I’m a Brand New Christian. What Do I Do Now?

This is Day One of being a Christian. What now?

I’ve been bombarded with videos on TikTok from people who have recently become Christians or have decided to come back to the faith they had as children.

Invariably, these videos come with a sense of excitement and trepidation. They’ve taken the leap and made the decision. They have come to a point where they can do nothing but decide that God is real and Jesus has called them to follow him. But now what?

Repent and believe and you will be saved.

No life is the same, no journey is linear. The first thing to do is repent and believe. This is all you need to do to be saved. When you do that, the Holy Spirit enters and begins His work. This is work only He can do. However, there are things you can do that will enable His work of sanctification in your life.

What is Sanctification?

Sanctification is a big word that means becoming more like Jesus. Because Christians are still sinners. Jen Wilkin says it well: as she grows more like Jesus, she is quicker to repent and slower to repeat. That is, in practice, what the processor sanctification looks like. Sometimes, it’ll be a miraculous work like the time my dad became a Christian and decided he needed to stop smoking, and that was the last cigarette he ever smoked. But those times are rarer than the slow and sometimes unsteady process.

The thing about being a Christian is that you grow to love Jesus more and more, but the heart cannot love what the head does not know. To know Jesus, we need to go to the place where He has revealed Himself to us. The Bible.

What is the Bible, and how do I read it?

The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by different authors over time, all inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convinces us of God’s word and helps us understand and apply scripture. 

The scriptures firstly teach what man should believe about God 
and what God requires of man.

The Westminster Confession teaches that the Bible is God-breathed, authoritative, sufficient, clear in its saving message, and rightly understood only through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So we should read it. But where on earth do we start? Because it feels so overwhelming a task. From all the versions to some of the language, to poetry and apocalyptic writing, Old Testament, New Testament…

As someone who has been a Christian for 25 years and has read the Bible at least 6 times (cover to cover, I mean), here’s where I would start.

Choose a Bible translation that uses common English, but also was translated to be as close to the original language as possible. The NIV (New International Version), NLT (New Living Translation) or ESV (English Standard Version) are the three I’d recommend, in that order. My favourite is the ESV, but I’ve been brought up with church language my whole life.

Read the four gospels. These are the four first books of the New Testament and are eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 

Then I’d personally go for Genesis and Exodus to get a sense of history, and after that, I would go on to read the rest of the New Testament.

Warning, Revelation is weird, and written in apocalyptic writing that scares and intimidates even the most seasoned of Christians, so read it, but don’t expect to understand too much of it. Ancient Jews were used to apocalyptic writing and were very familiar with the Old Testament writings, which made understanding it easier. I am currently going through a study on Revelation and it is fascinating and exciting, but perhaps not for right this moment for a new Christian!

Take notes, read commentaries, ask questions of Christian’s who are further along in the journey of faith. Which brings me on to the next item on my list. A lot of the people who show up in my TikTok feed open their videos by saying they have gone back to church or started going to church. This is perfect.

How do I find a good church?

Go to church, but not just any church. There are a lot of dodgy churches, and many who teach false gospels like the prosperity gospel, things that are completely opposed to the Bible, like the Mormon church (also known as the Seventh-day Adventists).

A good clue to look for is to scour a church's website for words to the effect of "a biblically grounded church" or "We trust the Scriptures as God’s true, good, unchanging and life-giving Word." If a church teaches the Bible and trusts it to be true and God's word to us, that is a good start.

Make sure their "about us" or similar page on their website is speaking about Jesus and their desire to do as commanded in the Bible, as well as a church that says it is welcoming and friendly - those should be givens!

If you're looking in real life rather than online, you may want to start at a Baptist or Presbyterian church, as these are well-known denominations with safeguards in place regarding the theology they teach.

A church that emphasises prayer, evangelism and telling others about the good news of Jesus are other things I would want to see expressed.

What is prayer, and how do I do it?

Prayer, put simply, is speaking with God - it can be done with other Christians, or alone. It can be done aloud, in your head or written down. It can be short or long, it can be rehearsed (like a liturgy or a blessing) or said as you think of things.

My favourite way to pray is to write them down in a prayer journal. I also enjoy the early morning prayer meeting at church, as it is intimate (not many people are up that early), and it feels a little bit illegal. I love to listen to others pray, and this has recently taught me to launch out and pray out loud too, even if it feels uncomfortable, because it is a blessing to hear others pray. 

A great way to learn to pray is to read the Lord's Prayer, as this is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray, and to attend a prayer meeting and listen to other Christians pray. 

I've been thinking a lot about prayer recently, and you can find out what I've discovered in this post.

New to Christianity? Let me know!

If you are new to Christianity and have specific questions, please leave me a comment or get in touch by email or on Instagram (@andhopedesigns). I'd love to have a conversation and send guidance and encouragement. This is the most exciting journey to begin on, and I'm so delighted to call you sister or brother in Christ.