Reformation

The Reformation was a time in history in which people tried to change the way the Christian Church worked. Before this time, the Church had a lot of power over people's lives. Priests and bishops in the Church decided what people should believe, how they should worship, and what they should do in their daily lives.

Some people began to think that the Church was not doing things the way God wanted them to. They looked carefully at the Bible and saw that what the Church was doing and saying wasn't always in line with what was written in the Bible. More people started to talk about the need for change.

One big change that people wanted was to make the Bible available to everyone. At that time, the Bible was mostly written in Latin, which few people could read, so many people were hearing what the Church leaders said the Bible meant instead of reading it for themselves. A man named Martin Luther translated the Bible into a language called German and helped make it more accessible to the common people.

Another change that people wanted was for the Church to be less corrupt. Some Church leaders were using their positions to gain wealth and power, and many people thought that this went against the teachings of Jesus. They wanted the Church to stop selling "indulgences," which were basically tickets to heaven that people could buy with money.

The Reformation led to many different groups forming their own churches, each with their own beliefs about how to follow Jesus. These new churches included the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican churches. It was a time of great change and upheaval, but it also helped make religion more accessible to anyone who wanted to understand it.