What's Having Faith All About?

If you’ve found this page, it might be that you have something inside you that is curious about faith – and perhaps specifically the Christian faith.

Most of us spend a lot of our lives working hard and striving to create happiness. This can lead to great achievements and successes, but equally for many, we reach a point where we start feeling that there must simply be more to life than acquiring more things, getting a nicer house or going to ever-more exotic destinations on holiday.

Sometimes in life the things that we have achieved by our own merits fail to protect us from the knocks and setbacks that can occur to us. This can leave us feeling vulnerable, making us wonder whether our own powers will ever be sufficient to achieve the true feeling of contentment that we yearn for.

For some, there may be a specific event in our lives which changes us and leaves us with spiritual questions. These events can be good, like the birth of a child, or more difficult, like the death of a loved one or a mental breakdown.

For others, we may have been introduced to faith as a child or at another time in our life, and perhaps now have a desire to reconnect.

If any of the above sounds familiar to you, or even if it doesn’t(!), maybe now is the time in your life when you want to connect, or reconnect, with the Christian faith.

As Christians, we believe that there is indeed purpose to human existence and purpose to the world. We believe that you are loved by God, whoever you are. We also believe that true happiness and contentment in life is something that humans don’t attain by themselves, however hard we try. Rather, it is found in a relationship with God and with each other through God.

Church is the place where people have come to worship God for two thousand years. At Wanstead we say prayers and sing hymns that have been shared by generations of Christians, and we join with many millions of others each week in receiving communion: the sign of God’s love for humanity and his forgiveness for the things that we get wrong in our lives. Church isn’t just a building – it’s a community of people who are definitely not perfect(!) but who ultimately are committed to journeying through life with God.

Church is a place where you can make friends, often friends for life. It’s a place where you can laugh, cry, sing, smile, pray, experience a thousand emotions, and simply be still. It’s a place where you can have space to make sense of things, where it is ok to have questions and where there will be many others who acknowledge that the answers don’t always come easily. Church is a place where you can find partners in the journey through life, and strength for the road. It’s a place where you can be challenged to love your neighbour in practical ways, and it’s a place where you can be loved for who God made you to be.

You are absolutely welcome to join us in a service, and see for yourself whether this is something you might like to take further. If you would like to find out more about what we believe, click here.

If you would like to talk more about anything, please feel free to contact James, our Rector.