Audacious means to be, bold, daring, dangerous, fearless, unrestrained by convention, free spirited and to challenge assumption. We think that that is a pretty good definition of Jesus!

The Author Dorothy Sayers writes, "The people who hanged Christ never accused Him of being a bore, on the contrary; they thought Him too dynamic to be safe...To those who knew (Jesus), He in no way suggested a milk-and-water person; they objected to Him as a dangerous firebrand. he insulted respect-able clergymen by calling them hypocrites; he referred to King Herod as 'that fox'; he went to parties in disreputable company and was looked upon as a 'gluttonous' man and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans..he assaulted indignant tradesmen & threw them & their belongings out of the temple, he drove a horse and coaches through a number of sacrosanct & hoary regulations, he cured diseases by any means that came handy, with a shocking casualness in the matter of other people's pigs and property...Jesus was emphatically not a dull man!"

Wow, certainly not the image of Jesus that many people have embedded in their mind today.

Whilst that may be a vivid image of the Jesus of the Bible, make no mistake that Jesus was a gracious, loving, caring and compassionate man also. His motive operandi for life was that he loved people. The great verse John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Fredrick Buechner writes,

"Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of him again. Once they have seen him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear or to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in His wild pursuit of man"

Audacious is not just a name, it is a culture, a way of living, an ethos that underpins why we do church and life the way we do. Boring it is not! Adventurous it is! Which would you prefer? We prefer Audacious!

If you have recently become a Christian we run great courses such as Alpha and I Said Yes to better equip you with the journey ahead and to answer any questions you may have. Contact us for more information or ask a Host at one of our services.

Visit us this Sunday at The Centre in central Manchester. Click here to find out where we are and what times to meet us. We look forward to seeing you very soon!