An Onboarding Plan For A New Christian
An onboarding plan isn’t a new concept for us. 6.1 million people were hired in September of 2022 and in nearly every one of those cases those new employees were met with an onboarding plan. They were given an introduction to the company, taught the ins and outs of business, and given insights on how to thrive within the company.
Typically, when a new employee is hired in a company, the company will typically have the employee go through around a ninety day onboarding process to get the new hire up to speed and familiar with its processes and products, and how the company works overall.
I was in medical sales for several years with three different companies. Each company had an in depth "onboarding" process. They spent a lot of time making sure we knew the human anatomy extremely well, and how the different products would meet the needs of the doctors with patients. A huge part of our onboarding was to spend time with a seasoned rep in their territory calling on doctors and hospitals. Our job was to observe, listen and take notes while the rep sells his products as well as Operating Room etiquette.
Time with the seasoned rep was by far the most helpful and effective way for me to see how things worked and needed to be in the field.
My question as it relates to the Church is simple...
What is the Churches onboarding process when a new believer in Jesus gives their life to Him?
Does the Church have the same commitment as a company does to help the new Christ follower know, understand, and embrace their new identity? Is the Church committed to helping that young believer know how to grow in their new relationship with God and embrace their new mission and mandate as an ambassador/representative of Jesus? Their new job description is to help the lost, wandering, and disenfranchised be at peace with God. Do we have a plan to help them understand that?
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Many times the Church will celebrate the fact someone comes to Christ, and rightfully so. This is eternity we’re talking about. They make sure to get him/her baptized but, unfortunately, after that the new believer is largely left to figure things out for themselves.
In my experience, the extent of what I’ve seen is that these new believers will possibly encouraged to join a class or small group, come to church, and or serve at the church in some capacity.
But there is little to no intentionality to help these infants to grow in maturity in their "followship" of Christ.
Over time the excitement, and emotion of following Jesus gets replaced with the worries, cares and the seeking of pleasure, and the enemy, satan, dulls their senses and efforts to follow Jesus with all their heart, soul, and mind.
Sharpening Ministries seeks to do what we can to equip the current believers, not only for themselves but for the ones they will disciple themselves one day. We seek to do the following, "onboarding" for followers of Jesus to know, be, and do what Christ has commanded.
We teach, discuss, and train the believer in the following ways to know, be, and do:
SECURE in their INDENTITY in Jesus as His Disciple/Ambassador
STRENGTHEN to FOLLOW Jesus to present all believers Mature
SKILLED to LABOR for Jesus to the Mission and Mandate He commanded
SENT to MAKE REPRODUCING DISCIPLES of Jesus to all Nations
We live in a day and time were we, as the Body of Christ, must do everything it takes to "onboard" the new believer.vThey need to know Him deeply, so they will reflect Him authentically, in order to reproduce Him intentionally with the message and ministry of reconciliation.
He is the CEO we follow, obey, and seek to please.
