The Christian Story

Christianity isn’t just a set of beliefs.
It’s a story — one big narrative running from the beginning of the world to the present — that includes human failure as much as human faithfulness.

Every Christian tradition recognises this story, even if they tell parts of it differently.

This is the simplest, clearest version.

1. Creation — A Good Beginning

Christians begin with the belief that the world exists because it is created — not by a force within it, but by God.

The universe is not an accident.
It was made by a good God.

In this story:

  • creation is intentional
  • the world is good
  • human beings have dignity because every human being bears God’s image

In Christian belief, creation is an act of generosity: a good God choosing to share life and goodness beyond himself.

That’s the starting point: goodness, purpose, relationship.

Not chaos.
Not meaninglessness.

Not competition for survival.

2. Fracture — Something Goes Wrong

The story turns quickly.

Humans reject God’s way and try to define good and evil on their own terms.

This is what Christians call sin:

  • not breaking arbitrary rules
  • but breaking relationship
  • mistrust at the deepest level

The consequences ripple outward:

  • relationships fracture
  • injustice spreads
  • death enters the human story
  • the world becomes disordered

Christians see the world’s violence, greed, and suffering not as illusions but as signs of a deeper break.

3. The Long Promise — God Refuses to Give Up

Instead of abandoning humanity, God begins a rescue project.

It unfolds slowly, through ordinary people:

  • Abraham
  • Sarah
  • Isaac
  • Jacob
  • Joseph
  • Moses
  • the judges
  • the kings
  • the prophets

The pattern is always the same:

God makes promises.
People struggle.
God stays committed.

The key promise running through the Old Testament is this:

God will send someone — a Messiah — to heal the break.

Not just for Israel.
For the whole world.

4. Jesus — The Turning Point

Christians believe the story reaches its centre with Jesus.

They claim:

  • he is the promised Messiah
  • he is God taking on human life
  • he embodies God’s character perfectly

His teaching was compelling.
His compassion was disruptive.
His authority was unlike anything people had seen.

But the most shocking claim is this:

God entered the world not to crush evil by force,
but to absorb its cost himself.

That leads to the cross.

5. The Cross — Love at Full Strength

For Christians, Jesus’ death is not a failure or tragic ending.

It’s the moment the entire story has been pointing towards.

Christians believe:

  • the fracture between God and humanity fell on Jesus
  • he carried the weight of human wrongdoing
  • he offered reconciliation freely
  • he did for us what we could not do for ourselves: restore a broken relationship with God

The cross is not mainly about guilt.
It’s about healing a relationship.

6. The Resurrection — The New Beginning

Everything changes here.

Christians claim Jesus didn’t stay dead.
He rose — physically, bodily, historically.

This is not a metaphor for “hope.”
It’s a claim about an event.

The resurrection means:

  • evil doesn’t get the final word
  • death is still real, but it is no longer absolute
  • God has begun restoring what was broken, without pretending the damage never happened
  • Jesus is alive, and his way of life is now anchored in reality, not wishful thinking

This is why Christians say real healing begins here —
not by erasing the past,
but by making a future possible that our pasts cannot destroy.

7. The Church — A Community Formed by the Story

After the resurrection, Jesus’ followers formed communities.

Not perfect communities.
Not powerful communities.

But communities shaped by:

  • Jesus’ teaching
  • shared meals and prayer
  • forgiveness
  • generosity
  • practical care
  • hope beyond death

Christians call this the church — not a building, but a people.

Over centuries, cultures, and continents, this community grew and diversified —
sometimes separating, sometimes reforming, mostly sharing a common core of belief and practice.

Different expressions.
Same core story.

8. The Christian Life — Living Inside the Story

To become a Christian is not just to believe certain ideas.
It’s to step inside the story yourself.

Christians see their lives as:

  • forgiven instead of condemned
  • loved instead of abandoned
  • guided instead of aimless
  • part of God’s work of healing the world

And this changes how life is ordered.
Christians believe love is no longer centred on the self — but re-centred on God, and then outward toward others.

Jesus summed it up simply: love God, and love your neighbour.

Not as a slogan — but as a way of living inside the story.

The story becomes personal.

9. The Future — The Story Isn’t Finished

Christians believe history is heading somewhere.

Not into entropy.
Not into oblivion.
Not into endless cycles.

The future, according to Christian hope, is:

  • justice
  • renewal
  • resurrection
  • restored creation
  • God dwelling with humanity

The story that began with creation ends with new creation — not escape from the world, but its restoration.

Because of this, Christian hope is not passive.
It pulls people into the work of repair now — seeking justice, tending what is broken, caring for neighbours, resisting despair.

You don’t need to have all the answers to stand in that direction.
Many people — believers, sceptics, and those unsure — find themselves drawn to the same work: trying to make things better where they are, where they can.

Where to Go Next

If this gave you the shape of the story, the next page to read is:

If you’re more interested in the history of churches: