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The Living Church today
We have built on the foundations of generations of Christians who have worshipped here over the centuries.
Today, All Saints' serves a parish of around 10,000 people. It offers worship and activities which involve all ages and in which we strive to glorify God and follow the example of Jesus in service to the world.
Christianity is a world-wide faith of people who follow Jesus Christ and its millions of members express their beliefs through a wide variety of “denominations” and styles of worship. But they all follow Jesus of Nazareth who was born about 2000 years ago in the region that is now called Israel. Christians believe he is the Son of God.
Jesus started travelling around the region when he was about 30, and attracted a sizeable following with his preaching and miracles. The faith based on his life and teaching is a faith of love, peace, forgiveness and truth.
He took the Old Testament commandments of God, written down by Moses and followed by the Jews then and now, and interpreted them very simply in two basic commandments:
* Love God
* Love your neighbour as yourself
About three years after he started preaching, he was arrested and executed by the Roman authorities who controlled the region at the time. Christians believe that, on the third day, he came back to life and, after spending some time with his followers, went back to join God, his Father.
Those facts hide a lot of detail - and Christians have worked hard to understand their meaning in the 20 centuries since.
Nobody pretends we are perfect. But we believe that God gave us our lives and faith - and we try to respond with our love and worship and service.
We believe in expressing that love through action and Christians have played a central role in confronting injustice through history.
In recent times Christian thinking inspired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped bring the warring factions of South Africa together in a new democracy. Churches were also behind the Jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries.
(Adapted from the Scottish Episcopal Church website, printed with permission)
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