What do you know about the foundations of our faith?
What do we believe and why? And how do we explain it to others? Elim’s evangelist Mark Greenwood explains why answering these questions has never been so important.
We’re in a moment where people are thinking more about God, about life and about faith.
At Elim we talk about ‘big yes’, ‘little yes’ and ‘healthy maybe’, and right now, a lot of people are in a ‘healthy maybe’ place. They’re more open to the possibility of God, and tiptoeing towards making a decision to find out more about Christianity.
It’s a great time to share our faith, to do what Jesus asks and tell people about him, right?
But we’ve all experienced that horrible moment when someone asks what you believe and your mind goes blank. You get nervous. You can’t get the words out. You’ve got an opportunity to share your faith, but what do you say?
That’s why we’re launching a new series that will look at the truths our faith and the Elim Movement are built upon – to help us explore what we believe, and how to explain it to people outside the church in this season of increased openness.
And we’ll explore an even more important question too: why do we believe what we believe?
As we have more opportunities to talk about our faith, it’s important for us to be able to confidently present the gospel and defend it to people who don’t know Jesus.
If we don’t understand what we believe and why, it makes it really difficult to communicate our faith to people outside the church. To help you do that, we will explore foundational truths like the Trinity, the Holy Spirit and the Bible over the next few months that underpin our faith.
We once referred to these as our ‘fundamental’ truths, but the word fundamental has become loaded, and is a hindrance today. So instead, we now talk about our foundations – because we want to show the world what our lives and Movement are built upon.
As you read these articles and explore what you believe and why, we hope your faith will be nourished and strengthened.
Not everything we cover in them will be typical of your average faith conversation, but they will inform how to grow in your own faith, as well as giving you greater understanding of what shapes our theology as believers.
Take time to read them, reflect on them, and think about how you can discuss these elements of faith with your friends, family, colleagues and neighbours when the opportunity arises.
When you know what you believe and why, you can be more confident about sharing it in a sensitive and compelling way with those who don’t yet know Jesus.
Meet the writers...
Simo Frestadius Dean of Research, Regents Theological College
Dave Newton, Principal of Regents Theological College and Elim’s Director of Training
Jamys Carter, Elim minister and academic
Each month in this series, we will dive in and explore these truths that underpin our faith and Movement: The Bible, The Holy Spirit, The Trinity, The Saviour, Mankind, Salvation, The Church, The Ministry, The Ordinances, The Commission, The Coming King, and The Future State.
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