How to Gain the Seeking Christians

I. The situation of the seeking Christians.

1. The type of the seeking Christians.

Among Christians, there are the seeking Christians who have a heart to pursue the word of the Lord and know the truth. Here, to study the situation of them, we use the condition of the seeking Christians in America. For the sake of the exactness, we divide the seeking Christians into two kinds, the religious affiliated seeker and the religious unaffiliated seeker. According to the condition of migrated Christians, we divide them into the migrated family, the freshman. Mostly, our statistics come from PEW.

1. The situation of major religious traditions in the U.S.

From this form, we can know that among the major religious traditions in the U.S., the Christians occupied 78.4 percent among all adults. In the Christians religious group, the Protestant represents more than a half(51.3%). The Catholic decreased to less than one-four(23.9%).

1. The composition of American Protestantism.

The largest Protestant family in the U.S. is the Baptist family, which accounts for one third of all Protestants and close to one-fifth (17.2%) of the overall adult population.

1. The development of the unaffiliated Christians:

1. The trend of the unaffiliated ones.

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) , having left their faith in which they were raised, are in favor of another religion or no religion at all. If  the change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, roughly 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moving from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped.

1. The growth of  religious unaffiliated Christians.

Over the past five years,the survey shows that the number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased from slightly over 15 percent to just under 20 percent, a figure that includes more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, as well as almost 33 million adults who do not identify themselves with a particular religion.

1. The views of the unaffiliated Christians.

1. 68 percent of them say they believe in God.

2. 58 percent of them think they feel a connection with nature and the earth.

3. 37 percent of them think of themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious”.

4. 21 percent of them  say they pray daily.

1. The concepts of the unaffiliated Christians.

1. The disappointment to the religious institutions:

An overwhelming majority of people think religious organizations exceedingly focus on rules,     money and power,   they are involved in politics very much.

1. The shifting of the age: The rise of the religiously unaffiliated is mainly due to a generational shift, with 32 percent of adults under 30 saying they’re religiously unaffiliated, comparing with only 9 percent of those aged 65 and older.

The affection of the politics: Politically, the unaffiliated ones skew heavily toward the Democratic Party.

1. The unstable situation of Protestant: The rise of the religiously unaffiliated has been a dip in the share of the population that identifies as Protestant. That figure now stands at 48 percent, down from 53 percent in 2007. It is the first time the number of Protestants has fallen significantly below 50 percent since the decline from 1990s.

D. The situation of the migrant Christians.

1. The Christian migrants:Among Christian migrants, the main destination regions have been North America and Europe. European countries, as a whole, are also the leading source of Christian migrants, accounting for more than four-in-ten worldwide (44%). About three-in-ten Christian migrants originate from Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. The Christian immigrants.

Over the past two decades, an estimated average of about 600,000 Christian immigrants became permanent U.S. residents each year. Annual levels of legal Christian immigration appear to have been lower in the late 1990s (around 430,000 per year), while the recent peak (more than 800,000) was in 2006. The number of legal Christian immigrants per year has declined somewhat since 2006, and is estimated at 620,000 for 2012.

From 1992 to 2012, an estimated 12.7 million Christians received green cards. By comparison, the total Christian population in the U.S. was about 247 million in 2010.

1. The situation of international students:

International students in the United States number 886,052 from 219 countries, according to the  Institute of International Education. China sends the most students, more than the next four countries combined: India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

International students are also often hungry for the gospel, even if they don’t realize it. When they are introduced to concepts of grace and sin by being presented the gospel to them, they are awakened to a passionate faith. Adding new members to the family of faith encourages current believers, and the introduction of international believers brings the richness of multiculturalism to the meeting.

II. How to contact and engage the seeking Christians.

1. The purpose of the seeking Christians in their personal experience.

1. To meet their needs.

2. To protect themselves.

3. To seek God’s Righteousness.

4. To gain the great joy.

5. To assist themselves to succeed.

6. To receive an eternal life.

1. The affiliated and the unaffiliated seeking Christians.

1. The advantages and shortcomings of the affiliated seekers and the unaffiliated seekers:

Generally the affiliated seekers opening to us are more longing for the Lord than the  unaffiliated seekers, however, the unaffiliated seekers are easier than the affiliated seekers to accept the new things.

1. Attention in contact with them:

a. Do not say no to their religion in the beginning, but attracting them by our God-man living.

b. Do not speak to them all the time, but listening to and using their questions to share our testimony or our experience.

c. Do not fall into discussing and argument, but use some key questions to make them doubt their doctrines and seek the living God.

d. Do not force them to do some life practice in the beginning (calling on the Lord, pray-reading God’s word, etc.).

1. How to shepherd them?

No matter they are affiliated seekers or unaffiliated seekers, to shepherd them  in the beginning, we need to focus on several ones to build a deep and long-term relationship with them and cause them to be attracted by our God-man living.

Then we may shepherd them with some truth according to their conditions.

1. For foundational shepherding：

Shepherding them with NT-one chapter per week for new believers (one time per week, 5-10 minutes’ reading, 5 minutes’ sharing).

1. For advanced shepherding:

(1) Shepherding them with NT-one chapter per week for seeking ones (one time per week, 5-10 minutes’ reading,  5 minutes’ sharing)

(2) If they  doubt  the Lord’s Recovery, we can share some materials for Defense / Confirmation of the Truth：

① We were wrong PDF:

② Voices of Confirmation Concerning Watchman Nee, Witness Lee & the Local Churches

③ An open letter: http://an-open-letter.org/

④ Comments about the Bible in the Recovery Version.

(3) Shepherd them with the Normal Christian Life, A pattern of healthy word.

1. The migrated Christian family and the freshman.

1. The features of the migrated seekers：

1. They are immigrants.

2. They are open to the gospel and seek the truth.

3. They need to be shepherded for a long time.

1. How to find and contact the migrated Christian family.

1. Searching for and contacting them through  “people nearby” in app, like FB, line, whatsapp, and we-chat .

2. Observing the relocated family in the community.

3. Taking the initiative to talk to them.

4. Making friends with them through the human care in the life.

1. How to shepherd the migrated Christian family.

1. The materials for shepherding:

Bible 365, NT-one chapter per week, A pattern of healthy word, Life lessons,

Spiritual books, the experience of life, the knowledge of life.

1. Accompanying them to read Bible truth 365, every time 30 minutes, mainly using item 4, make an excerpt based on the conditions.

2. Recommending  the messages of Triune God, the Spirit, Christ, and the Church to them from 96 Lessons (A pattern of healthy word)

3. Introducing life study of Romans.

4. According to the condition, recommend the adequate messages from the Lord’s recovery, like: Who we are?

On the aspect of human cherishing: Inviting them to enjoy meal at home once a month.

Keeping in touch with them: Calling them half a month, and answering their spiritual questions in time.

1. The matters needed to pay attention to on the spiritual aspect：

1. Don’t have a spiritual pride.

2. Don’t argue, debate on the truth, don’t talk about their organizations.

3. When they ask a question which you cannot answer right away, then you can say “This question is very good, I will answer you tomorrow.”

4. To answer the question using the resources：

(1) Churchnews: http://www.churchnews.info/

(2) World Trend: http://worldtrend.us/

(3) Treasure Chest: http://21century.us/

1. How to contact the seeking freshman who will go to college in a new place.

1. Using School forum to gain the information, adding them as friends.

From the college student union, we can acquire their information, flights, majors, and know their courses  and professors. Before they come, we can pray for them and prepare something they need. When they come,attempting to meet them in the airport or on campus which will leave a good impression on them. They are easier to trust in the people who they first knew.

1. Helping them through the activity to welcome the newcomers.

In campus, we can assist them  to find the classroom,  to prepare everything for the campus living.

1. Aiding the freshmen by introducing the school’s geographic information: When we introduce the situation of the school. We can talk about the weather, customs, culture, environment which they may be interested in. And we can accompany them to buy some living necessities.

2. Making friends with them by accompanying them to purchase the living necessities.

3. Keeping in touch with them after getting their information within 24 hours.

1. How to develop a relationship:

1. Inviting them in our daily life.

2. Introducing them to your friends.

3. Visiting and bringing a friendly handy gift.

4. Making cookies together.

5. Talking about their families, personal interests, and experience on campus.

6. Sharing with them concerning yourself, and don’t forget to be a religious listener.

7. Inviting them along with your other friends for sports, cooking meals.

1. How to extend the partnership:

1. Make room for them to have a fellowship with them.

2. For large groups, inviting them to share how God has been working in their lives.

3. Asking them to share the photos with their country, or to pray in their languages.

4. Inviting some of them to pray first and don’t feel  you need to initiate all the time, or come up with all the ideas.

5. Don’t be discouraged if they hesitate to say yes, they may just be intimidated to speak in a new language.

1. How to shepherd the seeking freshman.

1. The materials for the shepherding:

(1) Hymns, New Songs, Be Filled.

(2) Bible truth 365.

(3) Truth lessons.

1. Cherishing them in humanity:

(1) Inviting them to enjoy love feast once a week.

(2) Inviting them to participate in the outdoor activity every month.

1. shepherding in divinity:

(1) Teaching them  sing one song per week.

(2) Reading the Bible with them weekly, 20 minutes each time.

(3) Conveying SMS massage to them for supplying God’s word.

III. Summary

To contact the seeking Christians, sometimes it is easy to develop a relationship with them. However, we need to spend a long time to shepherd them and gain them so that they can be preserved in the church life.

These are important points in our contacting and shepherding:

1. We need to know their condition: We need to ask ourselves, what are these kinds of Christians longing for? What keeps them warm-hearted in their group? What is the purpose of their staying in that group? These things will give us a great insight into their hearts and minds.

2. Using their own language: This “language” referring to two things, speak their actual language and speak the language in a way which they can understand. If they are students, talking to them in the way of a student.

3. Giving them the time: We shall give them the time and freedom to think and determine how they should be applied. We should not attempt to impose our ideas or forms on Christianity-background believers.

4. Don’t force your ideas on them.

5. Treating them with respect in  our asking and patiently listening to them as they explain their religion.

6. Caring for them: Always be willing to reach out your loving hand to your Christian friends. Invitingthem to your home.

7. Having a humble spirit: When talking about Christ,  we should always have a humble and respectful attitude. Firstly, you can pray with them. Secondly, respecting their beliefs. Thirdly, always do your best not to argue with them, but politely emphasize the positively good news of Christ.