HTHSOE has a two-tiered strategy for New Converts: congregational training and membership mentoring. Each of these steps is vital to retention. You should already have the congregational class materials Growing in Christ and the Acts Workbook by Bobby Bates. These books emphasize the fundamentals of Christianity that new converts need to reinforce their faith.
Now it is time to introduce another classroom tool. New converts coming out of the world will carry worldly baggage. Since they do not have the background of Bible knowledge or regular church attendance that many of us have, they may have sins of ignorance. Providing teaching on moral issues is very important. We suggest using Don Blackwell’s Moral Issues, a classroom book with a video. The lessons are outstanding, and they are easy to teach and understand.
Recently one of our new converts was given this material. She was a “Jersey Girl” who had a difficult upbringing. Here is what she wrote about the study:
Whoa! So, I just saw about dancing, and I never thought of dancing as bad or “not allowed” in the Bible, but after watching the lesson on Truth about Morals, it’s TRUE about how it is at clubs—it is just men and women being sexual and showing off, and nothing good and just comes out of that. It literally changed my mind . . . My neighborhood was full of clubs and nothing biblical went on in any of them—that’s for sure!
Peter said, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). It is refreshing to watch newborn babes grow on the milk of the Word (Hebrews 5:12). They learn quickly and gratefully. As a rule, they do not argue with the teaching as some Christians might when confronted with their immorality. If we do not help them, they will fall back into their former habits. Moral issues are important and should not be overlooked. Introduce this into your training classes and keep these new babes safe from the evil one.
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