Young People's Ministry & Chat: Advice for New Believers

Monday, February 02, 2009

Advice for New Believers

Picture a brood of newborn pups, squirming, mewing, sniffling, snuggling. These pups blindly push towards the safest place on the planet for them: mama’s tummy. For them, this is the center of their universe, their nucleus. Mom’s downy tummy provides warmth, security and nourishment, without which sickness, predators and death would soon creep in to consume.

Puppies need the security found next to their mother’s heart. These pups begin to grow and frolic, always returning to velvety warmth of mama. As you watch these little tykes, you notice a small runt-like puppy always pushed to the outskirts. This puppy whines and cries but to no avail, as it is pushed away from the nucleus. You wonder why doesn’t that puppy push its way as close to mama as it can get?

Newborn Christians are born into a similar situation. Their nucleus is the core of the local church, where the means of Christ’s grace flow, providing warmth, security and nourishment. At the nucleus of the local church, there are the faithful who cling to each other in the context of fellowship, the word and prayer. As puppies differ in color, size and personality, the faithful differ in color, spiritual size and personality. However, these Christians all have one thing in common, they faithfully contend with busy schedules to invest countless hours into one purpose: growth together within a vision of discipleship, ministry and evangelism. Many local churches have 2 to 4 activities a week, which draw those who make up the nucleus, with supplemental studies and gatherings existing as well.

As a Christian seeks to grow in his local church, it is imperative that he discipline himself to attend all of the core meetings, thereby being nourished spiritually through the means of grace. This Christian will become assimilated into the nucleus of the church over time, eventually becoming intertwined spiritually and relationally with the other core believers. Within this context, there is safety, accountability, nourishment. Spiritual zeal and stamina result, giving the growing Christian the ability and strength to navigate his daily schedule, while pursuing the vision of discipling and evangelizing. Through faithful investment in the core meetings, the local church becomes a place of life, grace and joy.

Labels: ministry