I think five things will keep new believers growing and coming to church . . .

1. The pastor and church leaders must lead by example in this area. If they are involved with new believers, the whole church will see the importance.

2. There needs to be a clear path of discipleship. Most churches fail abysmally in this area. Either we don’t expect new believers or we expect them to fend for themselves.

3. It helps if the church sets up systems to make it easy for new believers to get involved. This touches things like parking, signage, announcements, and even how the services are conducted.

4. If new believers know that we love them, that will make all the difference in the world.

5. The church needs a mixture of grace and truth in dealing with new believers. We can’t expect them to act like people who have known the Lord for 40 years. We need to give them room to make mistakes and be gentle with them, even while calling them to go on and grow to maturity.

See Ministry That Makes a Difference.