I have been a Christian since the Summer of 2005 (you can do the simple sum – saves me updating this every time a year goes past) but have been going to church for most of my life. I was brought up in a Christian family, always attending church as a child and teenager. This was became very routine; I just went since it was something that I always did, instead of going because I enjoyed it! I believed in God – but didn’t really know who He was. This mentality of church being just something that I did every Sunday went on for a long time. I don’t really know how it happened, but in the Summer of 2005 I attended a week long community outreach and social action project in Liverpool called Merseyfest, I went with a group of people in which I only really knew one or two people so this enabled me to get to know other people my age who were Christians and learn about what God actually meant to them. During this week I realised that God was more than what I thought He was. I realised that I was actually able to have a relationship with Him. I realised that there was a lot more about being a Christian than going to a boring church service every Sunday. More importantly for the first time, I learnt why God sent his son Jesus to die. – to rescue me from all the rubbish things in my life (there where quite a lot!)
I arrived at the University of York in October 2006 and learned pretty quickly that being a Christian meant living for Jesus all of the time in everything that I was doing, not just when I felt like it! University was amazing, my faith grew so much and I learnt tons during my time. University is a very unique opportunity with there being such a massive mix of people, all with their own questions and answers. It allowed me to ask my questions and get answers to the things I was struggling with. I am still changing today, still growing in my faith and learning more of God, but I believe by his Spirit I will continue to be challenged and deepen my relationship with God. I got baptised at York City Church in November 2008 after spending time settling at the church. My testimony and baptism can be seen in the following video:
I have since moved to work for the the charity Christians Against Poverty based in Bradford but with centres all across the country. I won't currently go into details about the charity here since it doesn't explain about my faith, more how my faith is being used. If you want more information about them, please read my blog posts or visit their website. I am currently attending Mosaic Church in Leeds. It really is an exciting church to be apart of, with a big vision, amazing solid bible teaching, and an environment of sacrificial worship to our Saviour.
Okay, so what does it actually mean to be a Christian. Simply it means to have a living relationship with your creator. Jesus Christ. Mark Driscoll (an American pastor) wrote in his book ‘The Radical Reformission‘ that:
It is imperative that Christians be like Jesus, by living freely within the culture as missionaries who are as faithful to the Father and His gospel as Jesus was in His own time and place.
Being a Christian isn’t about going to church on a Sunday for a nice time, and then not thinking about God for the rest of the week. Nor is it a set of rules or law that you have to follow on a daily basis. This is all religion – not Christianity! As a Christian I want to spend time with God, getting to know him better, be that by worshipping him, praying, or reading my Bible. These aren't things I have to do, these are things I want to do to enable me to grow in my relationship with God.