Following Jesus
This page is designed for those who are interested in following Jesus! It is designed by the Pastor to help people in the areas he (and other Christians) found to be crucial elements of discipleship - being practical learners of Jesus.
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There are things we can do to reach out to God, whether we are just exploring who God is, or we have been following Jesus for many years.
The page, like us, is a work in progress!
Chris's Story
I came to faith as a teenager at a Christian camping festival that my friends were attending. I hadn't expected my life would improve so drastically that weekend, but the experience of God being present with me was a distinctive and life transforming moment. It was very different from my relationship with God before that time - where I knew I was not living up to his standards whilst still living like God was not there.
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I believe God shared 2 convictions with me that weekend which allowed me to continue to know God, which I am grateful for.
Read the Bible!
The first conviction I had after encountering God was to get and read the Bible for myself, in language that I could easily understand.
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I am not alone in this, with Bible sales exploding recently: 'Bible sales in Britain have surged by a remarkable 87 per cent between 2019 and 2024'.
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Even before the recent growth in interest, the Bible was still considered the best selling book of all time, and with good reason!​​
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We sometimes talk about 'consuming' media and the Bible is supposed to feed us spiritually. One popular Pastor and Teacher wrote a book called 'Eat this Book' (Eugene Peterson) to express the role of the Bible in the Christian life.
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Getting Started?
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If you don't have a Bible available in print, it is wonderful that it is easy / practically free to read the Bible online today, here for example:
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https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201&version=GNT
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The gospel of Mark is the first book in the new testament and is the shortest gospel (narrative of the life of Jesus). It only takes about the time of a standard length movie to read through once, so is a good place to start if you are exploring who Jesus is or how God interacts with us.
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I'm glad the Bible is available online, and there are different translations available to capture the meaning behind the original Hebrew and Greek - because Jesus was not an Englishman!!!
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We read and reflect on Scripture each week as a group in church also, for example https://www.lambchurch.uk/post/service-scripture-john-17-jesus-prays
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Meet with Christians
The second conviction I had after encountering God was to continue meeting together with Christians - this was mainly by going to a local church.
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Though I experienced God personally, I was not alone! I was part of a worshiping group of people.
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God continues to meet with people both individually and in groups.
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Meeting up with others to engage with God has several advantages, and Christians have been doing this from the start!
Read how the disciples met together in Acts 2.
Or you may like to watch this longer video on why meeting up as Church matters.
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Getting Started?
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If you are in the UK there will almost certainly be a church community near you!
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If you are looking at this page, you would be very welcome to join with us in Landbeach on a Sunday morning or in a Bible study on Wednesday - or to meet up with me to talk things through! If you are exploring you could try watching our sermons online.
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If you are further away from us, I hope you find a church community near where you to help you develop in your journey with God!
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