2008 Spiritual Growth Study

I Believe In Jesus

The study deals with four key components, namely (a) the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, (b) the meaning of faith in Jesus, (c) whose faith counts, and (d) faith in Jesus in a post-modern world.

The early Christians had to find Jesus for themselves. Those who were of Jewish descent had to address the fact that they could not depend on their ancestors for their faith. The community of faith informs one’s faith and nurtures one in faith, but belief in Jesus is a matter of personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. Further, gentile Christians had to trust that the Good News of Christ Jesus was truly a world of redemption and hope for all. Faith in Jesus is a gift. It is the work of the Holy Spirit as God reaches out to the world through grace.

As the years passed since the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, preserving the faith as well as helping disciples articulate the faith led to the development of Christian doctrines.

Over the centuries, faith in Jesus has often been co-opted by the ruling authorities. The conversion of the Emperor Constantine, the Crusades, and the conquest of the Americas are historical expressions of the co-opting of Christian faith. The transcendent nature of the reign of Christ Jesus and its implications for how one lives out faith in him has not always been clear in the life, mission, and ministry of the church.

Knowing Jesus is not the task of a select few but rather the work of the people of God. The Christian community is enabled to be faithful to Christ Jesus as it receives the witness of its many members.

In this new millennium, God’s people again hear the voices of those who challenge any notions of knowing Jesus other than through their particular ways. The issue of how to discern what is faithful to the Gospel message is an ongoing theological task of the church. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral proves a means for prayerful consideration of who Jesus is.

The post-modern world provides opportunities to bring a word of hope to a world that, in spite of all its achievements and advancement, cannot fill the deep yearning of the heart. Jesus is the name above all names; the salvation of the world. Intentional efforts to come to know the experience of God of persons from other living faiths of the world, however, affirm God’s mercy. The witness of Jesus, as someone who loved all persons, must be the model of discipleship.