The Youth Work Lab: Belonging

Traditionally, a model used to plot peoples’ journey into church has been simplified into behave, believe and belong. Simply put, this means that people are asked to follow Christian behaviours such as no sex before marriage, living humbly and giving generously, but also to behave in a way that might make them more acceptable within our own church community. Then, after behaving like a Christian, it’s thought that they might understand that this behaviour is a good and right way to live and so come to believe in the ways of Christ. Once this is done, they are then accepted into the church community and find a place of belonging, often through some kind of ceremony like baptism.