To get where you want to go it is always important to know where you are.
For instance if you are reading this blog, you are probably a person who wants to walk faithfully with God and help other people get to God and grow in Christ so they can give to others. But where are you in that process. Are you helping people get to God? Are you growing in Christ? Are you giving to others? How can you know?
Here are four of the most common places most people begin from and what the right next step is for that spiritual position.
A Beginner
A beginner is a person who has not given God complete responsibility for all of their sin and their future through faith in Jesus Christ. They do not have the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to guide them or to bless them. They live by their own power, for their own purpose, and will have to give an account of their life based on their own performance and be judged for eternity for their sin.
A beginner’s next best step is to admit that they need God to take responsibility for their sin and life. A beginner can do this by accepting the grace of God that comes by admitting that they have been doing life on their own and have sinned (Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”), but believe that Christ died to pay the price or wage for all of their sin (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”), and through the power of His resurrection from the dead can live in them and lead them all the way to heaven (Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”). This is how a beginner becomes a Christian.
An Attender
An attender is a person who is showing up at church. An attender may or may not be a Christian. This means you can be both a beginner and an attender. Attenders do not commit to membership. They date the church. They show up and participate in the aspects of the church they like, but refuse to enter into a covenant relationship with a local body of believers that would make demands on them. Attenders who are Christians are in essence Christian Consumers. They receive, but they don’t give. Attenders who are beginners are doing what they are supposed to be doing. They are checking out the claims of Christ and considering the commitment.
An Attender’s next best step is to commit to a local church and give their life and love to the people of the church. If an attender is a beginner, they need to take the beginners best next step first and then commit to a local church. By joining a local church they put themselves in a position to be and receive the blessing of living as the bride of Chirst.
A Member
A member is a person who has committed their life to Christ and has entered into a covenant relationship with a body of believers. They take responsibility for participating in and providing for ministry opportunities.
A member’s best next step is to identify what they have to offer and what the body needs. All Christians have gifts and abilities given to them by God. A member needs to discover and define those gifts and use them for God’s glory through the ministry of their local church.
An Investor
An investor is a member who not only discovers what they can do and what is needed in their church. An investor is a person who gives their time, abilities, and money to fulfill the ministry of the church. They do not go to church to receive. They go to church to give. What is amazing about this way of life is that they end up receiving more than those who go to church to receive. Why? Acts 20:35 “Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
An investor’s next best step is to share the joy of giving and recruit others to be and receive the blessing that comes through giving.
Which one are you? Will you take your next best step?
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