Christianity Explored gives you time and space to think about the big questions of life and to consider the life of the person at the heart of the Christian faith Jesus Christ. You can ask any question you like or just sit and listen. You won’t be asked to sing, pray or read aloud and the course is free of charge.
To find out more about the course visit the excellent Christianity Explored Website www.christianityexplored.com. Please contact us if you want us to let you know when we running a course.
Sarah Dekker participated in Christ Church Heiloo’s Christianity Explored course last year. In this interview she shares about how she came to join the course and her experience of it.
Sarah, tell us a bit about your background. Where are you from and have you always been a Christian? I come from Hertfordshire in England, but have lived in Holland for just over 10 years. I am married and have 3 boys.
When I met my husband we were working on cruise ships, he was a deck officer and I was working in the spar as a hairdresser. After dating awhile we made the decision to leave ships. As I could do my work anywhere and his job was based in Amsterdam Ijmuiden we moved to Holland. Later I worked as a hairdresser in Amsterdam till I had my first son Thomas. Then we moved to Uitgeest were I became a stay at home mum and we now live in Oudorp.
I grew up with no strong ties to any religion. One day a friend said to me that she was going to start coming to Christ Church Heiloo and did I want to come along. I came with the idea that it might be nice for my children. Well a year and a half later, I am still here!
Why did you decide to do the Christianity Explored Course? Why not? I had been going to Christ Church for a few months and the opportunity came up to do the course. I wanted to know more and to get a better understanding of what Christianity was about.
What did you particularly appreciate about the course? I really enjoyed doing the course. It broke things down and made it easy to understand. The group we had was great. There were people of all stages, some just starting like me and others that were far along on their journey, but I feel that everyone in that group got something good from the course. All questions were allowed and asked, even the hard ones and the leaders always tried to answer them.
What was your opinion of Jesus Christ before you did the course? I will be honest I had no real opinion. Like a lot of people I chose not to think about it. I did think that there was probably a god, but I think that was as far as I went.
What is your opinion of Jesus now? That it does not matter who you are, were you come from; if you trust in him, believe in him and give yourself to him, that he will save you and forgive you. I am at the very beginning of my journey and I will say that sometimes I doubt, but I keep praying and asking for his help to lead me in the right direction.
Why would you encourage other people to join the next course? Because for me it opened my eyes to another way of thinking; that there is another way to live and see life.
Some people might feel nervous about joining a course like this. What would you say to them? Don’t be, there is no pressure in the course, you are welcome to ask what you want, or not. If you just want to listen then its ok to. But do it. Make that step to opening your mind, heart and soul.
If you have any questions about the course, or would like to find out when the next course starts, please get in touch