The biggest question we get asked after Baptism is: “What happens next?” If you remember from our recent blog “It Is Not Finished” we outlined three things there were finished as it pertains to Jesus’ time on Earth:

1) teaching God’s people how to live a God-honoring life;
2) to select and to train His disciples who would then do the same and;
3) to die on the cross in the perfect sacrifice so that we may be reunited with the Lord.

When Jesus died on the cross it was the end of a chapter but immediately led to a new chapter in the continuation of God’s plan.

As believers, the first two points above are things we should be perpetuating as part of being a disciple maker. A common misconception among American Christians is that once someone we’ve shared the gospel with accepts Christ as his/her savior, then our work with that individual is done and it’s time to move on to the next “prospect”. This is not true at all, including after an adult is baptized.

Discipleship goes beyond baptism.

Jesus spent three years with the original disciples teaching, mentoring, and modeling what living a Christ-led life looked, acted, and spoke like. He did not say “follow me” and move on to other potential disciples once the original 12 said yes. Jesus spent quality time with the original 12 so that they not only could live a Christ-led life themselves but could then teach others as they had been taught – which is at the heart of discipleship.

You may ask, “What is a Christ-led life”?

The answer is two words: “Obedience based”.

Having Biblical knowledge and knowing the Scriptures is critically important but one thing that gets overlooked about Jesus is that He was obedient to what the Father asked of Him, right up to His death on the cross. Jesus knew what was coming and why He was on Earth and had a moment when He asked the Father to “take away this cup of suffering” but in the next moment said, “Let Your will be done”.

That is obedience-based discipleship. Are we doing what God wants us to do today, tomorrow, and beyond?

This is what happens – or should happen – after baptism.

We celebrate when someone is baptized – which we should – but then forget the “what’s next” for the newly baptized. We are asking someone who has just accepted Christ and who has been baptized as an adult to live a Christ-led life when they have no reference as to what that life looks like. We only have our old life as a reference point that doesn’t resemble our old life in any way. This then is the “what happens next” for the newly baptized. 

A baby (new) Christian can be compared to a baby.

Babies are taught how to eat, to walk, to talk, and how to share. We need to teach baby Christians how to consume Scripture, how to walk (act) like Jesus, how to speak in truth, and how to share the gospel. We wouldn’t put food and shoes and books in a crib and expect the child to be able to feed him or herself, put on and tie shoes, read books, and tell us about it. We invest time, energy, and resources making sure they are growing up to be healthy, strong adults. 

So too it is for new Christians.

We shouldn’t celebrate people’s transformations and baptisms only to leave them behind to figure out the rest of their journey on their own. Christians whose transformations were sincere can fall away if they do not have guides or mentors to teach them the basics and to keep the world from pulling them away from God. Remember, The Enemy doesn’t say: “Aw, shucks one got away. Oh well”.

The Enemy is – shall we say – a poor loser. He knows that the newly saved are vulnerable to be pulled away from God if they are not properly supported so he places temptation of all types, negative influences, and negative circumstances in order to entice and/or to discourage baby Christians to come back to him and away from God. 

We know this because we have seen this during our ministry with incarcerated men. Though all the men who we have mentored, have introduced to Christ, and have authentically accepted Christ as their savior, we have seen all too many times The Enemy pull them away from God because – once back in the world – temptation, negative influences, negative circumstances overtook them.

They reverted to going back to living their old lives, in part, because it was familiar – even though it was unpleasant – they knew what to expect. 

This dynamic was the reason why Freedom Lake was founded.

We recognized that for men who wanted to walk a life of obedience-based discipleship they needed a place of respite where they could learn how to be the Christ-led disciple they want to be. 

Freedom Lake is that place for Spiritual Nourishment that leads to Spiritual Growth so once disciples complete their studies at the Disciple Training Center (DTC) they are firmly rooted in the Word of God and are launched as disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Or, as we like to say, they will be equipped to be men on mission wherever they go – whether that is across town, across the country, or across the world.

Men on Mission are created through a structured curriculum designed to model what Jesus did for the original 12. This includes praying, scheduling daily time with the Lord, calling on the name of the Lord, spending time in the Word, how to share the gospel, how to mentor and minister to others, along with how to live an obedience-based life. 

What attendance at Freedom Lake also does is to provide a buffer from all the things of the world The Enemy seeks to use to pull these men away from God while these men are nurtured, becoming the men God always meant them to be. 

“Now what” is not a one-way street. “Now what” isn’t just a question for a new creation in Christ to ask but also for us as disciple makers. “Now what” for us means asking “Now what” can we do to help support the spiritual nourishment, spiritual growth and spiritual maturity of the new creations around us – whether we were the ones who led them to Christ or not.

If we understand how truly vulnerable new creations are to attacks from The Enemy and how we can help repel those attacks, then we can increase the odds those new creations won’t be pulled away from God. 

“Now what” for us – and hopefully for you – is not a question but rather a reminder of what we should be doing to come alongside new creations in Christ to be sure they are being “raised right” as Jesus did for the Original 12 so that none of our brothers and sisters in Christ fall away.