Christianity

Christianity is about Jesus Christ

Christianity is about who Jesus is, what he has done and what he will do.

The title “Christian” simply means “a follower of Christ” or “a little Christ.”

No world religion is so centered on one person as Christianity

Christ is the fulfilment of the OT.

Christ is the hope of the future.

Christ is the only way, truth and life.

Christ forgives our sins.

Christ gives us direct access to God.

Christ restores us and sets us free to live and love God, others, and creation once again.

Christ is worshipped by Christians.

• God is eternal, complete, all-knowing, all-powerful, Triune and love.

• God creates (both physical and spiritual realms), not out of need, but out of pure love and enjoyment.

• All of God’s creation is good.

• Humanity (Adam and Eve) is the crown of God’s creation and is given dominion over God’s creation.

• Humanity was created to be in relationship with God, each other, and creation.

• Humanity was created with the freedom to choose or reject God.

• Humanity chose against God by putting themselves first.

• The result of this was sin and sin brought brokenness and death between humanity’s relationship with God, each other and creation.

• Consequences: Cain and Abel, Flood, Babel, ect.

• Out of love God intervened and chose a people to bring about his rescue plan (Abraham).

• God set up the law, sacrifices, and temple to teach people about his character, the consequences and punishment for sin, and to prepare them for his rescue plan (Moses).

• God sets up his king to lead his people according to his rescue plan (David).

• But all of these were only preparatory. • God became human in the person of Jesus and,

in him, restored the broken relationship between God, others, and creation.

• Jesus lived the perfect life and was the perfect human (Adam).

• Jesus was the true person through whom God’s rescue plan came about (Abraham).

• Jesus fulfilled the law, sacrifices, and temple through his death on the cross (Moses).

• Jesus established his true kingship over all through his resurrection (David).

• The church is born at Pentecost through the work of the Holy Spirit.

• The Holy Spirit empowers us to live in right relationships with God, each other, and creation - were there is no longer male or female, Jew or Gentile or slave or free.

• Tongues given as a reversal of babel.

• Jews and Gentiles are now one family.

• The greatest commandment (fulfilling all others) is to “love God and love others”.

• When one puts their faith in Christ they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in a right relationship with God, others, and creation.

• Jesus will come again and resurrect the dead and restore all of creation.

• Jesus will create a new heaven and new earth in which all relationships will be in harmony and sin and death will be no more.

Main Christian Holidays Centered around main Christian doctrines

• Christmas (Birth of Christ – Incarnation)

• Good Friday (Death of Christ - Cross)

• Easter (Resurrection of Christ)

• Pentecost (Coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of

the church..

The Bible

• Christians main authority on faith and doctrine.

• The Jewish scriptures plus the books/letters accepted into the NT.

• When rightly interpreted it points to Christ.

The Bible

• The difference between the Catholic and Orthodox Bible with that of Protestants.

• OT and NT are the same.

• Catholics and Orthodox include the Apocrypha (books written between the OT and NT) and accept them as inspired (their lists are slightly different) whereas Protestants see these books as beneficial but not inspired.

The Bible

• The Bible has 39 OT books and 27 NT books.

• Christians do not confine God’s speech to the Hebrew of the OT or Greek of the NT but encourage translation.

• Christianity has long taken-on local language and culture.

• NT has been translated in over 3000 languages.

The Trinity

Church History

Church History (Orthodox perspective)

Church History (Catholic perspective)

Church History (Landmark Missionary Baptist Church Perspective)

Church History Highlights

30 – Pentecost

95 – Last book to be included in the NT written (Revelation)

313 – Edict of Toleration (Constantine)

325 – Council of Nicea (Arius and Athanasius)

430 – The Fall of Rome (Augustine & City of God)

1045 – The Great Schism (Catholic/Orthodox)

Church History and Distinctions

• Catholic and Orthodox split in 1054.

• Much of the split had more to do with secular politics and power struggles in the east and west of the Roman Empire than theological issues.

Church History and Distinctions

• Some of the theological issues, however, were: • Catholics emphasized centralized power (Pope). • Orthodox emphasized decentralized power –

patriarchs over their own nations. • Split over whether or not the Holy Spirit

proceeds from Father and son (Catholic) or from only the Father (Orthodox).

• Orthodox had a heavier emphasis on ritual and the use of icons which the Catholics thought bordered on idolatry.

Catholic and Orthodox Sacraments

• Baptism

• Confirmation

• Reconciliation (penance/confession)

• Communion

• Ordination of Priests

• Marriage

• Anointing of sick (last rites). – (Orthodox doesn’t have this last one).

Church History Highlights

1517 – Reformation (Luther).

1529-1532 - Anglican Church splits from Rome (Henry the VIII).

1600s – Radical Reformation.

Reformation 16th Century

• Reformers wanted to reform the church not split away from it.

• Back to the Bible alone for issues of faith and doctrine and not on the traditions of the church.

• The Bible and church services should be in the language of the people and not in Latin.

• Salvation is by faith alone through grace alone and not by works.

• Sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia.

Reformation 16th Century

• The selling of indulgences to buy people out of purgatory is unbiblical (in fact, Purgatory is unbiblical).

• Christ only instituted two sacraments: Baptism and Lord’s Supper.

• Priests can marry.

• Priesthood of all believers.

Reformation 16th Century

• Whereas the Catholic service placed its emphasis on the liturgy and the table (Lord’s Supper/Mass) the Protestant service placed its emphasis on the scripture and the pulpit (preaching).

• The Catholic’s Second Vatican Council (1962-65) has brought Catholic and Protestants much closer together.

Some Protestant splinters

• Lutheran

• Calvinist/Reform

• Anglican

• Anabaptists (radical reformers)

Reformation

1700s - Evangelical Movement (John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards,

America).

1800s - Missionary Movement (William Carey, Hudson Taylor).

1833 - Abolition of Slavery (William Wilberforce).

1851 – North American Baptist Conference established (August Rauschenbusch established first German Baptist Church in

Ontario, Canada).

1906 - Pentecostal Movement (Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles,

William Seymour).

1962-1965 - Vatican II (Pope John XXIII & Paul VI).

1960-2014 – Global Christianity (the shift south).

Church History Highlights

18th Century Evangelicals

• Emphasis on the centrality of the Bible as the inspired word of God.

• Emphasis on Jesus’ redemptive death on the cross.

• Emphasis on individuals needing to be make a personal decision to follow Jesus (conversion, “new birth” “born again”; practice of “believers baptism”).

• Emphasis on actively living out your faith through preaching and preforming the gospel – (missionary emphasis).

19th Century World Wide Missions

• 1800 less then 23% of world identified as Christian.

• By 1900, 34% of the world identified as Christian.

• In the USA those figures went from 25% to 40%

• In Canada those figures went from 1/5 to 50%.

20th Century Pentecostals

• Distinctive feature of the Spirit often evidenced by speaking in unknown tongues.

• Began in April 1906, Azusa Street Los Angeles, led by a one eyed black Holiness preacher named William Joseph Seymour.

• Today over a quarter of the world’s Christians are Pentecostals or Charismatic (600 million).

• Roughly ½ of Brazil’s Christians are Pentecostals or Charismatic.

• One reason for their success is their ability to address both this world and other worldly concerns.

• Experience based and heavy stress on the supernatural in everyday life (signs and wonders).

• Health/Wealth movement.

20th Century Pentecostals

21st Century Global Christianity

• Today most Christians live in Africa, Latin American, and Asia and are Charismatic.

• The typical Christian today is not a European male, but a Latin American or African woman.

• Between 1900 – 2000 Nigeria (largest population in African) went from 1% to 45% Christian

• South Korea 1% to 41%.

• Asia 27 million to 278 million.