What Christians Believe and Do: A First Look
About 2.4 billion people around the world identify as Christian, making it the most practiced religion on Earth. You have probably already seen signs of it without realizing it: a cross on a building, a holiday like Christmas or Easter, or a church bell ringing on a Sunday morning. This lesson looks at what many Christians believe and some of the practices they follow, so you can understand a religion that shapes daily life for billions of people.
What You'll Learn
- Where and when Christianity began - Core beliefs that most Christians share - Common practices, like prayer, worship, and holidays - Respectful vocabulary for talking about world religions
Where Christianity Began
Christianity started around 2,000 years ago in the region known then as Judea, part of the Roman Empire, in what is now Israel and Palestine. It grew from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was sent by God. After Jesus's followers began sharing his teachings, the religion spread across the Roman Empire and, over centuries, around the entire world. Today Christianity has many different branches, including Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions, which share core beliefs but differ in some practices and leadership structures.
The word 'Bible' comes from a Greek word meaning 'books.' The Christian Bible is actually a collection of many different books written over hundreds of years, divided into the Old Testament and New Testament.
Core Beliefs
Most Christians believe in one God, and many understand God as existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — this idea is called the Trinity. Christians believe Jesus was God's son, that he was crucified, and that he rose from the dead three days later, an event Christians call the Resurrection. Many Christians believe this event offers forgiveness and the promise of eternal life to people who follow his teachings. The Bible is the central sacred text. The first part, the Old Testament, is shared in large part with Judaism, and the second part, the New Testament, focuses on the life and teachings of Jesus and the early Christian community.
Common Practices
Many Christians attend worship services, often on Sundays, in a building called a church. Services often include singing hymns, praying, and listening to a sermon, a talk given by a religious leader that explains a passage from the Bible. Many Christians also practice communion, a ritual using bread and wine (or grape juice) to remember Jesus's last meal with his followers, called the Last Supper. Two of the most widely celebrated Christian holidays are Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus, and Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection. Many Christians also observe Lent, a 40-day period of reflection and simple living leading up to Easter.
When we study any religion in school, our goal is to understand it accurately and respectfully, the same way historians and geographers do — we are not being asked to practice it or decide if it's true. Many different beliefs exist across the world, and understanding them helps us understand our neighbors.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
Where and roughly when did Christianity begin?
What is communion meant to help Christians remember?
Compare a Practice
Choose one Christian practice from this lesson (worship service, communion, Christmas, Easter, or Lent). Write four to six sentences describing what happens during that practice and why it matters to many Christians, using at least two vocabulary words from the flashcards. If you know of a similar practice from another religion or culture (a holiday, a ritual meal, a period of reflection), write one sentence comparing the two.
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