FIRST STEPS
The first steps to any journey set the tone for all that follows. We want following Jesus to be as easy as possible for everyone. Here are the first four steps we believe every Christian should take.
The First Step with Jesus
The first step to being a Christian is understanding exactly what a Christian is. A Christian is anyone who recognizes Jesus is God and places their trust in Him to lead their life. The earliest Christians followed the way of Jesus because of His life, death, and resurrection. Likewise, Christians today place their trust in Jesus because He is God, He died on the cross, and He rose from the dead. To take your first step with Jesus, you simply have to consider and decide in your heart and mind if the following statement is true in your life:
"I place my trust in Jesus to lead my life because He is God, He died on the cross, and He rose from the grave."
There’s a lot more to learn about the Bible, the teachings of Jesus, and the foundational beliefs that make Christianity a unique religion. But the core of Christianity is Jesus. Jesus is God in human form, who died on the cross and rose from the grave. That’s why He alone is the Savior King of humanity.
Once you place your trust in Jesus, you are a Christian! That’s it. There is no special prayer or way to do it. You just need to say the above statement either out loud or to yourself transferring the trust of leadership for your life to Jesus. Once you do this, the next step is to get baptized, which is the public declaration of your inward decision to follow Jesus. In the Bible, baptism is done by a new believer being immersed in water. Different churches do this in different ways. Just let the pastor or a leader at the church you choose to attend know that you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus and want to get baptized. They will help you.
"I place my trust in Jesus to lead my life because He is God, He died on the cross, and He rose from the grave."
There’s a lot more to learn about the Bible, the teachings of Jesus, and the foundational beliefs that make Christianity a unique religion. But the core of Christianity is Jesus. Jesus is God in human form, who died on the cross and rose from the grave. That’s why He alone is the Savior King of humanity.
Once you place your trust in Jesus, you are a Christian! That’s it. There is no special prayer or way to do it. You just need to say the above statement either out loud or to yourself transferring the trust of leadership for your life to Jesus. Once you do this, the next step is to get baptized, which is the public declaration of your inward decision to follow Jesus. In the Bible, baptism is done by a new believer being immersed in water. Different churches do this in different ways. Just let the pastor or a leader at the church you choose to attend know that you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus and want to get baptized. They will help you.
The First Step with the Bible
The next first step every Christian needs to take is owning and reading a Bible. The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible is literally text written by God for us to know Him and ourselves. The Bible is also not a single book, but a collection of sixty-six books that were composed by 40+ human authors over 1500+ years in three different original languages. Today, we read the Bible in our language because we read a translation of the original documents.
Following Jesus requires us to not only read God’s Word but to learn and live the way it teaches. There is a lot to learn about the Bible, and you will learn more the longer you spend time with it. But, to start, here is the first thing you need to know: spending time reading God’s Word is necessary to grow as a Christian. There’s no shortcut or way around it. We all need to spend time reading and learning about God directly from His Word.
If you are new to the Christian faith, still exploring it, or are undecided about Jesus, the single best place to start are the four books of the Bible that tell the story of who Jesus is and what He did. Those books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You can find where they are in your Bible by locating them in the table of contents in the section titled "New Testament."
These four books are what Christians refer to as "the Gospels." The word “gospel” literally means “good news,” and they are the record of Jesus’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Please read the Gospel of John (that’s the fourth book in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, JOHN) before you read anything else. John offers a very clear and personal view of Jesus’s life. It’s the best first book of the Bible to read.
There are a lot of choices of Bible translation to choose from. We recommend the New International Version (NIV) for most adults, or the New International Readers Version (NIrV) for children or those who English is not their first language. If you attend a different church, you may want to ask which translation they recommend.
Following Jesus requires us to not only read God’s Word but to learn and live the way it teaches. There is a lot to learn about the Bible, and you will learn more the longer you spend time with it. But, to start, here is the first thing you need to know: spending time reading God’s Word is necessary to grow as a Christian. There’s no shortcut or way around it. We all need to spend time reading and learning about God directly from His Word.
If you are new to the Christian faith, still exploring it, or are undecided about Jesus, the single best place to start are the four books of the Bible that tell the story of who Jesus is and what He did. Those books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You can find where they are in your Bible by locating them in the table of contents in the section titled "New Testament."
These four books are what Christians refer to as "the Gospels." The word “gospel” literally means “good news,” and they are the record of Jesus’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Please read the Gospel of John (that’s the fourth book in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, JOHN) before you read anything else. John offers a very clear and personal view of Jesus’s life. It’s the best first book of the Bible to read.
There are a lot of choices of Bible translation to choose from. We recommend the New International Version (NIV) for most adults, or the New International Readers Version (NIrV) for children or those who English is not their first language. If you attend a different church, you may want to ask which translation they recommend.
The First Step with a Church
The third first step every Christian needs to take is joining a local church’s Christian community. Christians are meant to be in community. We all need each other. Many hold to the belief that you can believe in Jesus and not be a part of a local church. This is both true and misleading. Placing your trust in Jesus is something you do personally on your own. But following Jesus and living the way His Word teaches us cannot be done alone. The Bible expects Jesus’ followers to be a part of a Christian community that fosters growth and maturity.
In modern-day Western society, churches are a matter of choice. Most people choose a church based on their preference of music, distance to travel, activities for kids, or other personal preferences. While this is not bad on its own, it does lead us to the mistaken idea that being a part of a church at all is a choice or a preference. It is not. Jesus expects His followers to be a healthy, mission-oriented community, not a collection of remote and disconnected followers.
One of the most important first steps in following Jesus is connecting with a local Christian community that will accept you as you are, help you to learn the faith, answer your questions along the way, and challenge you to reflect Jesus in your lifestyle. Please make sure to connect with a local church that will help you to start doing these things.
The best way to connect with the Catalyst community is in our app. We use it as the 24/7 connection point to both get information, access media, respond to events, and connect with others in community. Click here to download our app.
In modern-day Western society, churches are a matter of choice. Most people choose a church based on their preference of music, distance to travel, activities for kids, or other personal preferences. While this is not bad on its own, it does lead us to the mistaken idea that being a part of a church at all is a choice or a preference. It is not. Jesus expects His followers to be a healthy, mission-oriented community, not a collection of remote and disconnected followers.
One of the most important first steps in following Jesus is connecting with a local Christian community that will accept you as you are, help you to learn the faith, answer your questions along the way, and challenge you to reflect Jesus in your lifestyle. Please make sure to connect with a local church that will help you to start doing these things.
The best way to connect with the Catalyst community is in our app. We use it as the 24/7 connection point to both get information, access media, respond to events, and connect with others in community. Click here to download our app.
The First Step for Growth
The fourth and final first step you need to take is to begin a friendship with a Christian who is knowledgeable and mature in the faith. This will be the person you can go to in order to ask questions, seek wisdom, and who can be there to help you get started learning and living as a Christian.
Once we take the first step of trusting Jesus, we are all on the same journey of learning and living. The process of learning about Jesus and choosing to change the way we live to adhere to His Word is called discipleship or growing in Christian maturity. No one is perfect. We all have a unique story and bring our own “baggage” with us to our faith in Jesus.
This is why it is so important to find one person you can go to when you need help. Everyone needs help learning to be more like Jesus. This is a lifelong process. Starting from day one with a commitment to finding a person you can look up to as a spiritual mentor will save you from years of just “going to church” without seeing any of the real benefits of growing in maturity.
How do you know who to choose? Here are a few simple guidelines:
Once we take the first step of trusting Jesus, we are all on the same journey of learning and living. The process of learning about Jesus and choosing to change the way we live to adhere to His Word is called discipleship or growing in Christian maturity. No one is perfect. We all have a unique story and bring our own “baggage” with us to our faith in Jesus.
This is why it is so important to find one person you can go to when you need help. Everyone needs help learning to be more like Jesus. This is a lifelong process. Starting from day one with a commitment to finding a person you can look up to as a spiritual mentor will save you from years of just “going to church” without seeing any of the real benefits of growing in maturity.
How do you know who to choose? Here are a few simple guidelines:
- Always choose someone of the same sex. Men, choose another man. Ladies, choose another woman. As you begin to grow in your faith, you will need to ask questions and be vulnerable with this person, so choosing someone of the same sex gives you the best balance of understanding and safety.
- Choose someone whose faith you respect and want to emulate. Selecting a coach or mentor requires us to recognize that this person has knowledge and experience that we do not have yet. Be sure you see enough maturity in them that you want to learn from them.
- Choose someone you are willing and able to be vulnerable with. Growing in Christian maturity requires vulnerability in questions and conversations. If you are not willing to be open with this person about your faith and the questions or challenges you are having as you learn to follow Jesus, they are not the right person to choose to help you. You must be willing to be vulnerable with them.
- Choose someone you can communicate with regularly. When you are first starting to learn and live as a Christian, you are going to have questions, and you will need access to your coach or mentor. Make sure you choose someone you can communicate with regularly and set up a habit to do so. If you can’t talk with them, they can’t help you. So make sure you select someone you’re able to communicate with regularly.