Developed over 10 years, Christianity Explored is an informal course for people who’d like to investigate Christianity, or just brush up on the basics. It explores who Jesus was, what his aims were, and what it means to follow him.

You won’t be asked to pray, sing or read aloud, and you can ask any questions you like. Or, if you prefer, you can just come along and listen. Christianity Explored has been around for over a decade now, and it’s been designed to suit different age ranges and people.

Q. Who is Christianity Explored for?

A. Christianity Explored is for anyone who wants to investigate Christianity informally with a group of other people. Whether you have previous experience of Church, Christians and the Bible, or none at all, this course is for you. Everyone is welcome – from the most sympathetic Sunday schooler to the convinced atheist. We will respect your background, culture and beliefs. Tell us as little or as much about yourself as you feel comfortable.

Q. What goes on?

A. The course is normally run in several groups of six to nine people, and after briefly discussing the course material from the week before, there is a DVD presentation on the theme for that week. Then the group discusses any questions that have arisen. The session lasts an hour and half. Of course, if you’d like, you’re welcome to stick around a bit longer for a coffee to discuss any further issues you might have. And you can ask any question you want, at any time during the course.

Q. How long does the course last?

A. The course runs for 10 weeks.

Q. Can I pull out if I want to?

A. Of course you can.

Q. How much does the course cost?

A. Nothing.

Q. Do I have to bring anything?

A. No, all course materials are provided.

Q. Is it ‘churchy’?

A. We hope not. It’s not a church service. There’s no praying, singing, or clapping, and you won’t be asked to read aloud.

Q. Am I going to get preached at?

A. Each afternoon includes a DVD session designed to explain an aspect of Christian belief and to stimulate discussion. Hopefully you’ll find it challenging and amusing. The group leaders will facilitate discussion and try to answer questions.

Q. Do I have to speak in the group?

A. Not if you don’t want to. You are welcome to come and just sit and listen.

Q. How is Christianity Explored different from other courses?

A. The focus is on Mark’s Gospel, with its emphasis on who Jesus was, what his aims were, and what it means to follow him, makes Christianity Explored quite different.

Q. Why is the course run?

A. Christians count it a real privilege to explain the truth and relevance of the Christian message. We don’t have all the answers but believe that we have exciting news to share about Jesus Christ.

Click here to learn more about CityKids and the other ministries offered on Sunday mornings.

If you have any questions about this new ministry, please contact Alissa Greenwald at greenwald.alissa[at]gmail[dot]com.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from my friend, as we conversed together over coffee. This was coming from someone who didn’t believe in Christianity but understood the implications of it better than most Christians.

And honestly, as I sat with him on this day…better than I did.

Because he’s right.  Imagine living in a world where for all it’s madness, it never “gets to you”. Imagine living in a world where it’s Maker esteems you and considers you his, despite all your shortcomings and failures.  Imagine living in a world with the promise that everything that’s broken about it will soon be fixed.

Perhaps this is why St. Paul could write from a prison cell to persecuted Christians these words: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!…The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything…And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (From Philippians chapter 4)

My friend, though he didn’t believe, knew what this “peace of God” meant and knew that having it would be a superior way to go through life.

But after his remarks, I really didn’t know what to say. I ended up just saying the very thing on my mind at that moment: “You know…you would make a great Christian”.

He laughed. My curiosity was only growing though, “So, I have to ask…what’s stopping you?”

His reply was: “I want Christianity to be true…but I’m just not convinced yet.”

It was an honest statement.  But because he knew the potential implications for his life were so great, he also said something else that was honest: “If it’s true, I want to find out.  And I’ll take as long as I need to find out.”

We then ended up having a lengthy conversation about the historical reliability of Jesus’ resurrection. Still searching, I’m not sure where he’ll land.

But I do know this.  What sends many people on that search is simple, honest…curiousity.  After all, the claims of Christianity are just big enough and the implications are more than desirable enough, that you have to at least wonder…what if?

A while ago, I was watching HBO’s Real Time and I heard Mos Def  give one of the most theologically and philosophically cogent definitions of “religion” I’ve heard in public discourse.  This was before I discovered the gift of DVR so I was bummed I didn’t record it.  But then I remembered another of God’s good gifts…YOUTUBE. In the 30 second clip below, Def is contending against Bill Maher and Christopher Hitchens, two guys who can’t stand religion, and Def makes the claim that everyone is indeed religious…including them.  Take a look.

Mos Def got that one right.  The term religion doesn’t start with the concept of God, but with the concept of devotion.  For Christians, the end of their religion (devotion) is indeed God.  But for those who don’t worship God, the end of their religion is something else.  So Def is correct to say that people either are devoted to God or to a god-in-principle.  As he put it, we’re all “ten fingers/ten toes devoted to something or someone…we’re all hardwired to worship.”

And this is exactly the point St. Paul is getting at when he writes to the Romans and says that humanity’s biggest problem is that we “worship and serve created things rather than the Creator God – who is forever praised” (Romans 1.25).  We don’t normally think about religion like this, but whenever we give ultimate allegiance to our careers, children, money, status, etc – we are participating in religious activity.  Nancy Pearcey, in her book Total Truth, puts it this way:

Humans are inherently religious beings, created to be in relationship with God – and if they reject God, they don’t stop being religious; they simply find some other ultimate principle upon which to base their lives.

Paul’s point in Romans 1 is that whenever we forsake God for a god-in-principle, we’ve “exchanged the truth…for a lie”.   It’s a lie, he argues, that anything else in this world is worthy of our supreme devotion and the title “forever praised”.  And if we think about those things that easily become our god-in-principles, I think Paul’s words resonate.  Our jobs are not to be “forever praised”. If we make them that, will we ever rest and feel as if we’ve truly “made it”?  Our significant others are not to be “forever praised”.  If we make them that, will we ever get enough of their approval to satisfy the real longings of our hearts?  Our children are not to be “forever praised”.  If we make them that, won’t we just crush them under the wait of our unrealistic expectations?

The reason Paul designates Christianity’s God as “truth” and “forever praised” is because God has done what mere god-in-principles can’t.  He gives people exactly what is needed to satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart – himself.  Jesus is God the Son, who at the cross, gave himself up for us in our time of need.  When we separated ourselves from God by exchanging the truth for a lie, Jesus stepped in and exchanged his life for ours – to bring us back to God.  This is the reason why so many people devote their worship/”religion”/whatever you call it…to Jesus.  In their hearts and minds, Jesus has become more worthy than any other created thing, than any other god-in-principle.

So, if St. Paul of Tarsus and St. Def of Brooklyn have it right and we really are hardwired to worship, the only question left is…what are you doing with your worship?

I’ve always been a fan of documentaries. They expand my horizons. They take things that I wouldn’t normally be interested in, and they make them interesting – whether it’s wheelchair rugby, pig farms, nursing home classic rock choirs, imaginary baseball, tight rope walking, or serial killers.  I know that last one makes me sound a bit creepy but stay with me for a second.

I remember when I saw a documentary on Aileen Wuornos. Her story was eventually made into the feature film, Monster (2003). Her childhood was a tragic one. She never met her abusive father and her mother abandoned her and her brother when she was 4. She got pregnant at age 13 and began supporting herself as a prostitute by age 15. As much as she tried to shake the past, she couldn’t. She eventually became America’s first female serial killer.

In varying degrees, we all have something in our past that we feel has defined us.  We’d love to shake a lot of these things off and start over.  But because we can’t actually  start over, we cope and try to deal with our past in way that helps us move forward. Today, It seems that the coping mechanism of choice is to simply ignore the past, and all things negative, and think optimistically about our future. This method has been popularized in best-selling books like “The Secret” (even though I think someone else said it all a little better). The idea is that you are not actually defined by your past. You can’t change the past so don’t dwell on it. Think positively and positive things will come your way. I agree, to a point. After all, optimism does seem like a more productive option than pessimism or depression. But does this approach actually accomplish anything?

At the end of Monster, Wuornos, played by Charlize Theron, is about to pay the penalty for her past. She has just been convicted of multiple killings and is now walking out of the court room to death row. As she’s walking out, and as the film closes, we hear her narrate these words over the scene:

“Love conquers all.” “Every cloud has a silver lining.” “Faith can move mountains.” “Love will always find a way.” “Everything happens for a reason.” “Where there is life, there is hope.”
[laughs]
“Oh, well… They gotta tell you somethin’”

I think she’s onto something. Positive thinking may help us cope when life gets hard, but ultimately, it’s just not enough. We need our past actually dealt with. We can’t just wish it away.

Christianity has always taken a different approach to the past. It says we ARE defined by the past. It owns up and says that YES our mistakes have shaped us, and NO we can’t just wish this state away. But it also doesn’t leave us there. It provides the world with the much needed doctrine of what’s called the New Self. Christians are people in the world who are now defined by the past of another. This is why God entered the world in the person of Jesus – to re-define broken, messed-up people. For those who rely on him and what he’s done, their life is (as a great Christian hymn puts it) “hid with Christ on high.” It’s now his identity and his record that people can now live out of. In this way, Christianity gives a real solution to the problem of the past, and gives people the opportunity to change from the inside-out as they live out of this new identity they’ve been given.

So, if you really ARE defined by the past, the only question left is…who’s past? This question is the reason so many people run to Jesus and to the cross where he died. It’s there where he actually exchanges his record for ours. And that’s much better than wishful thinking.

CityGroups are mid-sized gatherings of 15+ people who exist to rehearse the Gospel together, live it out to one another, and to be an extension of God’s love to our neighbors while serving the community around us. From each CityGroup will naturally flow smaller groups where people can find others to together follow the core Christian practices: worship, learning, confession of sin, and mission.

For more information or to join a CityGroup below, contact Aileen Liptek (aileen[at]citychurchftl.com):

Monday Nights
7pm – Lead by the Letizias
     Meets in Wilton Manors Neighborhood

Tuesday Nights
6:30pm – Lead by the Schmidts (kid-friendly)
     Meets in Downtown/Flager Village Neighborhood
7:30pm – Lead by Mark Snow
     Meets in Victoria Park Neighborhood

Wednesday Nights
6:30pm – Lead by the Hunters/Smiths (kid-friendly)
     Meets in Rio Vista Neighborhood
7pm – Lead by the Copelands (kid-friendly)
     Meets in Rio Vista Neighborhood

Sunday Nights
5pm – Lead by the Joneses (kid-friendly)
     Meets in Pompano

In a recent article in USA Today, Oliver Thomas echoes the position that we can ignore religious beliefs and still appreciate religion for the value system it provides. He says the world needs religion because religion makes us decent people. And that, he posits, is what life is all about–leaving the world better off than how you found it.  Or, as the scary kid from the Sixth Sense once put it: Pay it forward.

So, is this what life is about? Is our place in human history to become more decent people so that we leave this world better off than we found it? And does it really matter what we believe?

Well, judge for yourself.  Here’s what Christians believe.

1. Christianity says to the world: Your view of where human history is headed is way too small
Christianity says that history isn’t simply headed toward a better place (better off than you left it), it’s headed toward a perfect place.  A place where there is not less suffering, crying, and pain after we leave…but a place where there is no suffering, no crying, no pain. Christianity then poses the question to every person: What if life isn’t about you? What if life isn’t about all that you can make it? What if something is happening in human history that is greater than you?

But at the same time…

2. Christianity says Your view of what humans are capable of is way too great
It makes the bold statement that we are not part of the solution, but each of us are a part of the problem. It says that the world is the way it is because we are the way we are.  The problem isn’t outside us, as if we can then influence it for the good.  Rather, all of our problems come from within.  Christianity poses the question to every person: How can I be apart of the solution if I’m apart of the problem?

One of the great paradoxes of Christianity is this: It makes more of human history, all the while, making less of human capability. It tells us something we want to hear and something we don’t want to hear – at the same time.  Thankfully though, we’re not left to reconcile this tremendous gap – the gap between the world that God intended/has in store for us and the broken people we have become.

The news of Christianity is that God himself fills the gap. Though we became the problem, he becomes the solution.  He solves our human incapability problem by living the only truly good, truly decent, perfect life and takes our place on the cross. He then solves our human history problem by resurrecting from the dead and thereby securing a day when he returns – only this time to bring all of heaven with him in order finish what he started – the restoration of all things.

In the meantime, he’s gathering people who believe.  And that’s why Christians would say it makes all the difference in the world what a person believes.  Because if Jesus did rise from the grave, then now – and only now – can we be apart of the solution. We do that by being apart of The Solution, that is, by being united to Jesus through faith and by joining him as he addresses the problems of this world through us in order to build for that day when he returns to finish what he started.

And that’s what a Christian is. They are people in this world who have exchanged greatness - “I’m a good person who can change my life and this world” - for humility - “I’m not truly good and need someone to change my life and this world”.  They’ve exchanged being decent…for being His.

A while ago, CityChurch hosted a discussion at Cinema Paridiso after the film, Fargo. One woman asked the discussion leader how this movie meshed with a christian understanding of things. The reply was that it accurately represented the biblical understanding of total depravity – the doctrine which says that humanity is not inherently good, but is in need of God’s intervention. She took offense. The woman’s reply: “You may be depraved and in need of God, but not me”. Which was an interesting way to put it. She wasn’t saying that “total depravity” wasn’t true…it just wan’t true for her.

Pragmatism – the assumption that if it works for you, it’s true for you – is a prevailing idea in our society and is the reason we have a hard time with an exclusive claim like Jesus’s where he once said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”   Through the pragmatic grid that claim will usually be met with indifference or anger. My friend, indifferent,  was glad I’d find found some truth in this world.   The woman from the cinema, offended, couldn’t believe that someone would apply their truth to her life.

Perhaps you’ve thought of Christians, “Keep your view of humanity to yourself!”  We wonder, how can an exclusive claim like Jesus’s really be a good thing for our diverse society? Isn’t the Christian position an arrogant one towards those who don’t believe?

Well…my pragmatic friend and the woman from the cinema, in essence declared what they believed about humanity – that there is not one exclusive need for the human soul and life. Their assumption then is that each one of us, at our core, is fundamentally different.

But in practice, do we really live as if we believe this assumption? Take our attitudes now towards racism – a disposition our society has come to reject as a whole. What is the assumption behind it? It says that one person is inherently and fundamentally different (born superior or inferior) than a person of a different race. Now our modern minds, of course, don’t stand for that. We fight tirelessly for equal rights. Why?

Because we really do believe that humanity, at it’s core, is fundamentally the same.  We don’t pursue friendships and get married because we think we’re all different.  We do those things because we think we’re all the same and we can mutually meet each others needs – emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.

In retrospect, for instance – how does this actually sound: “You may be totally depraved…but I’m not.” “You may need Jesus to die for your sins…but I don’t”. Is that not, well…arrogant? This is why pragmatism perhaps ends at the place it fears most. Instead of enhancing human dignity, respect and worth, it actually robs us of those things.

This is where Christianity offers the world a much more honest assumption about humanity and one that resonates deeper… We are all the same. We all have the same need. Yes, you need it. But I need it too. Christianity simply moves forward to shed light on what it is that we all have in common and what that one great need is. We’re all broken and we all need God to intervene in our lives.

Jesus did claim to be the way God does that. Call it unbelievable. Call it untrue.  But to call it arrogant – to say “it works for you but not for me’ – may be to become the one thing your looking to avoid.