Discipling ‘baby’ believers

The following is an excerpt from an email from Simon and Lydia,* a couple in Nebraska. They are using By This Name as a Bible study guide to ground new “baby” believers. Not only did they help their students, they themselves were refreshed by the amazing grace of God in the gospel story. Here is what they shared:

What an amazing Father He is! We have been HUGELY blessed to be a part of a community of believers in this past year who have come around us and let us into their lives even as they have come into ours. We are so thankful.

Another beautiful thing that has come of this group of people is that a young couple asked us to study the Bible with them. We took them through “By This Name” and together, the four of us learned so much. It was our first time for Simon and I to go through “By This Name” instead of “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus” and we found that it really met this couple right where they were at… and us too!

My favorite was watching the lights go on and the natural progression from one point to the next. Over and over again as we would finish one section they would ask a question and literally in the next sentence would be something about it. That expression “It’s still in the basket” was one that we used over and over. [Editor’s note: Questions that will be answered later in the study are put into a small basket by the leader. Often, the questions are answered further along in the text of the book.] Often the guy would say “I should have stayed in the basket! Look there it is right there!” He had trusted Christ before we started the study and just found himself coming to a clearer understanding of all that he had begun to believe.

The gal we are not sure about, but by the end things began to really click for her and you could see the lights coming on as we read about Jesus’ birth, life and death and resurrection and the overview [in chapter 14] of how it all ties together with those key accounts from the Bible from the beginning.

For me personally it was so great to see Simon teaching again and coming alive as he did so. We are keeping our eyes and ears open for someone else who might be interested because we really love being able to take the time with individuals in this way. The church we attend now has many baby believers and some who are still asking questions and are not too sure about God.

– Lydia

We were so encouraged to receive this testimony. Truly, Simon and Lydia have embraced the idea of being lifelong ambassadors for Christ. We were so happy to hear that they are not resting after their first Bible study but are actively asking the Lord to send more people to them! May the Lord use them mightily!

(* Names changed as per GoodSeed policy.)