What to Teach a New Convert to Christ Straight Away

The most important thing we have to teach people when they first come to Christ, I would now say, are the truths about their identity from 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20, NLT)

People need to know that they are a new person! They need to know that the old has gone, and a new life has begun! They need to know that their sins are washed away, and they have a new nature in Christ.

They also need to know AT THE SAME TIME that if this is true, then they have also been given a new identity as an AMBASSADOR or a representative of Christ.

The ambassador represents his King now.

The ambassador does business on behalf of the King, according to the King’s instructions.

Jesus is our King. He communicates to us mostly by the Bible and by the Holy Spirit.

You can’t be a new creation without being an ambassador for Christ, and you can’t be an ambassador for Christ without being a New Creation!

The primary job of the ambassador is mentioned in this passage. It is to “reconcile people to God”, with the message of reconciliation (the gospel/Good News) which is amongst other things a message of how to get Peace with God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Basically, you need to tell a new convert that now that they belong to Jesus, their first job is to get someone else to Jesus. They should tell someone.

In this way, revival fire can spread. A new Christian who is willing to speak up will do more good than a mature Christian who is bound by fear and won’t speak up.

A believer who tells others about Christ will also be highly motivated to pray, to learn more from the Bible and other Christians, and also to get encouragement from God and other Christians at least on a weekly basis.

That solves the motivation problem.

Just get people to do that one thing. Everything else will follow.

For a While, Protect New Converts from Getting Around Christians Who Don’t Do This

Arthur Blessitt used to teach his converts they had to read the Bible, pray, and lead at least one person to Jesus every day. And they did it! He prayed that they would never get around Christians in church and find out that they (the new converts) are weird. I know this is extreme, but you get the point.

New Christians soon follow the example of people who have been around for longer. If the example of “mature” believers doesn’t include evangelising, soon New Christians will lose their fire and zeal and become complacent about soul-winning just as many (the majority?) have been.

So try hard to form disciples before gathering them into church.

I know it is radical, but it is the only way for healthy and rapid multiplication to take place.

This has worked well in central India, and in other places where the gospel has spread fast.

We don’t want Western Church growth statistics, even if we live in the West (as I do). God help us. We don’t want that. Too many will perish and too many will lose their fire for the LORD!