One God,
and a man on a cross.
read it as a map, not a test.
Two billion people, one God.
Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Around two billion people — roughly one person in three alive today — describe themselves as Christian. It began about two thousand years ago in the part of the world we now call the Middle East, and it grew from the life and teaching of one man: Jesus.
Christianity is a monotheistic faith — that word means it teaches there is one God, the creator of everything. Christians believe this God is loving, and is involved in the world and in people's lives. Christianity grew out of Judaism, and shares with it the belief in one God.
A note on how we work in R.E. Everything here is written descriptively — "Christians believe…", "the Church teaches…". The aim is to understand what Christianity holds and how Christians live, not to settle whether it is true. Different Christians believe different things; where that matters, this lesson says so.
The word Christian comes from Christ, a title from the Greek Christos, meaning "anointed one". It translates the older Hebrew word Messiah. Early followers of Jesus were first called "Christians" in the city of Antioch.
Our system of counting years — BC and AD, or the newer BCE and CE — was built around the believed birth of Jesus. A monk called Dionysius worked it out in the year 525. He almost certainly missed the mark: most historians think Jesus was actually born a few years "before Christ".
Jesus — why one life holds the whole faith.
Christians believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem around two thousand years ago, grew up in Galilee, and spent the last years of his life teaching, healing and gathering followers. Christians believe he was not only a great teacher but the Son of God — God come to live among people as a human being. That belief, that God became human in Jesus, is called the incarnation.
Christians believe that Jesus was put to death by crucifixion — nailed to a wooden cross, a Roman form of execution. And they believe that three days later he rose from the dead. This belief in the resurrection is the very heart of the faith: Christians hold that it shows God's love is stronger than death, and that it offers the hope of life beyond death to those who follow him. This is also why the cross became the great symbol of Christianity.
Not every Christian pictures Jesus the same way, and not every Christian agrees on every detail. But the four beliefs above — that Jesus lived, taught, was crucified, and rose again — are held right across the Christian world, from Catholic to Orthodox to Protestant.
The fish was a secret Christian symbol long before the cross became common. The Greek word for fish, ichthys, worked as an acrostic — its letters stood for a short phrase naming Jesus. In times when Christians were persecuted, a quick fish scratched in the dust could quietly ask, "are you one too?"
The Trinity, and the Bible.
Christians describe the one God as a Trinity — one God known in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. This is not three Gods. Christians believe in one God, understood in these three ways. It is a difficult idea, and Christians themselves call it a mystery — something they hold to be true without claiming to explain it fully.
The Christian sacred text is the Bible. It is really a small library of many books, gathered into two parts. The Old Testament holds writings shared with Judaism, from before the time of Jesus — its creation accounts, its laws, its prophets and psalms. The New Testament tells of Jesus's life and teaching — in the four Gospels — and of the first Christians who spread his message.
The Bible contains 66 books in most Protestant editions (Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include several more, called the deuterocanonical books). It has been translated, whole or in part, into more than 3,000 languages — more than any other text on Earth.
The chapter and verse numbers in a Bible were not in the original writings — they were added much later to help people find their way around. Chapters were numbered in the 1200s; the verse numbers most Bibles use were added by a French printer in 1551, said to have done much of the work on horseback between cities.
Love God, love your neighbour.
If you asked Christians to sum up what their faith asks of them, many would point to two teachings of Jesus, drawn from the Bible. The first is to love God — with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second is to love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus taught that these two together hold the whole of how a person is called to live.
Alongside this sit other key beliefs: that God is the creator of the world; that people fall short and need salvation; that God offers forgiveness; and that love is shown above all in action — in kindness and care for others.
The parable of the Good Samaritan
One of Jesus's best-known stories. A traveller is beaten by robbers and left for dead by the roadside. Two respectable men — a priest, then another religious official — pass by on the other side and do nothing. Then a Samaritan stops to help him. For Jesus's first listeners that was the twist: Samaritans were a group they looked down on and avoided. The Samaritan bandages the man, carries him to an inn, and pays for his care.
Jesus's point is that a neighbour is anyone in need — even a stranger, even someone from a group you have been taught to distrust. Christian love, the parable teaches, is not limited to family or to people like yourself, and it is proved by what you do, not by what you say.
The phrase "a good Samaritan" has travelled far beyond church. It is now everyday English for any kind stranger who stops to help — and several countries have "Good Samaritan laws" that protect people from being sued if they try to help someone in an emergency. A two-thousand-year-old story, written into modern law.
Prayer, church, festivals, sacraments.
Belief is one half of a faith; practice is the other. Christians worship in many ways — together in church, and alone through prayer, which Christians describe as talking and listening to God. Many Christians gather to worship on a Sunday, the day they link with the resurrection of Jesus.
Two great festivals shape the Christian year, and both centre on Jesus. Christmas, kept on 25 December, celebrates his birth — the belief that God came into the world as a baby in Bethlehem. Easter remembers his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday; for Christians it is the most important festival of the year, because it points to the belief at the very centre of the faith — that death is not the end.
Many Christians also mark special acts called sacraments. Two are kept very widely: baptism, in which a person is welcomed into the faith with water, and communion (also called the Eucharist or Mass), in which bread and wine are shared in memory of Jesus's last meal with his followers.
Ways Christians worship
- Prayer — talking and listening to God, alone or together.
- Church services — gathering to sing, read the Bible and pray.
- Reading scripture — the Bible read at home and in church.
- Acts of kindness — for many, service to others is worship too.
Days and rites that mark the year
- Christmas — 25 December; the birth of Jesus.
- Easter — Good Friday and Easter Sunday; death and resurrection.
- Baptism — welcome into the faith, with water.
- Communion — bread and wine, in memory of Jesus.
Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant.
Christianity is not a single, uniform thing. Over the centuries it grew into several great families, or traditions, which share the core beliefs — one God, the Trinity, Jesus, the Bible — but differ in how they worship, how they are led, and which practices they stress. Three are the largest.
Catholic
The largest tradition. Catholics look to the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, as their leader, and keep seven sacraments. Mass is at the heart of worship.
Orthodox
Strong in Eastern Europe, Greece and Russia. Worship is rich with icons — painted holy images — and ancient prayers. It is led by senior bishops called patriarchs.
Protestant
Began with the Reformation in the 1500s. A wide family — Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and more — that stresses the Bible and often keeps simpler worship.
Each of these traditions believes it holds the faith faithfully, and Christians disagree, sometimes deeply, about the differences between them. In R.E. we describe those differences without ranking them — the aim is to understand the family, not to take a side within it.
What "monotheistic" means.
Who Christians believe Jesus is.
What the Trinity describes.
Name the sacred text.
Fresh one. The four books that tell the story of Jesus's life and teaching, near the start of the New Testament, are known by one word. What is that word? (Singular or plural is fine.)
The festival of Jesus's birth.
Why Easter is the greatest festival.
Who counts as a neighbour.
One of the three main traditions.
What does the Good Samaritan teach?
A parable is a short story that carries a bigger meaning. In a few sentences, explain in your own words what Christians believe the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches about how to treat others. You can mention who helps, who walks past, and what Jesus meant by "neighbour". There is no single set of words to hit — say what the story means to you having read it. Three or four sentences is plenty, Florence. No rush.
A few thoughts on what you wrote, Florence
strong You went straight to the heart of it — that a neighbour is anyone in need, not only the people close to us. That is the exact teaching Christians draw from this story, and you put it in your own words rather than copying the page back.
try this You have the meaning; now anchor it in the story. One line on who walked past and who stopped — the respectable men versus the Samaritan, the outsider — makes the point land harder than the lesson alone.
to add One sentence on the idea that Christian love is shown in action, not feeling alone — the Samaritan paid for the man's care — would round it off. That moves it from "what happened" to "what it means".
Stories, places and the long history of a faith.
Sit down with Dad for any of these. They show the buildings, the music and the human side of Christianity — the things a textbook can only point at. Heavier titles flagged for a chat first.
My Life, My Religion: Christianity.
Notice how Nathan and Lara explain what the Resurrection means to them personally, not only as history.
The words from today.
- Monotheism
- The belief in one God. Christianity, like Judaism and Islam, is monotheistic.
- Trinity
- The Christian teaching that the one God is known in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- Resurrection
- The Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion — the heart of the faith.
- Gospel
- One of the four New Testament books — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John — that tell of Jesus. "Gospel" means "good news".
- Parable
- A short story Jesus used to teach a deeper meaning, such as the Good Samaritan.
- Sacrament
- A sacred rite through which Christians believe God's grace is given — for example baptism and communion.
You've read the largest faith on Earth.
You learned who Christians are and the belief in one God; the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; why Jesus — his life, teaching, death and resurrection — sits at the centre; the Bible in its two testaments; the teaching to love God and your neighbour, and what the Good Samaritan means; the practices of prayer, church, Christmas and Easter, baptism and communion; and the three great traditions, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. That is the map. Florence, this is R.E. — understanding what people hold, and why.
Film recommendations are factual reference only — see each title's own copyright owner.
Note on framing: beliefs on this page are described as Christians hold them ("Christians believe…"), without asserting or denying any religious claim.