What's New? Explore Christianity
If you want to become a Christian...
How do you become a Christ-follower? We could give you the four sentence version, for fear that if we tell you too much you might decide not to become a Christian at all. Instead we'll trust that this is your journey and that you are here for a reason, and we'll be as straightforward as we can. No surprises.
1. Acknowledge that you are a sinner.
C'mon, we're all sinners! Every one of us! That means every person here at Wildwind and every other Christian church, all atheists, and all people of every religion. We're all sinners. We've all said, done, and thought things that are sinful because we have sin in our hearts.
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Sin is a personal heart issue, but you can see its effects all around. Conflict on a personal, local, national, and global scale. War. Rape. Theft. Murder. Sexual abuse. Addictions. The effects of sin are all around you. But more personally, sin is inside of you. You are part of the problem. We know that's not PC, but a person cannot get to God without accepting personal responsibility for sin. When you do that, you take responsibility for a little piece of what is wrong with the world. You must acknowledge your sin and make a decision to get off that road.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
2. Believe that Jesus Christ was who he said he was (God himself!) and that the Bible is right when it says that Christ paid the penalty for your sin.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NIV)
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:17 (NIV)
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
3. Choose to invite Christ to forgive your sins and take over leadership of your life.
If you admit you are a sinner, this shouldn't be too hard. Sin has already messed up your life, right? Your being in charge of your life hasn't gotten you very far, has it? Time to get under new management!
Some people say, "I don't know how." But you DO know how! Statistics tell us most people pray about something nearly every day of their lives. You have probably prayed God's blessing on a meal, prayed for strength in a tough time, prayed for healing for someone you loved, prayed for concentration during a test, prayed that your child would be safe, and a million other things. Chances are you closed your eyes and just talked to God. Or maybe you kept them open, but spoke and hoped God was hearing. Well, God IS hearing this prayer! Just tell God what is on your heart, how you know you are a sinner, that you believe Christ paid the penalty for your sin, and ask Christ to forgive your sin and begin showing you another way to live.
1 John 1:9 (NIV)9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If you confessed your sins to God and asked Christ to be the new leader of your life, you are now a Christian. Do you feel different? Some do and some don't. The point isn't how you feel, it's what has just happened inside of you. For the first time in your life, it is possible for you to desire and strive for a sin-free life. You will make mistakes. You will still sin sometimes. But God's Holy Spirit is in you, helping you want to do what's right. Here's what happens now.
4. Determine to live as intentionally for God as you used to live for yourself.
That might sound confusing at first, but if you stop and think about it, you know what it means. Before you became a Christian, you just did whatever you wanted to do. Your goal was to make yourself happy. Your new goal is to make God happy, and God has put a new heart into you that will find increasing peace and happiness as you do the things that make him happy.
Romans 6:20-23 (MSG)
20 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter.
21 But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22 But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!
23 Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
5. Expect setbacks.
Be realistic. You have lived however many years of your life with certain sinful habits and characteristics. Slowly, little by little, God will begin to change those things as you learn to allow him to, but it won't happen instantly. It's a journey. You do not become perfect the day you commit your life to Christ. Not even close!
6. Forge ahead.
This is huge. Keep going! Don't be too hard on yourself. God loves you right where you are. God loved you even when you were stuck in your sins. You are on a journey and journeys take time.
Romans 5:8 (NIV)
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
7. Grow.
How do you grow in your new faith?
- Spend daily time in prayer, telling God what's on your mind, confessing sins you're struggling with, and thanking him for his mercy and love.
- Find a church to attend where you can be honest about your journey and not have to pretend to be somebody you're not. Go there regularly to learn God's Word and how to honor God with your life and how to form new habits that will be critical in your faith.
- Form some good friendships over time with other people who are living for Christ and they will become important support people on your journey.
- Tell other people about the changes that are happening in your life!
- Take advantage of opportunities at your church to enroll in classes that will challenge you to keep moving forward.
Finally, if you click here you will hear a sermon that was preached at Wildwind in August of 2007, called The Daily Christian Life. We encourage you to listen to it, because you will learn many important things about daily life as a Christ-follower. If you have never been to Wildwind and are considering it, this will also give you a chance to hear our pastor preach. There is a place at the bottom of this page where you can download that sermon if you want to burn it to CD or put it on your iPod.
If you have questions about anything on this page or in the sermon, please feel free to email us. We look forward to hearing from you and will do anything we can to answer your questions and/or help you get off to a great start in your new life.
Perhaps you have been been wronged, hurt, or turned off by selfish, manipulative, and unloving Christians or churches in the past. We believe God will one day be the judge of those who wronged you, just as he will one day be your judge -- and ours. So we think one question is most important in the life of each person: What am I gonna do with Jesus? He made claims about who He was that, if true, will have a huge impact on your life both now and in the life to come.
We want to be here for you and help you however we can. But the journey is yours. We hope the following links will be helpful for you. As usual with links, we don't necessarily agree with all the content, but on balance believe it worth recommending.
Answers in Action -- Highly recommended for specific issues you may have with Christianity.
BillyGraham.org
LifeAnswers
Stand To Reason
Come Let Us Reason Together
Academy of Christian Apologetics
If none of these sites are able to speak to your concern, ask us a question - We can't guarantee we'll know the answer, but we'll do our best.
