Should God grant you the joy of leading someone to new faith in Christ, the new believer needs some initial help in walking with Christ. In some cases, you may not be the ideal person to help the new believer. Perhaps you don’t live anywhere near the person. Perhaps a church that the person begins attending has a great process for discipling new believers, and to allow the church to play that role will help that person integrate into a church most easily.

If you are the person best suited to give a new believer initial help in walking with Christ, there are a few basic issues in which he or she should become grounded. They might include:

• The importance of taking up one’s cross daily and following Christ. (Luke 9:23)
• The importance and meaning of water baptism.
• How grace and repentance continue to play roles in our lives after conversion
• How to pray
• How to study the Bible
• The importance of being a member of a local church and submission to church leadership; and regular worshipping at a local church where one is a committed member.
• How to begin sharing your faith with others even now
• God’s grip on our lives: we cannot lose our salvation

An example of a classic guide for discipling a new believer is the Navigators’ Design For Discipleship, volume 1: Your Life in Christ. However, it is tempting to believe that simply intellectually working through lessons in a book means that the new believer is grounded. Working through a book can be good, but discipleship means working with someone until these sorts of issues above become habits, skills and convictions.

Continue on to