is their faith then? But the God of Christian faith is in the midst of what we can understand, and what is hard to explain, and also in what we cannot comprehend. 
	The Holy Scriptures, or the Bible, begin with this same understanding. God creates the world, and all the plants and all the animals, and us as a special part of all that God created. We can understand that trees grow, and animals roam, that winds blow and the sun rises and sets each day. We have learned – as a race of creatures – more and more about how each of these things has their being. Our understanding is a part of our ability to appreciate the power of God. God gave every creature the abilities we discover; while at the same time we observe the changing of life and the physical world in order to appreciate the complexity of all that God has created.
	A few words on creation: The writing format in the Bible concerning creation is mythically based. It is based on truth. Some Christians insist on the literal account of scripture, blindly ignoring arguments against what is written in the biblical account. Evolution is not necessarily discounted in a reading of creation in the Bible, as can the scientific view that the universe is expanding. The crucial point that every person of faith must come to is that God created this world and the whole universe is not some random accident. All things were/are created with a purpose. To deny that this world was created with a purpose is to deny that you were created with a purpose.
In a couple of lines write down a brief statement abut what you believe
Why am I special to God?
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	It is impossible to seek God in our lives, or to examine who we are ourselves, without taking into consideration the people around us. One of the central parts of Christian belief is that our individual faith is connected to their people’s individual faith. 
	What you believe has a lot to do with what your parents believe[d], what your friends believe[d], and what leaders and figureheads in your sphere of influence believe[d]. Even if you react against what these people believe they are still an influence as something/one to whom you compare your beliefs and key values. Faith is always in dialogue.
	We are asked by God to come together and to talk and learn from each other. This is one of the big reasons we are asked to be a Church. Church is not just something done on Sundays and special occasions, but a community with open doors that keeps communicating through the week [just like your family and friends get together on a holidays for a special meal, you still talk to each other and eat together every day]. 
	You have your belief and someone else also has a belief. As you speak to each other you learn from each other and your faith and their faith grows and matures. God brings you together for this reason. This is especially important in families; parents are often surprised by what they can learn about their own faith from their children. 
The fellowship of believers is the functioning life of the church, and allows us to come to worship services each week and on special occasions with a better understanding of who we are together as God’s gathered people. 
In a couple of lines write down a brief statement abut what you believe
Who helps me [or has helped me] to understand my faith, and grow as a believer?
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	To begin this deep journey of faith you need to have the will to listen, and to try to understand. You need the humility to ask questions. You will need God’s word, [the Bible both Old and New Testaments]. You will need mentors and examples [found among the people attending worship] You will need prayer; both to offer prayer and to be prayed over.
	To have faith and believe in God, prayer is so very important. It is impossible to journey in Christian faith if you will not talk to God. Prayer also gives you the chance to listen to God, because God does not usually speak in booming thunder or dramatic events, but in a soft comforting voice that speaks directly to our souls. 
Prayer is not a hard thing to do alone, but it is best to begin a life of prayer with someone else. It is reassuring to hear someone pray with you and for you personally, as well as humbling when you discover aspects of prayer you may never have known about.
In a couple of lines write down a brief statement abut what you believe
This is what praying [or prayer] means to me.
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Christian tradition has many important prayers; some that come from scripture [the Bible] that you can use to help you as you seek to grow in faith:

The Lord’s Prayer or The ‘Our Father. . .’
“Our Father, who art[is] in heaven;
Hallowed[Holy] be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts [sins or trespasses]
As we forgive our debtors [those who sin or trespass against us],
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil” [Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4]
And some Christians add
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen

A Prayer of an Apostle [Paul] [Ephesians 3:14-21]
We kneel before you God the Father, 
From you this whole family in heaven and on earth is given our very names. 
We pray that out of your great richness that you will strengthen us with power through Your Spirit in your being; so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And we pray that you  will root and strengthen us in love, to have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. For You God are able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to Your power that is at work within us, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,[b]
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy Catholick Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting. Amen.
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Why believe?

What believe?

Who believe?

To think about as you begin . . .
A journey of faith begins

Some key questions

By
Rev. A. D. Sutherland