Christianity is the most popular religion in the world with well over 1,000 million followers.

It is also the largest religion in Britain, with around 30 million people regarding themselves as nominally Christian; about 6 million of these are actively committed to the faith.

Christians are people who believe that Jesus Christ, who lived in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago, was the Son of God, and who follow his teachings and those of the Christian churches that grew up after his death.

The Bare Essentials of Christianity

• 2,000 years old
  
• Began in the Middle East
  
• Founded by the followers of Jesus Christ
  
• Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that:
  
  • God sent his Son to earth to save humanity from the consequences of its sins (i.e. its non-good behaviour)
  • Jesus was fully human, and experienced this world in the same way as other human beings of his time
  • Jesus was tortured and gave his life on the Cross (At the Crucifixion)
  • Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after his Crucifixion (the Resurrection)
    
• Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament
  
• Christians believe that there is only one God, but that this one God consists of 3 "persons"
  
  • God the Father
  • God the Son
  • The Holy Spirit
    
• Christians worship in Churches, their spiritual leaders are called "priests" or "ministers"
  
• The Christian Holy Book is the Old and New Testament of the Bible
  
• Christian Festivals such as Easter and Christmas, are major milestones in the Western secular calendar

God
Christians believe in one God, whom they call "Father" as Jesus Christ taught them.

Jesus
Christians recognise Jesus as the Son of God who was sent to save mankind from death and sin.
Jesus Christ believed and taught that he was Son of God. His teachings can be summarised, briefly as the love of God and love of one’s neighbour.

Jesus believed that he had come to fulfil God's law rather than teach it.

Justification by Faith
Christians believe in justification by faith - that through their belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, they can have a right relationship with God whose forgiveness was made once and for all through the death of Jesus Christ.

The Trinity
Christians believe in the Trinity — that is in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Some confuse this and think that Christians believes in three separate gods, which they don't. Christians believe in God, who on earth took human form as Jesus Christ and who, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is present today and evident in the works of believers.

Life After Death
Christians believe fervently that there is a life after death on earth. While the actual nature of this life is not known, Christians believe that many spiritual experiences in this life help to give them some idea of what "eternal life" will be like.

The Saints
These days, the word "saint" is most commonly used to refer to a Christian who has lived a particularly good and holy life on earth, and with whom miracles are claimed to have been associated after their death.

The formal title of "Saint" is conferred by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches through a process called "canonisation".

Members of these Churches also believe that Saints created in this way can "intercede" with God on behalf of people who are alive today. This is not accepted by most protestants. In the Bible, however, the word "saint" is used as a description of anyone who is a committed believer, particularly by St. Paul in the New Testament (e.g. Ephesians 1.1. and 1.15).