You may be starting to ask questions about faith, wondering about God and His love for you or even his plans for your life. Or you may be asking questions about Jesus—questions you may struggle to understand or that may not have a simple answer. But that’s okay. This is a starting point for you to begin a life-changing conversation about faith and a life-long process of transformation to learn to walk with Jesus.

What does it mean to “follow” Jesus?

That’s a great question! We hear the language “follower of Jesus” all the time, but what does it mean to be a follower (or disciple) of Jesus?

Put simply, it means you begin to walk with him - to involve him in your day-to-day life. During Jesus’ life and ministry, Jesus directly invited others to “follow him.” This would be the beginning of their relationship with Jesus. Since he is not here with us physically, we begin our relationship with Him through recognizing who He is through His words (Scripture) and admitting we believe He is who He said he was (the Son of God). (Mark 8:27-29)

A follower of Jesus (a Christian) is a person who has submitted their life to God through faith in Jesus. This is made possible through his perfect life, death, and resurrection. When you live obediently under His grace as Lord and Savior, you will continue to learn more about Him and his design for your life. He even gives you His Spirit to help you to follow Him faithfully.

How do I start?

You may be ready to follow Jesus with your life and we’re thrilled to hear that’s your decision! To begin this journey, connect with a follower of Christ you know, speak with any Staff member, or learn more at firstchristian.com/baptism.

You can contact our Next Steps team at nextsteps@firstchristian.com or (330) 456-2600 for direction in how to begin to follow Jesus.

What else do I need to know?

When a person becomes a Christian, they are a new person. Their life should be marked by change. A Christian should live differently than the rest of the world. Some things that Christians are called to do include forgive others, love their enemies, put others first, and serve others. But we also know that becoming a Christian doesn’t make a person perfect— so don’t expect to get it all right at first. The goal is to take steps to do the right thing more and more often. Followers of Jesus ought to live fully surrendered lives. The way to surrender everything is to surrender the next thing. What can you give to God today?

You also need to know that being a Christian isn’t guaranteed to make life easy. Through the Holy Spirit, you will have a better understanding of why things happen the way they do, but it doesn’t make life perfect. Additionally, some people will not like that you follow Jesus and might criticize you for this decision. But take comfort...Jesus also experienced criticism and persecution. 

Following Jesus Daily

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” (Romans 12:1-2 MSG)

Our primary goal as followers of Jesus is learning to live in connection to His Spirit. This is how we are able to be with Jesus. We must invite him into every moment and learn to bring his presence into the routine of your daily life. But how do we accomplish that in the chaos of everyday life?  It’s pretty straightforward: to experience the life of Jesus, we must adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. “If anyone claims to be in Christ, he must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6)

Another way to say that is “we will follow His direction and guidance”. In other words, if He tells us to do something, we do our best to do it. This begins by learning what He has taught us in his Word, the Bible.  For Christians, the Bible is the ultimate authority. As a result, a follower of Jesus should read the Bible daily. Soak it up; it is your guide to life.

In addition to reading the Bible, a Christian should try to follow Jesus’ example in everyday life. His life is also a perfect example of how to live.

Another thing a follower of Jesus does is pray. Jesus’ taught us that prayer is the primary way we can communicate with God at all times.

Following these rhythms is meant to help us become more like Jesus. We recommend that you work through them with other Jesus followers because community plays a vital role in transformation. Discover how you can follow Jesus together in community at firstchristian.com/nextsteps.

Going Deeper

Read Matthew 16:24-28 and reflect on Jesus’ standard of following Him as compared to what most people think it means. Also, reflect on where Jesus might be asking you to make a change in your life.  We are here to help you connect and take YOUR Next Steps to grow as a follower of Jesus together!

Contact us at nextsteps@firstchristian.com if there’s anything we can do to help you grow in your faith!