Advice For New Believers
I was saved when I was 36 years old, and I am a very technically minded person, so I know how daunting it can be to grasp all of the information there is about Christianity. I remember how discouraging and confusing it was to discover that there are over 100 different translations of the Bible in English alone. Which one is the “right” translation? And that there are thousands of different denominations of the church 1. Which one is the “right” denomination? And then there’s the tendency for some churches to throw you right into the deep end asking you to empty your pockets into their coffers, and telling you to go start preaching the gospel to every person you meet. If it wasn’t for God keeping me strong in my faith, I would have folded under that pressure and given up. With that in mind, I wanted to create a guide to encourage you in your faith if you are facing the same kind of struggle that did.
Christianity is all about relationships
Romans 8:35 (ESV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Christianity is about having a relationship with God, having relationships with the people in your church, and, as you grow in your faith, developing relationships with other people, wherever you go, as an outpouring of God’s presence in your life. These are not superficial relationships I’m talking about. These are relationships where you forget yourself in service to others. You love others - meaning you want, and actively work towards, what’s best for them. And you love God - meaning you treasure all that he does for you and teaches you, as well as respect His authority over you; kind of like how you love a parent or grandparent.
We don’t try to build a relationship with someone by forcing them to meet our preconceived notions of how they should look and act, and we can’t do that with God either. We have to learn about God - who He really is - and we have to accept and love Him for that - not what we think He should be. Another thing about relationships is they require two-way communication. In order to have a relationship with a person, you have talk as well as listen; give as well as receive; it’s all about sharing, compromise, appreciation, and, ultimately, growth. Well, a relationship with God is no different.
Pray
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Philippians 4:6 (NIV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Have you ever asked God for anything? Ever tried to bargain with Him? “Oh, God, if you just do this one thing for me, I’ll never do anything bad ever again…” Prayer is how we talk to God.
We take it for granted that we will talk to everyone whom we have a relationship with. The less you talk to someone the less fruitful your relationship with them is. If you stop talking to someone, it’s the same as ending your relationship with them. And the same goes for our relationship with God. We need to talk to God.
Don’t get hung up on what you say to God. God knows what’s in your heart; your thoughts and desires. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t want you to say them to Him. He wants you to express yourself to Him openly and honestly. Don’t simply repeat a “standardized” prayer, but tell God what’s on your mind, and on your heart. Don’t hesitate to ask Him for help at any time during the day or night. Also don’t hesitate to thank Him for things that go right, no matter how small.
And, as the passage from Philippians says, pray with petition as well as thanksgiving. That doesn’t mean that you should think of God as a magic genie who will grant your wishes, and thank Him in advance for granting them. It means ask Him for what you want, but don’t forget to thank Him for what He has already given you.
One more note on prayer. It is common for us to pray “in Jesus’ name.” This comes from John 14:13 where the Bible tells us that Jesus said, “whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” I want to point out to you that these are not magic words. Praying in Jesus’ name does not guarantee that your prayer will be answered. Instead, you should think of it as if you are acting on behalf of Jesus, or more accurately praying with the faith of Jesus. It’s kind of like if you were to do some act on behalf of someone else and you did it “in their name” such that they would reap the benefits or pay the cost for whatever you did “in their name.” One way to look at it is - don’t pray for anything that Jesus wouldn’t pray for. Another way to look at it is to only pray for what God the Father wills - like Jesus did the night he was arrested. Ultimately, we shouldn’t expect to pray effectively unless we do it in the same spirit that Jesus himself prayed - no matter what words we end our prayers with.
And it’s not like we can’t just pour our heart out to God whenever we need to. We don’t have to always pray “saintly” prayers in Jesus’ name. Sometimes we need to crawl to the feet of the Father blubbering and sobbing. That’s just the way it is. It’s a matter of the heart more than a matter of the mouth.
Read the Bible
Joshua 1:8 (NIV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
OK, so if prayer is how we talk to God, then how does He talk to us? Well, the Bible is God’s Word, and reading it is, primarily, how we listen to God. It’s not impossible for God to speak to us however He wants to, whether it be in dreams (Matthew 1:20), from a booming voice in the sky (Matthew 3:17), or even through a donkey (Numbers 22:28), but those are rare occurrences, whereas the Bible speaks to us whenever we read it.
“Wait,” I hear you say, “I’m supposed to listen by reading a book?” Exactly. The Bible is actually meant to be read out loud. In fact, before the 17th century reading silently was not considered normal 2, and was even considered to be rude 3. But more to the point, the more you get to know the Bible, the more you get to know God. That’s how He made it work.
The Bible is a book that you will learn something new from every time you read it, for the rest of your life. There is no other book like the Bible. It’s not that the words written in the Bible change, but rather that you change, and it speaks differently, to different parts of you, as you change. Also, you will encounter things in the Bible that will definitely challenge you if you take them seriously. This also seems to be worked into the design of the Bible overall. God tells us to meditate on His word day and night, and there are plenty of things in the Bible that will give you food for thought for hours on end.
As for where to get started; if you are hesitant to jump right in and read the Bible from front to back then I would suggest that you start with the book of Luke, and then the book of Acts after that. The book of Luke is one of the Gospels - that is, one of four books that tell about the life and ministry of Jesus. If you have a “red letter Bible” then the words that Jesus spoke will all be in red, so pay extra attention to those. By the way, the red letter concept was first introduced as an aid to silent readers 3, back when they were a rarity, but I digress.
The book of Acts tells about the life and ministry of the Apostles after Jesus died, was resurrected, and ascended into heaven. As a Christian, this part of the Bible is the heart of our faith. I suggest Luke instead of any of the other Gospels because Luke also wrote Acts as a “Part 2” to his story of Jesus and the Apostles. They were also written for a Gentile (that is, non-Jewish) audience, which most of us are, and they are a great place for new believers to begin reading.
You can also start with a reading plan, of which there are a wide variety to choose from - just search online for one that interests you. One simple reading plan to start with is to read one chapter from the book of Proverbs for every day of the month. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs, so it’s easy to read whatever chapter corresponds to the current day of the month. Again, this is just a place to start. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading the whole Bible. It is a source of light and truth, and it will continue to bless you as long as you meditate on it.
Also, for an added benefit to your reading, remembering, and understanding of the Bible, I suggest that you take notes as you read. To start, I would suggest that for every chapter you read, or every section heading, stop and ask yourself what you think that particular section of text means. And it’s ok to answer “I don’t know.” In fact, if you do read a part that you don’t understand, this is a great opportunity to ask a pastor or church elder to help you understand it. And, even if you think you understood it, take your notes and talk with your pastor about them, and get his or her feedback on their understanding of what that part of the Bible says.
I have one last point I’d like to address when it comes to reading the Bible. When I first became a Christian I struggled hard with the fact that there are so many different translations of the Bible. I thought “how can an inerrant Bible have so many different interpretations?” Well, that turns out to be a complicated question to answer because language translation isn’t so much a science as an art. It’s no small feat to translate an ancient text, based in another culture, from another language into something that the modern reader can understand, let alone relate to. That’s not to say that the Bible translation process is hopeless, I’m just saying that it’s not something to get hung up on.
I had a mentor who helped me see this more clearly as an advantage when he told me that English speakers were blessed to have so many different translations because we can use them all to help us know God better. Some are more technical and great for doing analytical types of study, and others are more conversational and great for reading out loud, or to children. Some people will say that there’s only one “right” translation (usually they are referring to the King James Version (KJV)), but I found that once I let go of the idea that I had to find the “one true translation” I enjoyed looking at all of them to see what I could learn from each one. You can do this very easily at biblegateway.com.
And, for the record, if you’re not sure which translation you should get, I’d recommend basing your decision on your reading level. If you read dense, technical texts with ease then go for a more literal translation like the New American Standard Bible (NASB) or the English Standard Version (ESV). If you like comic books more than text books go for the Common English Bible (CEB) or the New Living Translation (NLT). And if you’re somewhere in between go for the New International Version (NIV). See what a blessing it is to have options!
If you’re interested, you can easily search for images of the Bible translation spectrum to get pictures of where all the Bibles fall on the spectrum ranging from literal, word-for-word translations to dynamic, thought-for-thought translations.
Praise and worship God
Psalm 95:1-6 (ESV) Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
It’s easy to get caught up in studying the Bible like a textbook, and turning prayer into a ritual. This is what happens when we don’t show God our appreciation, but instead treat Him like a mythological figure. God is alive, and we should sing His praises!
What relationship doesn’t flourish under the sunshine of praise? What relationship doesn’t wilt without it? Our relationship with God is no different. And I can already hear the excuse, “but I can’t sing.” Let me stop you right there. First of all, everyone can sing. God gave everyone with a voice the ability to use it in praise of Him. If you think you can’t sing, it only means that you haven’t been using your voice to sing. Granted, some of us are going to sing like a bird, and some of us are going to sing like a toad, but the more you sing, the more comfortable you will get with your particular vocal range.
Worshiping God is not just about singing, it’s about opening up and raising up our spirit to praise Him. There’s nothing that has that effect quite like music, but music is not the only form of praise. You can play an instrument, or dance, or paint, or draw, or write. The point is to marvel at the glory of God, and show Him your love. Make a point to regularly get into that creative, expressive state of mind, and pour your heart out to God!
I was listening to a pastor (Kevin DeYoung) online who put this in perfect perspective. Imagine that you have a 5 year old child who paints a picture of you and gives it to you with great pride and joy. Are you going to criticize that child’s artwork and throw it away, or are you going to be so appreciative of their display of love that you hang it on the refrigerator? Well, we’re the 5 year old in the story and God is the one who hangs whatever we give him in heartfelt praise on the big refrigerator in heaven.
Find a church
Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The churches in the time of the Apostles, and for the couple hundred years following, did not necessarily meet in buildings. When Paul wrote letters to “the church at Corinth,” or the “church at Philippi” he was not writing a letter to a building. He was writing a letter to a group of believers that congregated at different places in that geographic region. You see, the early churches were not organized the same way our modern churches are. They were usually just gatherings of people who would meet together at someone’s house, or at some public place like a park, to fellowship, share a meal, and usually talk about the Gospel and perhaps read whatever letters they possessed from the Apostles.
What we think of as a church today - a physical building with a pulpit and pews and stained glass windows - is, perhaps, a disservice to the Gospel message. The church is the bride of Christ, and Christ is not married to a building! He’s married to us - the people who believe in Him! When Christ died on the cross the veil between us and the holy of holies was torn. There’s no sacred building that marks the spot where we can meet God any more. We meet God when we pray and read His word. The Catholic church tried to reinstate that holy of holies concept by creating huge cathedrals and hoarding the Biblical texts so that common folks couldn’t read them, but the protestant reformation, fueled by God’s word, tore down that barrier too. We still seem to have some remnant of the cathedral concept in our modern church buildings that was left over from our Catholic heritage, but church is definitely a matter of the people and not of the building.
That being said, churches are essential for two reasons. One is that you are able to sit under the teaching of the Word. (Think of Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. Luke 10:39) You have to hear from the word of God! Thankfully we have pastors today who spend years devoted to studying and applying God’s word who can help us learn, understand, and apply that Word ourselves. They are not somehow closer to God, or higher up the hierarchy than us. But they are, or should be, devoted to helping us know and serve God better. We are a family, God is our Father, and we are God’s children - the pastor included. It’s just that the pastor is kind of like the big brother or sister who gets the responsibility of making sure the rest of his or her siblings are doing what dear old Dad wants them to do.
A pastor’s job is to teach you what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life in a way that is faithful to, and dependent upon, God. Their teaching should touch your heart as well as your mind, to be sure, but their job is not to excite, or entertain, or condemn you. The Holy Spirit will both motivate and convict you. And, as for entertainment, well, if that’s what you signed up for, you’re in the wrong place. Christianity is about service, sacrifice, and submission; we’re not here to watch God tap-dance and do magic tricks.
The second thing a church gives you is fellowship. You should feel welcomed into your church, and you should be accepted as a fellow image bearer of God, and fellow sinner in need of forgiveness - if nothing else. Ultimately though, we as a church are supposed to have each other’s backs, so, if you aren’t actively attending church then you are missing out on some essential relationships that can not only help you grow, but can give you opportunities to serve others, and also just give you encouragement and joy.
Beware of false teachers
1 John 4:1 (ESV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
There are all manner of “preachers” out there who are more interested with their own personal gain than with serving God. Some preachers get attached to the idea of being the center of attention every Sunday. They like to tell stories about themselves, and share their personal opinions and beliefs, and, oh yeah, mention something about the Bible too.
Other “preachers” know how to sell, and boy don’t they take every opportunity they can to snag every dollar out of your pocket. They’ll tell you all about how you can be rich and famous if you just “have enough faith,” and by the way sign up for my exclusive conference where I’ll tell you all about it. And buy my book, and, heck, just go ahead and give me - ahem, I mean the church - all your money. I’ve been to churches like that. I once sat in an hour and a half long sermon on how God wanted everyone in attendance to help the church pay off their 95 million dollar debt. Is it a coincidence that that church also had a bookstore and a Starbucks in the lobby? Needless to say, that was the last time I went to that church.
I’ve also been to churches where the whole sermon was about how everyone needs to submit to and obey the “church.” I didn’t hear anything about submitting to God, but the impression I got was that everyone was supposed to blindly trust the church leaders, no matter what. That’s a red flag to me too because, even though they may be church leaders, they are still humans.
And there’s one aspect of Biblical teaching where I’ve always been in kind of a grey area about. There are charismatic churches that say that you have to be “baptized by the Spirit” in order to be saved. This basically means that you have to speak in tongues. These churches also emphasize demonstrations of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11), to include faith healing, prophecy, and - I don’t know how else to say it - erratic behavior. Then there are churches on the opposite end of the spectrum who think that speaking in tongues, prophecy, and some of the other gifts of the Spirit “ceased” a long time ago. Basically, they think speaking in tongues is evidence of a mental disorder and has nothing to do with the Spirit. Now, I believe the Bible when it says that the Spirit imparts gifts to believers for God’s glory, but I have never personally possessed any of those gifts. So, I have not officially been “baptized by the Spirit,” but I know some people who “have been.” That is to say, they “speak in tongues” and “prophecy” but they also know, and faithfully preach, the Bible, and seemingly miraculous things happen in their lives from time to time. I would just advise caution in this area, and definitely defer to the Bible and pray about it a lot if you find yourself dealing with things in this realm.
One thing is for sure - a good pastor will teach you the Bible. Teach you that God’s word is the only real authority that we are to submit to. Teach you that, in fact, you should tithe and give charitably, but not use that as a way to guilt you into helping the church (or the pastor) pay off its extravagant spending. Teach you that the Bible does in fact say that the Holy Spirit imparts gifts to people for God’s glory, but not that everyone necessarily gets any of those gifts. And teach you to trust God!
Use online tools to your spiritual advantage
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
We live in a world of constant connectivity, where social media and online media in general offer us something to watch, read, or listen to every moment of every day. Now, we can view this with pessimism and bemoan the fact that so much “bad” content is on the internet, or we can view it with optimism and celebrate the fact that we have tools and resources at our fingertips that the great theologians of the past could never have dreamed of. See, our technology is the very thing that enables the church to reach the far corners of the Earth with the Gospel, and that is exactly what the Bible tells us to do. So, it’s not just nice to have this advantage, it comes with a responsibility to use it. I’ll get off my soapbox, though, and say that you should definitely take advantage of all the tools and resources that you can get - of which many are free - online.
To start with, church services are often posted online via the church website or social media. There are also quite a few excellent pastors who post their sermons on YouTube, Vimeo, or other online media. I can heartily recommend searching for John Piper, Francis Chan, Tim Keller, R.C. Sproul, and The Bible Project. That’s not to say that these are the only pastors I recommend, just that these ones are good to start with.
In addition to church services, there are plenty of free Bible study courses online these days. It’s definitely worth it to take one or more of these courses to guide your studies with more challenge and intention. Again, make sure to verify that the sources you are learning from are staying true to the Bible, but don’t hesitate to use them to your spiritual advantage. I can recommend, as a starting place, that you check out The Gospel Coalition, and BibleArc.com, and you can even get a free online college degree in Bible studies from Christian Leaders Institute.
Find a mentor
Proverbs 11:14 (ESV) Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
I saved this step for last because you don’t want to naively just trust anybody with your faith. There are plenty of wolves in sheep’s clothing out there, so you want to have at least some idea of what signs to look for that a person can be trusted as knowing what they’re talking about, and walking their talk, before you invite them into the intimate space of guiding you through your walk with God. That being said, I highly recommend that within the first year or so of becoming a Christian you seek out a mentor who can encourage you and answer your questions. Ideally you’d be able to do this immediately, but, if you don’t know who to trust, you will need God and a decent grasp of what the Bible says to help you be discerning about finding the right person. Also, once you do find a mentor it’s up to you to take what your mentor says and meditate on it, not just to find out what it means and how you can use it, but also to see if you feel like God is leading you to follow that advice as well.
That being said, if you trust your church, ask the pastor and/or elders if they know anyone who would be willing to mentor you. If you can’t find an in-person mentor then feel free to choose from the many mentors who have written down their sage advice over the centuries. Books are a great place to get guidance from, and here’s a trick - the older the book is, the more people have valued it over time, so that probably means that it contains valuable information, otherwise it would have been forgotten and left in the past. To get you started I can recommend the following authors: R.C. Sproul, John Piper, J.I. Packer, D.A. Carson, Charles Spurgeon, and Jonathan Edwards. I’d say start with them and by the time you’ve read some of their work you will be well on your way to being able to discern a good mentor from a bad one.
Remember to serve
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
By the time you have put all of the advice from this article into practice you will have grown quite a bit in your faith, and you will be in a place to encourage, if not teach, others in their faith. After you’ve learned to walk, so to speak, in your faith, you can begin to run. And by that I mean you can begin to serve others.
As Christians we are not to just be ministered to, but we are also meant to minister to others. Ministry does not just mean preaching, and you don’t have to have a college degree to have a ministry. As one of my mentors once told me, having a ministry doesn’t necessarily mean that you are standing in front of a pulpit on Sunday morning.
If you are able to come along side a friend or relative in their faith, and they are open to you doing so, then your ministry could consist of that one relationship. That doesn’t mean that you will have all the answers for them, but it does mean that you will both be able to walk and grow together. As long as you are building each other up, and one of you is not tearing the other down, then you have a ministry. Maybe your friend asks the questions and you search for the answers. Maybe your friend is struggling under the seemingly endless contradictions between the world and the church - or even within the church - and you have some insight or encouragement to offer.
I look at ministry this way - God does the big things and I do the little things. It’s the little things that add up, and ministry is all about doing those little things. For example, I consider this blog to be a ministry. Each post is one little thing that I am doing to advance the Kingdom of God. Whether people read this blog or not, well, that’s up to God. If I’ve been at all helpful to you in your walk with God, then I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. God be praised!
Conclusion
To close, I’d just like to remind you to pray, read, and worship. Talk to God, listen to Him, and praise Him. And don’t lock yourself away in your prayer closet. We are a family under Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We need each other, and we are called to serve those in need as well as spread the Word of God through the world.
I know that there’s a lot of information out there, trust me I’ve struggled with it too, but stick to the fundamentals, be honest with yourself and others, and trust in God; He will guide you through it all.
Footnotes
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How do you define a denomination - https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/quick-facts/ ↩
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The beginning of silent reading changed Westerners’ interior life - https://qz.com/quartzy/1118580/the-beginning-of-silent-reading-was-also-the-beginning-of-an-interior-life/ ↩
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Silent Readers - https://web.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Manguel/Silent_Readers.html ↩ ↩2