Show me a church that doesn’t have a flow of new believers coming in, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. New believers help older believers stay on their feet spiritually. New believers are the lifeblood of the church. The Great Commission not only involves going out and preaching the gospel. It also includes making disciples of all nations (see Matthew 28:19–20). This means that to the best of our ability, we seek to lead people to Christ and help them grow spiritually. New believers will ask you questions about things you’ve forgotten. They’ll motivate you to study your Bible as never before. And, of course, newer believers need older believers to temper them, keep them strong, and help them develop a good foundation in their faith. I have found that as I give out to others, God replenishes me. When you think of someone else, when you share the Word of God with them and encourage them, you will find that God refreshes you in the process. The first-century church understood this. It was an evangelistic church. As people watched these believers learning, caring, worshipping, and praying, it drew them in. The Bible tells us that “each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47 NLT). And they helped young Christians grow in the faith. There was continual evangelism in the early church, and there was no apology for it. This is the church that turned their world upside down. Yet it seems to me that nowadays, the world is turning the church upside down. It seems to me that the world impacts us more than we impact the world because we are ashamed to be the church. Let’s be what we are without apology: thankful that God has called us to be a part of it. | 
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