FAQ

Simply put, a Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ; someone who has Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

A Christian is someone who recognises their sin has caused a blockage in their relationship with their maker, and has turned to Jesus for the only solution; the forgiveness offered through Jesus’ death on the cross.  This forgiveness is obtained through repenting of your sin, and making Jesus the ruler of your life.  For a more detailed explanation, please click here.

We at Earlwood Anglican have recognised that being a Christian is the best way to live.  Firstly, we have assurance of our future place in heaven, because salvation has nothing to do with us; Jesus has done it all.  Secondly, following Jesus’ teachings is the best way to live, as it avoids the unnecessary pain that comes with sin, and provides true and lasting happiness.

The Anglican Church of Australia has its roots in England during the late 1600s.  While world-wide Anglicanism has become quite diverse since then, the Anglican Diocese of Sydney has fought long and hard to maintain the evangelical origins of the Church of England, while maintaining cultural relevance.  For more information on the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, please click ‘here’ (link to www.sydneyanglicans.net)

The controlling standard of doctrine and worship within the Anglican Church are The Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.  Both documents are based on what the Anglican Church believes the Bible says to us.  While the Anglican Church is an organisation steeped in tradition, we at Earlwood Anglican ensure that man-made traditions do not precede the word of God.

Not at all.  We welcome believers and unbelievers alike at Earlwood Anglican; whether you’re a long term Anglican, someone looking for a new church or denomination, or someone searching for answers in life.

The beauty of Christian denominations is they exist for the benefit of Christians, so that Christians can worship God with a clear conscience.  For example, not all Christians agree with the Anglican Church’s Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, nor Anglican Church governance, or the way Anglicans conduct services.  Such people may feel more comfortable in a different denomination.

We would love you to be a part of our church.

While you won’t find a specific verse in the Bible stating ‘thou must go to church to be a Christian’, the Scriptures do have much to say on this topic.  For example, Hebrews 10:25 says ‘let us not give up meeting together’.

However, to best answer this question, we need to understand what church is, and what it is there for.  In the Bible, the word church simply means a gathering.  So a Christian church is a gathering of Christians.  The purpose of church is not to pray, to sing, to read the Bible, or even to listen to a sermon; we can do all these things from the privacy of our own homes.  The purpose of church is fellowship, where we can be mutually encouraged by other Christians (e.g. Romans 1:12; Hebrews 10:25).  However, true Christian fellowship means not only sharing our lives, it means using our gifts and talents to serve one another (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:11-28).

As such, a mature Christian is someone who is a regular member of a local church, and is using their gifts and talents to serve the people of that church.  If a Christian decides not to be a member of a local church, they either don’t wish to grow as a Christian, don’t wish to encourage others to grow as Christians, don’t wish to serve other Christians, or simply don’t like Christians.  Either way, if someone is asking this question, there are deeper questions that need to be addressed alongside this one.

As the New Testament (NT) tells us, Christian Baptism is the outward sign (or sacrament) that signifies someone is a disciple of Jesus Christ (e.g. Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 1:11-16).  The big question then is ‘how does one become a disciple?’

The process most commonly described in the NT is of adults converting to Christianity from either Judaism, or some other religion.  It is not surprising that the majority of NT baptisms were of adults, as the first subjects of baptism in a missionary situation (which Acts describes) are always converts.

However, what we see in the Old Testament (OT) is that God deals with families rather than individuals (e.g. Genesis 6:18; Genesis 17:11-13).  This is the reason Joshua can speak for his entire household in Joshua 24:15.

In the NT, God moves from dealing with the nation of Israel to calling people from all nations.  However, this does not change the fact that God continues to deal with families.  In 1 Corinthians 7:14 we are told that children of believers are ‘holy’ (the NT term for Christians).  Likewise Jesus receives and blesses little ones (Matthew 19:13-14), and rebukes those who turn them away (Mark 10:14).  Further, before the Jailer’s whole family is baptised in Acts 16:33, Paul tells him that if he turns and believes in Jesus, he and his whole family will be saved (Acts 16:31).

At Earlwood Anglican, we raise our children as believers, and teach them all that Jesus commanded.  As such, it is only fitting that our children receive the sign that they are believers.