The Church and New Believers
The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
--Proverbs 11:25
I remember the first time we took our granddaughter Stella to Disneyland. It is so fun to go to Disneyland with kids, because when you go with adults, it is a different experience altogether. We tend to start whining right off the bat. Either the lines are too long or we are tired or hot. We see things differently as adults. But when you go to Disneyland with a child, everything changes, because you see it through their eyes.
It is the same when you spend time around young believers and see them discover, for the first time, what it means to know Jesus. It can revive you. The Bible tells us that "those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25). Spending time around new believers will replenish you in your walk with Christ.
The early church had new believers constantly coming in, and we need this today as well. I make no apology as a pastor for emphasizing Bible exposition, worship, discipleship, helping people who are in need, and the preaching of the gospel. This is the way God wants the church to be.
There was regular, even daily, growth in the early church. Their evangelism was not an occasional or sporadic thing; it was happening all the time. They were engaging in continual evangelism, and that is what every church ought to be doing. Every week, we should be giving people an opportunity to come to Christ, not just doing a periodic event here and there.
Show me a church that doesn't have a constant flow of new believers coming in, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. The church needs new believers to remind us of what it is all about. And new believers need the church to stabilize them.
