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Keyterm: Bible

Join Maria and Jayne as they explore the key similarities and differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity. Through a conversational format they discuss these denominations and their shared beliefs and unique practices, offering insights into the historical, theological, and cultural distinctions that shape their faiths.

The film delves into topics such as the structure of church leadership, styles of worship, sacraments, and the role of tradition versus scripture. It examines rituals like baptism and communion, contrasting Catholic beliefs in transubstantiation with Protestant symbolism. It also touches on theological concepts like salvation, confession, and the afterlife, presenting perspectives on purgatory, saints, and direct prayer.

The film highlights both common ground and diversity within Christianity, encouraging viewers to appreciate the richness of its traditions. Perfect for students and anyone interested in the history and practices of Christian faith.

Understanding Denominations: Christianity

Hi. I'm a Christian and so am I. But we come from different denominations of Christianity. A denomination is a branch or group within a religion. I'm a Roman Catholic and I'm a Protestant. We both believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died and rose again and then went to heaven. Jesus left his apostles, his messengers, to spread his teaching and made Peter their leader. And we believe that's when the Catholic Church started. The word Catholic comes from the Greek word katholikos, which means universal because the church was for everyone. But in the year 1054, the Great Schism happened. The church split into the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, so called because it was based in Rome, and it became more and more powerful throughout Europe. Then in 1382, a professor at Oxford University, John Wycliffe, argued that it was time for the church to be reformed. But the Reformation Formation didn't really get going until 1517, when a German priest called Martin Luther started a protest against the Roman Catholics and the Protestant Church was born. Or the Protestant churches were born because there are different denominations within Protestantism, right? Yeah. In fact, I wouldn't usually call myself a Protestant. I'd call myself a Baptist, which is the Protestant denomination which I belong to. But there are also Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Quakers. There are lots of them. I get it. So what are the main differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants? Well, let's start with the church itself. The building, I mean, take a look. Roman Catholic churches usually have a lot of decoration and other stuff. The most common symbol we use is the crucifix. Jesus on the cross. It's a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us when he was crucified. Protestant churches tend to be plainer. Our symbol is an empty cross. Sometimes called a Latin cross. It reminds us that Jesus rose from the dead.

 

A Roman Catholic church is led by a priest. Only men can be priests and they can't get married or have children. They usually wear a white dog collar and put on long robes called vestments during services. We tend to call our church leaders ministers or pastors because we believe in the priesthood of all believers, that the leader of the church is no different to the rest of us. Most Protestant denominations have male and female pastors. They can get married, and they don't usually wear dog collars or vestments, although some do. The priesthood is something special in the Roman Catholic Church, especially the Pope. We believe that the Apostle Peter was the first pope, and the blessing he was given by Jesus has been passed down from man to man until we get to the present day Pope who leads the church. It's called the apostolic succession. We don't have a single leader. There's the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. But other Protestant churches have their own leaders. The Roman Catholic Church's authority comes from the Bible and 2000 years of tradition. In Protestant churches, authority comes just from the Bible. We both believe in the Bible, which is a collection of 66 books written by different authors over about 1500 years. Reading the Bible and learning from it is really important to Protestants. The main focus of our services is a sermon, a talk given by the pastor to help explain the Bible's teachings. The Roman Catholic Bible has 73 books. The Protestants removed seven of them. Bible study is less important to us. We tend to concentrate on the sacraments, which are seven special ceremonies that were given the stamp of approval by Jesus. Baptism. Confirmation. Eucharist. Confession. Anointing of the sick, holy matrimony, and holy orders. Most Protestants would say there are only two sacraments Baptism and Holy Communion, but we do them differently. Baptism is a ritual wash symbolising the removal of sin and the start of a new life. Yeah, although we would say it's more than just a symbol, it's important that people get baptised so that they can become part of the church as soon as possible, whether they're babies or adults. We do it by sprinkling them with holy water from a big basin, like this, called a font. We have believers baptism, which means we only baptise people who can decide for themselves if that's what they want. Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan, so most Protestant churches will imitate that with baptism by full immersion, which means they go completely underwater in a baptismal pool or baptistry. Like this.

 

Celebrating the Eucharist, which we do during a service called mass, is central to Roman Catholic life. We're more likely to call it Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, or breaking of the bread. It's when we share bread and wine to symbolise the body and blood of Jesus. He asked his followers to remember his death on the cross in this way. But again, we would say it's more than just a symbol. Roman Catholics believe that while the outward form of the bread and wine stays the same, their essence becomes the body and blood of Jesus who is there again at the mass. The belief is traditionally called transubstantiation. People usually come up to the front of the church to receive the bread and wine from the priest. Although wafers are often used instead of bread, in Protestant churches, it's more usual for everyone to stay in their seats and for the bread and wine to be passed along the rows. The bread is usually actual bread, but a lot of churches use red grape juice instead of wine. You don't believe the bread and wine changed in any way? No, mostly some Protestants believe that the bread and wine are changed in a spiritual way. That they are blessed by God and become holy. But we don't believe that they are Jesus's body and blood. One of the sacraments you don't have is confession. We sit with the priest and tell him our sins, the things we've done wrong, and he forgives us on behalf of God and gives us a penance, which is something we do to show that we're sorry. We usually give him prayers to say. We can go to our pastors for advice, but we pray directly to God for forgiveness. We can pray directly to God as well, but our priests act like go betweens for us.

 

You also pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus and the saints, don't you? That's right. Saints are people who lived really holy lives. People we can be sure are in heaven. And do the saints answer your prayers? No. It's still God who answers the prayers. It's a bit like asking a friend to pray for you, but a saint has the advantage of already being in heaven and closer to God. It's why we have pictures and statues of saints and the Virgin Mary, which you won't find in a Protestant church. We only pray to God. Our worship tends to be very traditional classical music and prayers from a book. Up until the 1960s. It was all in Latin. But since then our worship has been in the language of the worshippers. Although some churches still like to use the Latin Mass, Protestant worship has always been in the worshippers language, and we tend to have a more modern style of music. Many churches even have their own bands to lead the singing. The mass follows a written pattern called a liturgy, and it's been the same for centuries. Our worship is a bit looser, although our service will still have a structure with singing, prayers and a sermon. You don't use a prayer book? No. Although I should explain the Church of England here, which is a special case. It all started with Henry VIII, famous for having six wives. Exactly. Until the 1530s. England was a Roman Catholic country. But Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife and marry his mistress. The Pope said no. So Henry told the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, to create a Church of England that wasn't under the pope's authority. This developed into a church with Protestant beliefs, but a lot of Catholic traditions. So many of them still use prayer books and more formal styles of worship. And they have priests. Yeah, but men and women can be Church of England priests and they can get married. Okay, so what happens when we die? Salvation. We're saved from hell and go to heaven to be with God. It's not quite that simple for Roman Catholics. We believe that salvation is a lifelong process. We're saved by our faith in God and the good works we do. Protestants believe that salvation is by faith alone. You've probably heard us talking about being born again, yeah? Well, we believe that once you've accepted Jesus as your Savior, that's it. You're going to heaven. It's a once in a lifetime thing, so you don't have to do any good works. We don't have to. But we believe that once a person is saved, the Holy Spirit will help them to become a better person. So they'll be doing good things for other people anyway. Roman Catholics believe that after death, really good people go straight to heaven and really bad people go straight to hell. But we also believe in a place called purgatory, which is where most people go to be purified of their sins before moving on to heaven. Protestants just believe in heaven and hell. We've got this life to get saved, and then we go to one or the other for eternity. But in the here and now, would you say we have more in common than differences? I don't know. What do you think?

 

Understanding Denominations: Christianity

Video length - 09.50
Published date - Jan 2025
Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

The Bible is the world’s all time No.1 best-selling book, and for Christians, it’s the world’s most important book – a guide for life containing God’s words. You could spend your whole life studying it (and lots of people do) but our animation takes you from Genesis to Revelation in just ten minutes.

Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Christianity - Introduction /pre-work Worship and festivals - Different forms of worship and their significance: • liturgical, non-liturgical and informal, including the use of the Bible • private worship.

Area of Study 1 - Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Christians today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Christian’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 3 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 1 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable.

Component Group 1 - Christianity Belief sand teachings & Practices - Worship • The structure of church services, for example Anglican Communion service, Roman Catholic mass, Quaker meeting, Greek Orthodox service and Methodist Sunday morning worship • The concept of worship • Purposes of worship • The role and importance of liturgical worship for some Christians •The role and importance of informal/charismatic worship for some Christians • The role and importance of individual prayer, private prayeranddevotionforChristians • The role and importance of private and public worship to Christian communities and individuals •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Christian denominations

2.2 Unit 2 PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices Beliefs - The Bible Ø As Word of God, authority, sacred scripture (Deuteronomy 4:1-2) inspiration and revelation Ø As a collection of writings based on context, audience, society, authors' intentions Ø Uses/usefulness (2 Timothy 3:16-17); absolute law, guidance, use during worship and ceremonies (Christening, Marriage, Funerals) Ø Differing ways of interpreting biblical writings: literal, conservative, symbolic, biblical myth Ø Bible in relation to other sources of authority, e.g. conscience (Romans 2:14-15), family, reason, society, situations, civil law, circumstances

Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity - Salvation ➢ Law: Word of God; inspiration and revelation; differing ways of interpreting biblical writings; Bible in relation to other sources of authority.

The Bible in Ten Minutes

The Bible is the world's all-time number one bestseller. A book that has inspired great art, literature, cinema, and even comics. For Christians, it's the world's most important book. A guide for life containing God's words. You can spend your whole life studying it, and lots of people do, but we've got just ten minutes.

So the name Bible comes from the Greek word Byblos and the Latin word Biblia, which both mean books. Because the Bible is a collection of books, written by different authors at different times, over about one and a half thousand years. I'm going to be talking about the Protestant Bible, which contains 66 books. The Catholic Bible has more, but I'll come back to that. There are two main sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. A testament is a statement of belief or a contract, and the contracts in the Bible are between God and his people.

 

There are 39 books in the Old Testament, mainly written in Hebrew. The language of the Jewish people and 27 books in the New Testament, mainly written in Greek. The Old Testament kicks off with the Pentateuch, which means five books, also known as the books of the law. Genesis starts at the beginning, the beginning of everything, with God creating the world in a week. He made Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, and a perfect Paradise for them to live in. But then evil reared its ugly head for the very first time. The world got so evil that God decided to scrap it all and start again. Everything was wiped out by a flood, and only good old Noah, his family and his floating zoo survived. Noah's great great great great great great great great grandson was called Abram or Abraham. And God told him that his descendants would become a whole nation of people, and promised to give them a land of their own. Abraham's grandson, Jacob, also known as Israel, had 12 sons whose families became the 12 tribes of the Israelite people, who would eventually live in the Promised Land. Joseph was Jacob's favourite son and was spoiled rotten, so his jealous brothers sold him as a slave to some passing Egyptians. But after Joseph helped out the Pharaoh with some dream analysis, he was promoted to prime minister, forgave his brothers for the selling him as a slave thing, and invited the whole family to come and live with him in Egypt.

 

Exodus is set about 400 years later, but by now the Israelites had all been made slaves. Oww! God told an Israelite called Moses to free his people and lead them out of Egypt to search for the Promised Land. God parted the Red sea so the Israelites could escape to the other side, where they stopped off at Mount Sinai and Moses climbed to the top to meet God, who handed over ten commandments to live by. And lots of other rules followed. God was offering the Israelites a tempting contract. If they obeyed his law, he'd look after them and everything would be lovely. The Israelites wandered about in the desert looking for their promised land until 40 years later, they found it. Moses gave a big speech about the importance of keeping God's law, and then he died. The next 12 books describe life in the Promised Land and the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Israel. God chose Joshua to lead the Israelites into their new home, where they fought off the nasty neighbours and divided up the land between the 12 tribes of Israel. When some of the Israelites started to disobey God's law, it was up to 11 holy men and one holy woman, called The Judges, to sort them out. The most famous Judge was the super strong Samson, who always brought the house down.

 

This is Ruth. She wasn't an Israelite, but she married Boaz, who was. And their great-grandson is David, who's very, very important in the next book. By now a priest called Samuel was in charge. But the Israelites wanted a king, like all the nations next door. So Samuel chose Saul, but he wasn't really up to the job. Then, during a battle with some nasty neighbours known as Philistines, a local shepherd boy called David, great grandson of Ruth, volunteered to fight the Philistine champion, a giant called Goliath. He won and became a national hero. So when Saul died, David was crowned and led the Kingdom of Israel into a golden age of peace and prosperity, which you can also read about in the Books of Chronicles.

 

When David died, his son Solomon became king. He's known for his wisdom for building an impressive temple in Jerusalem and for having 700 wives, give or take. But the people began to fight amongst themselves, and the kingdom split in two. Israel in the north and Judah in the south. God's messengers Elijah and Elisha warned everyone that worse was to come if they didn't obey God, but no one was listening. Then disaster, Israel and Judah were invaded by foreign powers. Solomon's beautiful temple was destroyed and the people were dragged away to become slaves. The exile, as this period is called, lasted about 70 years. And then the Jews, the people from Judah, were allowed to return home. In Jerusalem, the temple was restored and Nehemiah got the city walls rebuilt. Back in Persia, a clever young Jew called Esther had won a beauty contest to become queen and used her influence over the king to foil a plot that would have wiped out all the Jews in the empire.

 

Next, there's a section of poetry and philosophy. This is Jobe, who remains faithful to God despite lots of horrible things happening to him, so he's rewarded for his loyalty. Psalms is a book of poems and songs, many written by King David, which were used in worship, and still are. Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings, and Ecclesiastes is all about the meaning of life, or the lack of it. The Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs is a steamy love poem, possibly written by King Solomon about his wife, one of his wives. Now we come to the prophets, the people who brought messages from God, teachings, warnings or even visions of the future. Isaiah is mainly about God's judgment on people who don't follow his law, but it also predicts the birth of a new Jewish king. Remember that. Jeremiah warns everyone that unless they obey God, they are going to be made slaves. And then in Lamentations, the writers are talking about the fall of Jerusalem and how terrible it all is. But Ezekiel gives all the people in exile hope that one day they will return to Jerusalem. Daniel gets thrown to the lions when he refuses to worship a foreign king. He survives thanks to God's protection, and the second half of the book imagines all the weird punishments that evil kings will face for enslaving God's people. The 12 final prophets continue with encouraging people to follow God's law, and predictions about what will happen if they don't. For example, Jonah is told by God to warn the city of Nineveh that, unless they shape up, they'll be punished for their wickedness. Jonah doesn't want the job and tries to escape in a boat, but he's thrown overboard, swallowed by a fish, spewed up on a beach, finally goes to warn the people of Nineveh and then gets grumpy when God forgives them all.

And that's the Old Testament. Or is it because there's also the Apocrypha? Greek for hidden, a collection of seven books that weren't included in the Protestant Bible. But you'll find them all in the Old Testament of a Catholic Bible. And Bibles used by Eastern Orthodox churches can have over a dozen more books.

 

The New Testament begins with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, known as the Gospels, which means good news. Each Gospel tells a story of Jesus's life from a slightly different viewpoint, and there's a lot of overlap, especially between Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which are known as the Synoptic Gospels, a word which means that they all have pretty much the same idea about what happened. John has a different take on events and spends more time explaining what he thinks it all means.

The story is told by all the Gospels goes like this. A young Jewish virgin by the name of Mary has a miracle baby called Jesus, and is visited by wise men from the east and some local shepherds, who are all convinced that the baby is a new king of the Jews. But when Jesus grows up, he becomes a carpenter. Then, when he's about 30, he's baptized by his cousin John, a different John, and becomes a traveling preacher with a radical message of love and forgiveness. As well as giving straight down the line teaching like The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also told a good story, and parables, as they're called, were stories with a point. Then there were the miracles. Jesus changed water into wine, calmed storms, raised the dead, and those are just the highlights. You might have heard of the disciples, which means pupils or followers. Jesus chose these 12 men to help spread his teaching, and they eventually became leaders of the first churches, apart from Judas. The gospel writers all described Jesus using the Hebrew word Messiah or Christ in Greek, which means anointed one, or a person who has had perfume poured all over his head. This was a ceremony performed for people like Saul and David when they were chosen to be kings hundreds of years before, but by the time Jesus was born, the word Messiah had come to mean a hero like King David, who would begin a new kingdom of God. Bits of the Old Testament had foretold the coming of this Messiah, and the writer of Matthew is careful to point out how he thinks Jesus fits the bill. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus isn't just the Messiah, he's God in human form. Jesus's death and resurrection, which means to come back to life, is the most important bit for Christians because they believe it shows God's power over evil and the promise of life after death. The Gospel of Luke ends with Jesus rising up to heaven, promising that one day he will return.

 

Acts or, The Acts of the Apostles, picks up the story and describes how Christianity began to grow thanks to people called the apostles, which means messengers. Men like Peter, who was one of Jesus's disciples, and Paul, who wasn't. Paul's job had been to wipe out Christianity, but after seeing a blinding light and hearing Jesus speaking to him from heaven, he started to spread Christianity instead. The rest of the New Testament is full of letters, many of them written by Paul to friends or to groups of Christians. They were full of advice and teaching, so they were kept and copied and passed around.

The very last book in the Bible is called Revelation or Revelations or the apocalypse. The author John, yet another John, describes his scary visions of a terrible future. Then Jesus returns to Earth as promised. Evil is destroyed once and for all, and the world becomes a Paradise again, which is how God always wanted it to be, right from the very start, all the way back in Genesis.

 

The Bible in Ten Minutes

Video length - 10.13
Published date - Oct 2023
Keystage(s) - 2 and 3
Downloadable resources

Shanice takes us on a tour around an Anglican Church – pointing out the various features, explaining their meaning, and talking about her faith.

Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Christianity - Worship and festivals - Prayer and its significance, including, set prayers and informal prayer. The role and meaning of the sacraments: •the meaning of sacrament •the sacrament of baptism and its significance for Christians; infant and believers' baptism; •different beliefs about infant baptism.

Area of Study 3 – Christianity - Section 3: Living the Christian Life - The role of the sacraments in Christian life and their practice in two denominations: the role of the sacraments/ordinance as a whole; the nature and importance of the meaning and celebration of baptism and the Eucharist in at least two denominations, including reference to the 39 Articles XXV-XXXVI; divergent Christian attitudes towards the use and number of sacraments in Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant traditions. The nature and purpose of prayer: the nature of and examples of the different types of prayer; set prayers; informal prayer and the Lord’s Prayer, including Matthew 6:5–14; when each type might be used and why; divergent Christian attitudes towards the importance of each type of prayer for Christians today.

Component Group 1 - Christianity - Practices - Sacraments• The meaning of the word sacrament • The role and meaning of the sacraments •The role of Baptism and Eucharist in the life of a Christian •Common and divergent attitudes towards the practice and meaning of Baptism by different Christian denominations •Common and divergent attitudes towards the practice and meaning of the Eucharist by different Christian denominations •Common and divergent attitudes towards the Sacraments,including which practices are considered by different Christian denominations to be a sacrament •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Christian denominations

2.2 Unit 2 - PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices -- Practices Life’s Journey: Sacraments and key acts of worship:  Baptisms (Mark 1:9-11); Infant and Believers' Baptism; reasons and rituals  Eucharist/Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26): diverse Christian interpretations and associated practices  Confirmation - preparation and ceremony (Acts 2: 1-13)  Significance of a religious wedding (Mark 10:7-9): matrimonial symbols and vows 2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices - Church - Importance of prayer, communal and private - Matthew 6:5-13, Matthew 18:20

Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity: Practices: Sacraments ➢ Diverse beliefs regarding Sacraments ➢ The role, meaning and celebration of Baptism and Eucharist: John 3:3-6 ➢ Diverse interpretations of Baptism and Eucharist with reference to the beliefs of the Catholic and Protestant Churches Forms: Component 2 (Route B) Applied Catholic Theology : Theme 3: Life and Death: Artefacts: How Christian beliefs in the resurrection are expressed by the paschal candle as it is used in the Easter Vigil and during Catholic Baptism

Holy Cribs Anglican Church

Shanice:  Welcome to Saint Anne's Church! My name is Shanice and I'm a Christian. The church is where I come every Sunday to worship God, but there aren't any services going on at the moment, so I can show you around. Come in! Isn't it beautiful? The word 'church' can mean the building or the community of people who come here. So, the Church worships at the church. This is the main part of the building called the 'nave' - and in traditional churches like this one, it always faces east. If you could look at the church from above, you'd see that it's in the shape of a cross, the Christian symbol. Everyone sits in the nave looking east, so the main entrance to the church is usually at this end and it's called the West Door. The arms of the cross are called 'transepts'. So there's a north transept and a south transept. And the front of the church - the top of the cross - is called the 'chancel', and that's where the priest usually stands to lead a service. We have lots of names for a priest, but in the Church of England or the Anglican Church, we usually call the priest a 'vicar'. By the West Door, you'll often find one of these: a 'font'. It's a big stone basin which can be filled with water to baptize people at a special service. It happens when a baby is born and welcomed into the Church or when an older person becomes a Christian.

 

The vicar blesses the water and sprinkles it on the person's head. The font is near the door to symbolise that a person must be baptized before they can become a full member of the Church. When you come into the church, you walk down the aisle to find a seat. These long benches are called 'pews', although lots of churches just have ordinary chairs. In front of the pews you'll find these cushions called 'hassocks', which people kneel on when they pray. There's also these handy shelves, which people put their Bibles and hymn books on. So this is the centre of the cross shape. You have the north transept up there, and the south transept down there - and this is the 'chancel', the front of the church! During the service, someone will read to everyone from the Bible and this is done from a big book stand called a 'lectern', and in some churches it's in the shape of an eagle, and there are lots of stories to explain why. My favourite is that people used to think that the eagle was the bird that could fly the furthest and the highest in the sky, so it's a symbol that Christians believe that the words of God should be heard all over the world.

 

This little platform with stairs going up is called the 'pulpit'. The vicar or another member of the church gives a talk to everyone called a sermon, but now that we've got microphones, being up here isn't quite so important, so lots of people choose to speak from the front of the chancel here. This front part of the chancel is called the 'choir' because it's where the choir sits - or used to sit. Most churches had a choir to lead the singing of religious songs called hymns, but now we've got microphones this can be done by 1 or 2 people. In some churches, the hymns are sung along to the tunes played by a huge instrument called an 'organ'. It has keyboards like a piano, and it's noise is made from huge pipes and it can sound like a whole orchestra! But organs are very difficult to play... so lots of churches have bands playing guitars and pianos instead. Right at the front is the most important part of the church, and it's called the 'sanctuary' - it's separated from the rest of the church by a rail. And this table is called an 'altar' - you've got candles here, a special cup called a 'chalice' and a plate called a 'paten'. During a special service called Holy Communion, the vicar stands behind the altar, puts some bread onto the paten and pour some wine into the chalice. The vicar blesses them, and then everyone comes to the rail to eat a piece of bread and take a sip of the wine. We do this because Jesus asked us to. We believe that he died and came back to life so that we can all go to heaven. The wine symbolizes his blood, and the bread symbolizes his body. We all share them to remember that we are all part of the same community and will be together in heaven. Traditional churches like this one have stained glass windows to show scenes from the Bible. So that's it - that's my church! It's not just a place where people come to worship... During the week, there are nurseries for toddlers, after school clubs for young people, social clubs for old people and soup kitchens for the homeless. Most churches have a square tower or a pointy spire. They have bells which can be rung to let people know that the service is about to start. But the tower or the spire also shows people where the church is! So it can be, as it always was intended to be, at the centre of the community.

 

Thanks for coming! Bye!

 

Holy Cribs: The Anglican Church

Video length - 06.36
Published date - Mar 2023
Keystage(s) - 3 and 4
Downloadable resources

Shanice demonstrates what happens during Holy Communion and explains why sharing bread and wine in this special ceremony is so important to Christians.

Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Christianity - The sacrament of Holy Communion/ Eucharist and its significance for Christians, including different ways it’s celebrated and different interpretations of its meaning

Area of Study 3 – Christianity - Section 3: Living the Christian Life - The role of the sacraments in Christian life and their practice in two denominations: the role of the sacraments/ordinance as a whole; the Eucharist in at least two denominations.

Component Group 1 - Christianity - Practices - Sacraments• The meaning of the word sacrament • The role and meaning of the sacraments •The role of Baptism and Eucharist in the life of a Christian •Common and divergent attitudes towards the practice and meaning of Baptism by different Christian denominations •Common and divergent attitudes towards the practice and meaning of the Eucharist by different Christian denominations •Common and divergent attitudes towards the Sacraments,including which practices are considered by different Christian denominations to be a sacrament •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Christian denominations

2.2 Unit 2 PART A : Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices Life’s Journey: Sacraments and key acts of worship:  Baptisms (Mark 1:9-11); Infant and Believers' Baptism; reasons and rituals  Eucharist/Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26): diverse Christian interpretations and associated practices

2.2 Unit 2 - PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices -- Practices Life’s Journey: Sacraments and key acts of worship:  Baptisms (Mark 1:9-11); Infant and Believers' Baptism; reasons and rituals  Eucharist/Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26): diverse Christian interpretations and associated practices  Confirmation - preparation and ceremony (Acts 2: 1-13)  Significance of a religious wedding (Mark 10:7-9): matrimonial symbols and vows 2.1 Unit 1 PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices - Practices - Church - Importance of prayer, communal and private - Matthew 6:5-13, Matthew 18:20

Holy Cribs: Holy Communion

Shanice:  The Christian church is divided up into different groups called denominations. There's the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, and the Presbyterian Church, just to name a few. I'm from the Church of England, also called the Anglican Church. All Christians follow the Bible's teachings. But one church might have slightly different understandings of it to another or worship in a different way. But all churches have a regular service when Christians will gather together to share bread and wine. In the Church of England, this is usually known as Holy Communion. But it can also be called the breaking of the bread, The Lord's Supper, Mass or Eucharist. We do this because Jesus told us to. It all goes back to the Last Supper, the last meal that Jesus ate with his disciples before he was crucified. He asked them to share the bread and wine as a way to remember him when he was gone. The bread represented his broken body and the deep red colour of the wine represented the blood he was to shed on the cross. In the Church of England, we use real wine, but other churches might use red grape juice instead. And we use wafers which are small round disks of white rice paper. But some churches use real bread or crackers. The priest will say special prayers over the bread and wine, asking God to bless them. In the Church of England, people usually go up to the front of the church where they stand or kneel at a rail in front of the altar. They are given a wafer or a small piece of bread from a special plate called a paten. Then each person is offered a large cup called a chalice, and they take a sip of wine. In other churches, like the Baptist church, everyone stays in their seats and the bread and wine or grape juice are passed along the rows from person to person. However it's done, the reasons for doing it are the same, to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made of himself on the cross. It's a reminder to Christians that they should be doing their best to live as Jesus would want them to.

Christianity: Holy Communion

Video length - 03.07
Published date - Mar 2023
Keystage(s) - 2, 3 and 4
Downloadable resources

A Day in the Life of a Christian Vicar – What does a Christian Vicar do all day? TrueTube followed the Reverend Jane around with a camera to find out.

A Day in the Life of a Christian Vicar

Video length - 06.30
Published date - Oct 2017
Keystage(s) - 2 and 3
Downloadable resources

Charlie and Blue Find Out about Jesus – Zippity-zip, let’s go on a trip! Charlie and her favourite soft toy (and best friend) Blue go to a Church where they meet Chris to find out why Christians give to charity, and why they do their best to follow Jesus by helping other people.

Charlie and Blue Find Out about Jesus

Video length - 5.10
Published date - Apr 2016
Keystage(s) - 1
Downloadable resources

Holy Books: The Bible – A range of different people from a vicar to a translator describe how the Bible was put together and why it means so much to Christians.

TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:

AQA

Component 1: The study of religions: beliefs, teaching and practices - Christianity - Introduction /pre-work Worship and festivals - Different forms of worship and their significance:
• liturgical, non-liturgical and informal, including the use of the Bible
• private worship.

 Edexcel

Area of Study 1 - Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Christians today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Christian’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 3 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. Area of Study 1 – Catholic Christianity - The significance and importance of the various beliefs, issues and practices to Catholics today should be explored throughout the sections. This should include reference to how the Bible informs a Catholic’s understanding of the topics and how approaches to the issues are underpinned by philosophical arguments and ethical theory as applicable. 

OCR 

Component Group 1 - Christianity Belief sand teachings & Practices - Worship • The structure of church services, for example Anglican Communion service, Roman Catholic mass, Quaker meeting, Greek Orthodox service and Methodist Sunday morning worship • The concept of worship • Purposes of worship • The role and importance of liturgical worship for some Christians •The role and importance of informal/charismatic worship for some Christians • The role and importance of individual prayer, private prayeranddevotionforChristians • The role and importance of private and public worship to Christian communities and individuals •Different interpretations and emphases given to sources of wisdom and authority by different Christian denominations

WJEC 

2.2 Unit 2 PART A - Christianity - Core beliefs, teachings and practices Beliefs - The Bible Ø As Word of God, authority, sacred scripture (Deuteronomy 4:1-2) inspiration and revelation Ø As a collection of writings based on context, audience, society, authors' intentions Ø Uses/usefulness (2 Timothy 3:16-17); absolute law, guidance, use during worship and ceremonies (Christening, Marriage, Funerals) Ø Differing ways of interpreting biblical writings: literal, conservative, symbolic, biblical myth Ø Bible in relation to other sources of authority, e.g. conscience (Romans 2:14-15), family, reason, society, situations, civil law, circumstances

Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity - Salvation ➢ Law: Word of God; inspiration and revelation; differing ways of interpreting biblical writings; Bible in relation to other sources of authority.

Eduqas

Component 2 (Route A) Study of Christianity - Salvation ➢ Law: Word of God; inspiration and revelation; differing ways of interpreting biblical writings; Bible in relation to other sources of authority.

Holy Books: The Bible

Alistair McConville     The Bible is a collection of books. In fact, the word Bible means a collection of books, and it's divided into two. There's the Old Testament, which is composed of 39 small books, and there's the New Testament, which has 27 small books.

Eddie Arthur The Old Testament was written in Hebrew with a few bits in Aramaic.

Alex Wood    The Old Testament is the story of God creating the world, and Israel, who are his chosen people.

Tanya Walker Some of it is poetry, some of it is biography, some of it is straightforward narration of history.

Alistair McConville     Books of law, for example. This is Leviticus, which tells the early Jewish people how to live. Poetic books like the Psalms, which would have been put to music. This is Proverbs, which is philosophical reflections, really. There are books of prophecy, like Jeremiah, that explain what God is saying about the future of the Israelites.

Alex Wood    The Bible is all about God's rescue plan, and that plan really comes into play when Jesus comes into the story, and that's the beginning of the New Testament.

Alistair McConville     The New Testament talks about Jesus as the Messiah, the Christian fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies.

Alex Wood    The point is that Jesus is God's Son, and he came to keep God's promise that we will be with God forever.

Eddie Arthur The New Testament was written in Greek because Greek was understood right across the world at that time.

Alistair McConville     There's a collection of biographies of Jesus, those are the Gospels. There are letters from various important early Christians, and it has apocalyptic works that are predicting how the world's going to end. Most people don't think of God as having literally written the Bible with a pen and paper. Rather, they think that God inspired human writers to record those things that God wanted to say.

Eddie Arthur If you read the book of Revelation, John said, an angel told me to write this down.

Alistair McConville     Sometimes it's clear that they are speaking for themselves about their own understanding of what God has said or done.

Eddie Arthur Luke says, I asked a lot of people. I did a lot of reading, and I've written this up.

Alistair McConville     As people continue to write about Jesus, it became important to make a final decision about what was going to be in the Bible. Lots of bishops came together when the Roman Empire became officially Christian, to discuss which books that they already knew and respected should be in the official version of the Bible, and which shouldn't.

Tanya Walker So the Bible is actually made up of 66 different books, written by over 40 different people across a span of around 1500 years, across three different continents, three different languages, and loads of different genres. There's all sorts of different things going on, and when we come to read the Bible, we, we bear in mind what kind of text am I reading and how is it appropriate to interpret it?

Alistair McConville     How to interpret individual passages varies. So in the Catholic Church, for example, only the church has the authority to explain to Christians what the Bible means. In the Protestant church, more characteristically, individuals have greater scope to interpret the Bible for themselves.

Tanya Walker Some of it is poetry, and we're meant to read it allegorically, metaphorically, it's hinting at different things, but it's not meant to be taken literally.

Alistair McConville     Some Christians say that Genesis, for example, is a historical account of the beginning of the world. Other Christians say that Genesis tells us something true in a metaphorical way.

Tanya Walker Other bits we realise, okay, the person who was writing this section meant and intended for it to be read as straightforward history.

Alistair McConville     The Gospels are a really important part of the Bible. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, four different books, each of which gives an account of the life of Jesus.

Tanya Walker This is exactly how it happened, the people are saying, these are our eyewitness accounts of what happened. But then, of course, some of the things that Jesus says are stories. He tells parables, and we're not to take them literally, but we're to understand that in that story there is a meaning that we're to take and to apply to our lives.

Alex Wood    I think loads of us find reading the Bible really difficult, and I definitely was like that. I never read the Bible, and whenever I did, I found it really tricky to understand. It wasn't really until I joined a church and I met a friend and he explained how to read the Bible, where to start, which bits to read, and since then, I've found reading the Bible one of the most fulfilling things that I do.

Tanya Walker So you may have noticed that Christians write in their Bible, or that their Bibles are very worn through sometimes. This is because Christians believe that it's the meaning that's important and precious, and not the paper and ink itself.

Eddie Arthur And from that we have the notion that the Bible itself can be translated. The important thing is that it's available in the language of the people who are reading it.

Tanya Walker Now, it's been translated into over 2000 languages. That's ten times more than any other book.

Eddie Arthur This is a New Testament in a language called Guéré from the Ivory Coast. (Reads from the bible). There is no one way that people do translation. In Ivory Coast we worked in a mud hut, with solar panels on the roof, and a laptop plugged into that and discussed the text in Greek, seek to express it as clearly as possible in Guéré, and then go through a rigorous process of review checking, editing. It took longer to revise it than it did to do the initial translation.

Alex Wood    On Sundays, we read the Bible together. Somebody will step up onto this stage here, they'll open the Bible and they'll find a particular passage, and then we'll all grab our Bibles where we're sat, and we'll have a look at it together. The most important thing, I guess, is for that preacher or that speaker to explain how the passage is relevant to us today, how is it going to make a difference to our lives?

Holy Books: The Bible

Video length - 06.00
Published date - Apr 2015
Keystage(s) - 3 and 4
Downloadable resources

Alien Abduction: Christianity – Orbiting Earth at this very moment, the alien survey ship “Pantheon” is abducting people to collect data about their belief systems. Reverend Harry is beamed into the interrogation chamber to answer questions about Christianity.

Alien Abduction: Christianity

Robot      Survey ship Pantheon orbiting planet: Earth. Dominant life form: Human. Belief system: Various. More information required. Scanning for samples. Welcome to survey ship Pantheon. Our mission is to investigate the culture of your planet, and you have been selected to represent your belief system. Please state your name.

Harry       Harry.

Robot      Religion.

Harry       Christian.

Robot      Holy book.

Harry       The Bible.

Robot      Holy building.

Harry       The church.

Robot      Symbol.

Harry       Um, that would be the cross or a crucifix.

Robot      You will now be asked a series of questions from the categories on screen. You have 30 of your Earth seconds to provide a satisfactory answer to each one. Failure to comply will result in matter dispersal. Are you ready?

Harry       Yep.

Robot      Stand by. Choose the first category.

Harry       God.

Robot      What do you believe about God?

Harry       I believe that God created the whole world, the universe and everything in it. That God created humanity for a purpose and a reason, and that God wants to know us and wants us to know him. God revealed himself to us through the Trinity. There is one God, but there are three parts of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and God lives through us through the Holy Spirit, he's with us in the power of the spirit always.

Harry       Life after death.

Robot      What do you believe will happen to humans after death?

Harry       Um, Christians believe that death is really the beginning, not the end, so when we die, we can go to be with God in heaven. The Bible teaches that there's some kind of judgement, God wants to judge sin and remove sin from his ultimate creation, so all of us will stand before God and will be judged. The good news is, is that Jesus takes that judgement for us, so the Bible says that if we turn to Jesus, then he will bear that judgement for us. So that's what I believe.

Harry       Beginnings.

Robot      How did your religion begin?

Harry       The beginnings of Christianity are in Judaism. Jesus, the founder of Christianity, was a Jew, he lived as a Jew, but he developed Judaism and taught his own message. So Jesus lived his life in a in a provocative way, he performed miracles, he taught different teachings. But ultimately the beginnings of Christianity, certainly the beginnings of the church, are in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that's when our religion began and broke away from Judaism, and that's where we are today.

Harry       Everyday life.

Robot      How does your religion affect everyday life?

Harry       Um, as a Christian, I try and read my Bible and pray every day, but also as a Christian we have to try and live the teachings of Jesus. So everything that Jesus taught, we have to put into action. That means we need to love people, we need to show justice, we need to seek to change the wrongs that are in the world and really demonstrate the love of God to everyone we meet. That's not always easy, but every day we need to be trying to do that, to demonstrate the love of God for his creation. Festivals.

Robot      What is the most important festival in your religion?

Harry       The biggest festival in our religion is probably Christmas, that's the one that most people know, but I don't think it's the most important. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus and Jesus had to be born, but the central message of what Christians believe is that Jesus died and rose again, and we celebrate that at Easter. At Easter we remember that Jesus died, he was crucified, nailed to a cross, but he rose again three days later. The festival of Easter celebrates that, his death, his coming back to life, his rising again.

Harry       Rites of passage.

Robot      What is a baptism?

Harry       Oh, good question, baptism. There's two kinds of baptism. Sometimes we baptise babies, and often that's with a sprinkling of water, sometimes when we baptise adults, it's by a full immersion, fully underwater. Baptism marks a new life, so the sprinkling of water is washing away our old life and our old sins, or even in a full immersion, we're kind of buried under the water, and then we come back out into new life. It's a symbol of new life, new beginnings and starting again.

Harry       Random.

Robot      Why are there so many different types of Christian?

Harry       Oh gosh, good question. There are different kinds of Christians, like, there are Roman Catholics, Church of England, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists. Not because they believe different things, largely we believe the same thing, but because people express themselves in different ways. So we all like different types of music or different food or things like that, and so the different types of Christians emerged, because we want to talk to God in different ways, and we hear from God in different ways, and that's why different types of Christians emerged today.

Robot      Thank you. Your answers are satisfactory. Matter dispersal beams powering down. You will now be returned to Earth, human. Goodbye.

Alien Abduction: Christianity

Video length - 6.05
Published date - Jun 2013
Keystage(s) - 3
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