The document discusses different ways that religious believers express their faith. It provides examples of six main religious expressions: missionary work, private worship, helping others, pilgrimage, religious clothes and symbols, and community worship. For each expression, it explains why religious believers engage in it and provides one or more examples. The document aims to help students understand and describe different forms of religious expression.

1. DNA
Leave space for your
title.
Stick in your Big Picture
for our new unit.
Make up a sentence
using each of the key
words...

2. How do people express their religious
beliefs?
Learning intentions:
•To describe and
explain different ways
religious believers
express their faith.

3. • You are going to create a poster on a way
people express their beliefs.
On your poster, you can only have 15 words in
total, but you can include:
 Pictures
 Symbols
 Letters
 Numbers
1. Community worship
2. Religious clothes and
symbols
3. Pilgrimage
4. Helping others
5. Private worship
6. Missionary work

4. Draw this table into your book
Religious expression
and what it is
Why do religious
believers do it?
Examples
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

5. Missionary work
• Some religious believers think that they have a duty to
go out and preach the message about their religion in
order to convert them. This is because they believe
theirs is the way and that they have a duty to lead
others along that path to God.
• They might do this by:
• Knocking on doors
• Giving out leaflets
• Preaching in the street
• Inviting friends to events at their church, like Alpha

6. Private Worship
• Not all believers choose to express their faith in a
public way. For some, religion is a deeply personal
matter between them and God. They may express their
faith through prayer, listening to religious songs,
reading the scriptures or meditating in a quiet place on
their own. This helps them to understand and learn key
teachings, and to understand God and their religion
better.

7. Helping others
• Some religious believers choose to express their beliefs by
taking action to help others. This could be in a very small
way by doing something to help their neighbour or on a
larger scale by supporting the work of a religious charity. A
believer might give money or take a hands-on approach by
working with those in need.
• Most religions discuss the ideas of helping others in their
holy books.
• Examples of helping others:
• Supporting a charity (religious and non-religious) every
month
• Giving meals to those in need
• Helping in a soup kitchen for the homeless

8. Pilgrimage
• For some people, having a religious faith is part of their journey
through life. The more they learn about their religion, the more
they grow in faith. To help their spiritual education, some people go
on a journey to sacred places associated with their religion. It might
be a place where an event in that religion actually happened, or a
place that helps worshippers draw closer to God. All pilgrimages
play a vital role in the believer’s spiritual growth.
• Often, the place they visit has a special meaning attached to it, or
believers have to perform an action or ritual whilst there. Some
pilgrimages are part of a religious believer’s duties, others are not.
Examples of pilgrimages:
• Hajj to Makkah for Muslims
• Lourdes (France) for Catholics
• Jerusalem for Muslims and Christians, as it a holy city for both.

9. Religious clothes and symbols
• Some religious believers like to wear a symbol of their religion –
their religion is as much a part of their identity as the clothes they
wear. They may wear a necklace with a symbol tucked out of sight
under their shirt, so they have a private sense that God is always
with them.
• Others are very visible. This might be a religious symbol displayed
openly around their neck, or special clothing that marks them out
as a follower of a certain religion. Not only does this help them to
keep their religion at the forefront of their life, but it is also a public
declaration of who they are and what they believe in.
Examples of religious clothing include:
• The Hijab
• A cross
• A WWJD band

10. Community worship
• Having a religious belief draws many believers together to worship
God as a group. Their religion may tell them this is what God
requires and they benefit from joining a community of fellow
believers.
• Going to a special place of worship can help people to focus on
worship. Joining with others who share the same beliefs is not only
a powerful spiritual experience, but people can learn more about
their religion from their leaders or other worshippers.
• Different forms of community worship are:
• Praying together – especially for Muslims on a Friday at noon
• Singing
• Studying scriptures in small groups
• Going to religious events, i.e. religious festivals

11. Exam practice
• Explain how having a religious faith might lead
some people to express their faith through
action. (4 marks) (Ao2)
Now highlight in different colours:
1. Where your point is
2. Where your evidence is
3. Where your explanation is

12. Exam practice
• Explain how having a religious faith might lead
some people to express their faith through
action. (4 marks) (Ao2)
Point: To begin with, a religious
believer might...
Point: Similarly/On the other
hand, a religious believer
might...
Evidence: One way that they
could this is...
Evidence: They could this by...
Explanation: This would help
them to express their faith,
because...
Explanation: This would help
them to express their faith,
because...
Now highlight in different colours:
1. Where your point is
2. Where your evidence is
3. Where your explanation is

13. Plenary – bingo!
Community identity sacred WWJD
pilgrimage expression Jerusalem
private prayer worship
charity scriptures hijab
missionary work soup kitchen Hajj
convert necklace