How to Become Christian

When Peter told the visitors in Jerusalem on the festival of Pentecost about Jesus, they asked what they should do. Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2.38, NRSV).

Peter's answer is still a good one. Repentance is the turning of one's life toward God, and baptism is a sign of dying to the old way of life and rising to the new. In this new life, we know fully the forgiveness of our sins and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (meaning Jesus) will be saved. The writer of Ephesians says by grace we are saved through faith, which is a gift of God. James cautions that faith will be visible in good works of love.

Clearly, the biblical witness offers a rich variety of answers.

Within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) we recognize that there are as many ways to come to faith as there are people who have done it. Yet within that variety, there is a pattern that often emerges. It's what one of our founders, Walter Scott, found in Acts 2.38 and called his "five finger exercise."

1. Hear the Gospel and believe. Whether it is through Peter's preaching or scripture study or a friend who shows you who Jesus is, if you spend time with the good news of God's awesome love, you can find yourself trusting in God. This is the first step: learning something about who God is and what God is doing in Christ.
2. Repent. This word simply means to turn, away from sin and toward God. It is possible to change your life. If you have trust in God, you can turn your life away from those things that preoccupy and distract. You can turn your life to face God's direction.
3. Be baptized. Baptism happens in a variety of forms. The earliest Christians probably immersed new Christians upon their confession of faith, but the tradition of baptizing infants in order to raise them as Christians was already established by the second century A.D. In baptism, however and whenever it happens, you die to sin and death and are raised to new life.
4. Receive forgiveness. When you have turned to God in faith and died to the old life, you are ready to receive the forgiveness and grace God has been holding out to you from the beginning of time. When you are forgiven and know it, it is easier to forgive.
5. Receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is what holds the church together, uniting us before the world. The Spirit is visible in the "fruit" our lives bear, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

You may come to understand Jesus by some other way. That's fine, too. There are other ways to become Christian. But in the end, we walk the same "way" together, seeking salvation from sin and death, overcoming estrangement and alienation in faithful communion with each other and with God in Jesus Christ.