Christ Church Sandown

I want to know more about being a Christian

Thank you for your desire. Becoming a Christian is a big but important step. We believe that God is real and alive today and that we are all made to be in a relationship with him and know his presence with us everyday. This is all made possible through what Jesus achieved through his life, death and resurrection. If you would like to talk to someone immediately, then do please call Mark Williams (the vicar) on 07873 406558.

Alpha

In order to help you know more and be able to explore Christianity thoroughly with others like you, we strongly recommend you join one of our Alpha courses. If you are interested in joining a course please complete the form found at the bottom of this page.

What is Alpha?

Alpha is an opportunity to explore life’s big questions together in an open, informal environment. The course starts with some food and general conversation as participants get to know each other. Each person then watches an Alpha film video. The episodes unpack the basics of the Christian faith, addressing questions such as Who is Jesus?, How can we have faith? and How does God guide us? Everyone then gets back together for discussion. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to spark conversation which will be guided by hosts and helpers from Christ Church.

Videos

You may be curious as to how others found themselves becoming Christians. We have loaded a few videos on YouTube extracted from our on-line services where people have told how this happened for them. You may wish to have a look at any of the following:

Paul - someone with an interest in music. Click here for the video

Andrew - someone whose girlfriend introduced him Christianity. Click here for the video.

James - someone who ended up a clergyman. Click here for the video

Kim - someone who re-connected with church after a 35 year gap. Click here for the video

Tony - someone whose wife went to church. Click here for the video

Books

In the meantime, you may say "well how can I find out more?". You may not be surprised to discover that there are literally hundreds of books which help with answering this question but there are two books published by Nicky Gumbel, who started the Alpha course, which you may find helpful.

Why Jesus? - you can read a pdf version of this little book by clicking here

Questions of life - the content of this book largely mirrors that of the Alpha course itself. A link to getting this book on Amazon can be accessed by clicking here. The book currently retails at £4.99 as does the Kindle version).

The bible

Of course what we know of the life of Jesus is contained in the bible. You may wish to read the account yourself but may we guide you a little here? The bible is like a library. It contains many books and is split into two parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament. We recommend that you start with the book of Luke and that you make sure you read it in a modern translation such as the New International Version (UK) or the New Living Translation. You can read sections of the bible free of charge on a website called BibleGateway. By clicking here you will have a direct link to what is known as Luke's gospel in the New Living Translation (chapter 1 is linked - the right arrow will take to chapter 2, etc.).

Alpha course sign-up

Whilst we are running an Alpha course at the moment it is now too late to join it. We do hope though to run a course next year so please do use the form at the bottom of the page so that we can contact you the next time. Alternatively please go to the central Alpha.org website which can tell you of other Alpha courses being run at other churches on the Isle of Wight which you may be available for you to join sooner than when we run our next course.

If you would like to be informed of our next course please complete the form below.