Every month, about 2850 people in the USA and Canada Google the question; “How to become a Christian” Apparently, many people have a desire to learn more about Jesus. Or about God. Once you start to explore who Jesus is, it may lead to this big question, so it makes sense that people are looking for an answer. What does it look like to become a Christian?
Take the first step
The first step is to make a choice. Deciding that you want to become a Christian, or at least want to know more. Faith doesn’t usually come all at once (though sometimes it does), it’s a incremental process you might not even be aware of. That is why making an intentional decision to explore is a very important step.
Pray
This is a key part of your choice to become a Christian. To simply pray. There are no strict requirements for prayer. You can just tell God what you are thinking at that moment. Positive or negative, it doesn’t matter to God. He just wants to know what’s on your mind. Tell God that you are curious about life with him and ask him to help you in your search. Ask him to guide you and put the right people on your path. God cares about you very much and is happy to help you! Not sure how to pray? Here you will find a step-by-step plan to help you.
Do research
When you make an important choice, you naturally first want to know as much as possible about what you are choosing. It is exactly the same with following Jesus. You do not have to understand everything completely or have read the entire Bible before you become a Christian. But it’s good to know what you’re getting yourself into. On our site you can learn quite a lot about the Christian faith. You could start reading the Bible yourself. You don’t even have to believe what the Bible says at first, you can just start reading! If you aren’t sure where you should start, you could follow a free reading plan in the YouVersion Bible App It is best to start with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are the first four books of the New Testament. They are easy to understand and tell the story of Jesus.
Make the choice
So. You did your research, now what? How do you become a Christian? The answer is actually very easy: by choosing. It doesn’t matter if you make the choice in your head or say it out loud to yourself in the mirror. If you want, you are a Christian from now on. You don’t have to sign up anywhere or report it to a church. You can just be a Christian right now. Simply answer these two questions:
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead?
Do you believe that Jesus is the only way to God, your savior and Lord?Then you are a Christian! Welcome brother or sister! It is good to spend this moment in prayer with God and to express to him that you now choose to surrender your life to him and accepting the free gift he has give you of salvation through Jesus Christ! If you want to know Jesus more and understand more what he has done for you are in for a thrilling journey. You can get to know him better here.
What now?
Perhaps you have now made the choice to become a Christian or you would first like to know what will happen next. How can you grow in faith now? The following steps are not in any specific order. It’s okay to take them all, but in what order you do that is up to you.
Read the Bible
You may have already made a start on this during your research, otherwise it is good to start now. The Bible is called the foundation of their lives by many Christians. In the Bible you can learn a lot about God and how to build a relationship with Him. You learn what things God asks of you to do, such as forgiving others. You also learn what God wants to give you, such as rest. This allows you to grow in faith and eventually share it yourself with others.
Get to know other Christians
In the Bible God makes it clear that he thinks community is important. Faith is meant to be lived out together. The very first Christians where so excited about their faith in Jesus they couldn’t help but meeting together to sing to him and talk about him. From there the church was born! One of the things they do in the church is explain the teachings of the Bible and help us to understand how to live this new life. If you aren’t ready for that just yet, that’s okay. All in good time, you can also start with an easier next step. Maybe you know someone who is a Christian and you can talk to them about it. You can also search online Christian communities. For example, take a look at Discord or Facebook.
You can also choose to do an Alpha course. They give courses on the Christian faith to people who want to know more about it or who want to become Christians. They are located in many places, on their site you can enter your city name and see where the closest Alpha course is to you. Would you like to talk to someone right now? This is possible! Send a message to one of our e-coaches here. They would like to talk to you!
Admit and speak about mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes on a regular basis, in the Christian faith we call that sin, because that’s what the Bible calls it. It’s important to take time and reflect and admit what those things are for you. If you don’t know, you can ask God to show you, he will. This can be difficult and painful, but it will provide a relief! The more we confess these things to God the more freedom we find from them and the more joy we have in coming to God. The scripture tells us that if we confess our sins to Jesus he is faithful and just to forgive us! If you ask him to, he certainly will, that’s a promise from him!
Get in touch with us!
Whether you are a brand new Christian or have been pone for ages, we all need other people in our lives to talk to and ask questions. It can be nice for you to be able to ask questions to someone who knows a lot about the Christian faith and who would like to help you. Do you need this? Send us a message here. We look forward to talking with you! If you would like to be prayed for, you can send us a message here.
