I have recently signed up to a website called nowachristian.org. which i am sure some of you have seen, it is a short course of emails about christianity .
One email is sent to you each day, and it is aimed at would-be and new christians giving information in a straightforward and basic form.
I personally am finding it very helpful and i have posted todays email as an example, thanks.
Week 2 - Day 2
Giving God a chance
Following Jesus

Jesus once met a man who really, really did not want to die. He asked Jesus how he could earn the right to live forever. Jesus teased him by telling him that all he had to do was to be utterly perfect. Impossible, of course! Then Jesus came to the point: 'Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' The man, fatally fond of his possessions, could not rise to Jesus' challenge and did not become one of his followers.

It was obvious what following Jesus meant to those who walked and talked with him. But twenty centuries later we cannot literally follow him through the villages of Galilee. So becoming a Christian involves working out the way to follow Jesus in your lifestyle. Fortunately the New Testament has plenty of advice about what a Christian life looks like in practice, including this:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another with mutual affection. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

From Romans 12

Although those words were written twenty years after Jesus, they are so relevant that they could have been written yesterday. They show that a Christian way of life involves:

» Standing out because of the way you relate to others - compassionate, humble, staying cheerful;
» Standing out because of your relationship with God - praying, not being half-hearted, sticking at it when people scorn you;
» Standing out because your standards are so high - rejecting wrongdoing, choosing peace even when you want to get your own back.

All those things were used to describe Jesus. So now they are qualities that should mark out Christians.

I'm glad your finding it helpful Kevin, do you think it's something we should link to?

I think it would be a very useful link Pam,im sure there are lots of visitors to I-church that are would-be christians, and anything that can help them take a first step would be great.

I'll add it to the links at the bottom of the front page (the Gatehouse) and maybe after Easter I could put an item into one of the boxes on the Gatehouse.

Thanks!

Kevin,

I followed this course earlier this year, and as you have, I found it quite helpful.

It did not replace any of my previous knowledge, but called me to reflect on a number of aspects of my faith, which I might have been a little hazy about.

One thing that I found useful is the options to put comments on a page, given each week or so, this allows you to reflect your progress and thoughts at that time.

All in all - a good effort by the Church Army.

excellent link Kevin; i use 'the word for the day' something similar i think they are very helpful and encouraging even for christians who found God years ago; being reminded isnt a bad thing and helps us to keep a focus

I think it's great for 'setting the scene' before knuckling down and really getting into the scripture (if that is of course what you're interested in).

As everyone else has said, being reminded of the underlying Christian principles relevant to everyday life is helpful to refresh our overall understanding of the gospel, and can even go towards extending it.

Thank you for sharing!

I signed up for this yesterday. I have been a Christian for 16 years this year and it seems a good time to do a refresher.

How are you getting on with it Marilyn? I've thought once or twice about signing up for it.

I've read it all. I have been struggling with my own reactions. So I don't want to put anyone off it.

I can't think myself back into the mindset I had when I was a very new christian so I honestly can't make an objective assessment of how a new christian might react to it.

The introductory video suggests that people who have been Christians for a while will also find it useful. I didn't find it spiritually reinvigorating, which perhaps was what I was hoping for. For me that has happened through other things like the videos I posted on my blog. I felt these had more to say to someone just starting out on a faith journey and to me needing an oasis along the way. These are real people talking from their hearts about their real lives and all their problems and how Jesus had rescued them.

I was surprised by the degree of irritation I felt reading it. I am very grumpy and crotchety about a lot of things at present. So I don't think anyone should take too much notice of anything I say, as clearly I was responding to it through my own issues, whatever they may be. So, for me, it's function has been to draw my attention to things I need to deal with.

I think it gives a very useful balanced account of what being a christian is all about. I didn't disagree with most of the content. It was more about style.

I have saved them all and I might dip in again later, see if I feel the same.

I think there is an attempt at 'plain english' and sometimes the vernacular/slang. For me the plain english came across as patronising and the vernacular seemed a bit of a misplaced effort at trying to sound like, I don't know, someone's idea of how a young person might talk? It had a very ‘dated’ feel to me. But then I am 60 and very out of touch. So that may be just me.

There are quite long blocks of text without breaks and I always find that very difficult to read so I was tempted to just skim over it.

There were quite a few quite sweeping generalisations about how 'most christians' live and what they think about various issues. That was part of the irritation factor for me.

I also had to smile wryly at some of the rather idealised representations of christians. I think it might be quite a shock for someone reading this and then expecting to find most churches or christians just like some of this might lead one to expect!

I think God uses all sorts of things to try to get us to respond to his love, and I am sure that this will be just the right thing for some. He is not to be confined to one style.

Hmm, by your description I think they will irritate me too, but I might just check it out to see how much it irritates me LOL

It is interesting to read different peoples views on the presentations and style.

For me, I did not irritate, but provided an opportunity to reflect on things, being reasonably new to Christianity and Membership of the Church or England.

In terms of how the text is presented, I am not sure whether their is any intention to offend, perhaps they were trying to hit the middle ground between those who know nothing of Christianity to those who know a lot, but missed the target a bit.

The issue as I see it, is if One Million users followed the course - there would be One Million different views of it. Many positive, many negative. You can't please everybody, all of the time.

At least the Church Army are trying hard, and they will learn by these projects and get better. I am sure that they do not wish to patronise, but to shed a little light in dark corners.

I still think that overall it is a worthwhile project and if it helps just one person, would have achieved its aim.

Thinking back to when I was a new Christian, any information was welcome because it was quite hard to pick it up at church!

It seems to me, as with most things, this is 'horses for courses' - it won't suit everyone but for some people it's really helpful.

We've had an idea around for a while in i-church of running a 'basics' course, is there any mileage in looking at that - not in competition with 'Now a Christian' but perhaps thinking about discipleship rather than the very start of the journey?

Pam,

I think that could be a valuable thing to do. Discipleship is not a description you hear used often, but it is central to what we being a Christian is about (IMHO).

So I am up for it, and I am sure that others would like to particpate as well.

I would find a basics course really valuable.

Thanks Vera.

I do have an outline that worked well at a course I ran when I was a curate, it's just a question of adapting it for an online group.

In general, how would people imagine such a course running?

(If you don't want to post ideas here do PM me.)

Pam,

I was thinking that perhaps it could be both static ie, Posts and Imagery on topics, connected to interactive (perhaps with youtube or podcasts (if available) and a programmed chat session for discussion (and prayer) as a group.

It will need to fit within the confines of our technology and software but seeing what Caroline has been able to do with imagery and prayer here just leads me to think that such combinations can be so effective.

I know that Partake Ministries on FB have podcasts of the Psalms for instance (I have been downloading them) and there just seems to be so much material on line, but I am suspicious that some might not be quite 'Orthodox' in an Anglican context?

Well Anglicanism itself is very broad and I think we each have our own intellectual, temperamental and spiritual approach which means a range of material can be quite helpful.

The approach I found helpful when I was approaching confirmation has worked well with groups as a 'basics' or 'refresher' course. This was to base each session on a part of the creed and to allow lots of discussion and exploration.

We could run this as a closed group - so only members can see it - and with a definite start/end point, or as an open board where people can join in at any time. Does anyone have any feelings about that?

Maybe we could run it on both boards, so everyone gets the opportunity to participate. It may need two leaders to share the teaching etc.

''The approach I found helpful when I was approaching confirmation has worked well with groups as a 'basics' or 'refresher' course. This was to base each session on a part of the creed and to allow lots of discussion and exploration''.

That would be brilliant ... I think both methods ( closed group/open forum) would work equally well .... that's not very helpful is it

In my view it should be run on an open board at the very least.

Update - I have to admit that the "Now a Christian" emails haven't really irked me so far LOL - they are however perhaps a little twee IMHO, I don't know how new Christians or enquirers would take them.

Here's a nice site I just found New Christian UK

I haven't explored it all, but there is lots of good stuff.

Well I've completed the course of emails, it was actually mostly alright, some of it was a bit twee as I said earlier, and I'm not sure how enquirers would take it, but it might work for some

This is my first post! I just wanted to say that I have been following the course and have found it very useful. As a married mum of one in my early thirties I wanted something which I could fit in with my busy life. I was considering the Alpha course but felt I was a bit further on in my faith.