Connect 2023 - Week 1

• People have initial encounters with Jesus in different places and times. It may be before, during or after they have done Alpha, or not connected with Alpha at all.
  • NOTE: People may or may not have had that initial encounter yet. The video presumes that they have to some extent, but the purpose of this is to normalise encounter. It is important to be non-judgmental if people say they haven’t had such an encounter, or if their responses make it clear that this has not taken place.
• The encounter with Christ lies at the centre of Christian faith, as the quote from Pope Benedict XVI makes clear:

"We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."  Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est #1

• Christian faith is not first and foremost a morality or a philosophical system. It is a meeting with Jesus. The ethical and intellectual implications of our faith flow from that encounter.
• It is vital that the initial encounter progresses to an ongoing relationship. The analogy of the man who encounters the beautiful woman but does not develop the relationship further explains how an initial encounter need not necessarily progress into an ongoing relationship with God.
• The story of Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52) gives us an example of someone who had a profound encounter with Jesus (Jesus heals him), but who then goes on to follow Jesus as his disciple.