I believe that scripture teaches that we should always be willing and ready to share our faith with those around us. We place such a huge emphasis on people in our churches sharing the gospel. I think this should be a part of not just our ‘church’ culture but a daily emphasis in the life of every believer. We should want to tell others about what a difference He has made in our lives and how He could make a difference in the lives of our friends and family. Imagine what would happen if just half of the believers in the world began to speak out with a passion about what God could do in peoples lives.
But what happens when someone actually does pray and accept Christ as their Savior? What is the plan then? I think we often focus so much on the front end of ‘sharing’ that we often fail to develop a plan for follow up with new believers. We often fail to have a process that links them to discipleship. This is why so many Christians still live ‘as infants in Christ’. The following is a process that we have developed at our church and has been effective in not letting new believers fall through the cracks:
Week 1
Sunday:
- New believers fill-out communication card, speak to a pastor, tell their small group leader, or come forward during invitation, or we are made aware of a decision from the previous week.
- Assimilation Team enters information into church system.
Monday:
New Believer Package is mailed out by volunteer team with the following:
- Printed letter from Lead Pastor
- Baptism Invite
- Starting Point Invite (This is a meeting of initial orientation to the church and lets people know how to get connected.)
- Book – ‘Simple’ by Robert J. Morgan
- Free Coffee & New Believer Bible Certificate
- Sermon Collection (baptism, evangelism, discipleship, quiet time)
Tuesday:
- Email from lead Pastor to all new believers
Week 2
Monday:
Phone call from someone on Assimilation Team.
- Introduce themselves and welcome them to our church.
- Ask if they picked up their free Bible & series.
- Encourage reading the Bible and praying daily.
- Encourage attendance at the next Starting Point (a meeting to get to know our church and how to connect). Try to get confirmation that day.
- Ask if there is any Prayer requests that we could pray with them about.
Once they are on the Starting Point invitation list, they will receive the same follow-up that all Starting Point attendees receive (monthly invitation calls prior to meeting and follow up calls after the meeting to help them find a small group or ministry if they haven’t plugged in to one), in addition to new believer’s follow-up.
1 Year
Celebrate their first spiritual birthday! Mail a packet including:
- Celebratory Letter
- Book – (spiritual growth book of some type: Purpose Driven Life, Christian Atheist, Forgotten God, etc…)
- Invitation cards
- Phone Call: A pastor will call to check in on each new believer.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
[...] Source: Inside Ministry Printer FriendlyEmail Tweet You Might Also Like What Are You Scared Of? How to Pray Around the Globe While Sipping Your Coffee How to Spend an Hour in Prayer Celebrating Pastors In Recovery – a Safe Place for Leaders Filed Under: Administration, Evangelism, Missions & Outreach, Tips & How To's Tagged With: Administration, evangelism, missions, Missions & Outreach, new believer About John HerringJohn Herring serves as a Pastor at Oasis Church in North Little Rock where he covers multiple bases administratively, overseeing missions, communications, and other hats too. He blogs at Inside Ministry and offers practical help to church leaders everywhere. /* [...]
March 5th, 2012 at 8:02 am
[...] Are you ready for people to Accept Christ? (insideministry.wordpress.com) [...]
March 17th, 2012 at 8:46 am
Thanks for this information. I am challenged at my church because this process is not pastor supported. Any recommendations?
March 27th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Sandy, It is always exciting to see someone accept Christ as their Savior. But that is only the beginning of helping someone develop their relationship with Christ. We have been also given the responsibility of discipleship. This process helps move people from initial believer to a place where they can develop as a disciple. With that said, I believe that we should honor the position of our lead pastors in our church and trust them as they follow God. They will ultimately be responsible to God for their actions as pastor. This is a huge weight to carry and your support will give them the strength to continue. However, you can use the process with those you have influence over (as long as it isn’t an attempt to go behind your pastors back) and those you personally lead to the Lord. It may be that if it is seen in action, your pastor would see the value of such a process in your church. My prayer is that many would come to Christ and you would have a HUGE need for this process.