6 spiritual ingredients that foster Christian growth

By Ray Comfort, Op-ed contributor Thursday, May 02, 2024

There are four essential ingredients that help a young plant send down its roots, grow branches, and produce fruit: sunlight, good soil, nutrients, and water. 

Our desire should be to see new converts produce fruit, and there are certain spiritual ingredients that can foster growth. Here are some that will help new believers grow in grace:

1. Personal Discipleship: It is good to assign a mature believer to mentor the new convert. This person can provide guidance, answer questions, and offer support in his or her Christian walk.

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2. Cultivation of Evangelistic zeal: As a new convert, I had a very real zeal for the lost, but I lacked essential knowledge. I didn’t understand that salvation is of the Lord (see Psalm 3:8). So, I ran around getting “decisions” for Jesus. I was like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, using my sword to cut off ears. In time, my converts fell away because they were just that — my converts. I inoculated them to the truth and did more harm than good. A new convert should be told that he is to simply plant the seed of the Gospel and leave the results up to God. 

3. Bible study groups: Encourage participation in small groups or Bible study classes, where the new convert can engage with Scripture, ask questions, and discuss his or her faith with others. There is something heartwarming for a new convert to sit among mature believers and hear their testimonies, hear their thoughts about certain Scripture verses, and hear their excitement about Jesus. This is also an environment where the new convert can find an accountability partner with whom they can share their struggles and victories.

4. Daily reading of the Bible: The greatest favor a new Christian can do for himself is become disciplined to read the Bible daily. John Bunyan once said of the Bible, “Sin will keep me from this book, and this book will keep me from sin.” And it’s true. Just as we need to discipline ourselves to eat healthy food each day, so a new convert should discipline himself to daily desire the sincere milk of the Word.

5. Regular church attendance: Emphasize the importance of regularly attending church services, where they can worship, support the church, hear sermons that will help them grow, and meet and engage in fellowship with other believers.

6.A church library: Most Christians have books that have been read and are gathering dust in their homes. Encourage them to donate them to a church library for others to enjoy. I stamped “Stolen from Ray Comfort” on the title page of each book in my personal library to ensure that it was returned. It worked. 

One of the greatest concerns of new converts is for the salvation of their loved ones. As a new Christian, my immediate concern was that if my beloved parents or my brother and sister died in their sins, they would go to Hell. It would have saved both my family and me much stress if I had been told right at the beginning of my walk that unsaved family members aren’t as impressed with words as they are with works. 

Listen to Scripture give us a powerful weapon to use in the battle to reach those we love: “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Peter 2:15). 

We should gift-wrap the Gospel with our good works. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Good works are a way for love to be seen. Tell new converts to give gifts to their loved ones when it’s not expected. Out-of-the-blue kindness along with a simple note expressing love can speak louder than the best of sermons shouted from the housetops.