Simon Pease reviews a new resource – freely downloadable as PDF

A practical handbook – Growing as a new Christian

Daniel Holland
Christian Publications International
41 Pages
£3.00 + £1 p&p

A practical handbook – Caring for new Christians

Daniel Holland
Christian Publications International
89 Pages
£4.00 + £1 p&p

Recently committed to Christ?

The booklets ‘Growing as a new Christian’ and ‘Caring for new Christians’, by British evangelist and pastor Dan Holland, are written as complementary volumes.  The need for them is succinctly expressed in one of the Forewords by evangelist and author David Lambourn:

“No parent with half an ounce of compassion would dream of depriving their children of love, nurture, food or discipline.  Yet so often as churches, that is precisely what we do with new believers in Christ, leaving them to sink or swim against treacherous tides that so often pull them out to sea.”

Together, Holland’s books seek to help those who have recently made a commitment to Christ on the path to discipleship by encouraging new believers and the local church community to partner with each other.  This is not always easy, and the author addresses these challenges head-on, with passion, conviction, realism and wisdom.  From the outset, he lays down the marker that discipleship is to the Lord, rather than to man.  In doing so, he confronts many uncomfortable truths about church life which any veteran believer will readily recognise.

These include the shock of encountering Christians whose behaviour is indistinguishable from that of the world, the destructive impact of “heavy shepherding”, the inappropriate disclosure of confidential personal information for “spiritual” reasons, and the almost universal enthusiasm of institutional Christianity to enlist willing or even unwilling members of the congregation as worker drones into various jobs and projects with little consideration for the individual’s personal situation – and without providing an escape route!

The author is disarmingly honest about his own painful experiences, sharing these with the aim of encouraging those church members entrusted with the welfare of new believers to avoid making the same mistakes.  Among much useful content, established Christians are alerted to the alienating impact of what Orwell might have termed “church-speak”, using some common cringe-worthy examples.  Both booklets helpfully contain a glossary of basic and useful terminology expressing essential Christian ideas, which should go some way to bridging the linguistic and cultural gulf between church and those unfamiliar with it.

Damaged goods?

The other side of the coin is the condition of the new believer on coming to faith.  Speaking from personal observation, Holland suggests that no-one comes into the church community undamaged by our fallen society, and advocates prayer for healing and deliverance in the formative phase of a young believer’s journey.  He also links this to baptism, emphasising its significance in the unseen spiritual battle taking place in the new Christian’s life, together with the benefits of sharing one’s testimony and receiving prayer and other forms of support during this time.  The author has an acute awareness of the hidden realm, and writes about it with an easy authority born out of the crucible of practical experience.

Modern society’s values also damage people by glorifying the self-life.  Whilst Holland does not overtly state this, he does provide some very practical insights into the expression of different personality types and unhelpful attitudes, the difficulties these present, and how to address them.  He does this through the use of different animals as easily recognised caricatures, such as the rhino for a confrontational person, a bloodhound for someone who sees demons everywhere, whilst a sloth and an ostrich probably need no further comment!  As examples of his recommended response to difficult attitudes, Holland insists that an early and firm stand must be made to prevent strong, destructive personalities dominating a fellowship, and encourages a healthy, balanced level of engagement with church life.  The genuine welfare and growth of the new believer is paramount.

Healing and restoration

Despite these challenges and the obvious implication that ministry to new believers requires a lifestyle characterised by the fruit of the spirit (and perhaps particular gifts), the tone of the books is encouraging and also emphasises the rewards of such involvement.  Perhaps the heart of the message is encapsulated in a chapter which compares the “orphan spirit” with the “spirit of sonship”.  The former may reveal itself in a sense of rejection (sometimes tragically resulting from experiences at church), so Holland encourages those in ministry to compassionately seek out and address the underlying causes.  A person’s healing and restoration as they grow in maturity in Christ is intricately bound up with their journey of discipleship, the goal of which is to increasingly resemble the Lord in character.  For all its problems, the local fellowship can demonstrate the beauty and power of a truly diverse community united in service to Christ and one another.

Author’s personal journey

The booklet for new believers is altogether simpler, encouraging first and foremost an engagement with Scripture.  They are recommended to be prayerful and alert when choosing a church fellowship, which should be characterised by the Word and the Spirit.  Prayer, baptism and other important matters such as rightly handling relationships within the fellowshipand dealing with reactions from friends and family are included, to give just a couple of examples.  Overall, when considered alongside the booklet for those helping new believers, it quickly becomes evident how both volumes combine together to form a whole greater than the sum of the parts.

Written some years ago, Dan Holland’s first book explored his own personal faith journey, which included some very dark times despite growing up in a Christian family, and recounts the profound healing he received from the Lord.   He followed that up with “Prophetic Evangelism” – a powerful encouragement to ordinary believers to use the gifts of the Spirit in outreach.  One can readily discern, therefore, how the Lord has used Holland’s background to pave the way for him to tackle the vital issue of moving on beyond the initial step of fruitful evangelism.

Going Beyond

Reflecting on these booklets prompts further important questions which lie beyond the remit of what Holland has so appropriately scoped out.  For example, why is institutional Christianity so broken, and does our evangelism sometimes present false gospels which are not just spiritually dangerous, but also give people the wrong expectation of what church is about?  How do we better protect ourselves from deception, both from within and without, and what are the next steps after new believers have become more fully part of the living dynamic of their local fellowship?

Regarding institutional failures and the underlying causes of many of the issues Holland identifies, I recommend “How the Church Lost the Way” by Steve Maltz, and John Hampton’s “Mere Churchianity”.  David Watson’s “Discipleship”, written at a time when society was much more cohesive, is an excellent resource for going more deeply into the themes covered by these booklets.  It also addresses spiritual gifts, which Hollandprobably wisely leaves out of the discussion, presumably considering these are best developed once solid foundations have already been laid in the believer’s life.  There is an appendix with some useful resources by authors such as Derek Prince, although I personally disagreewith his recommendation of a ministry associated with Bill Johnson’s church.

Anecdotally

Anecdotally, just before writing this review, I accompanied someone from my own church for the first time on street ministry.  Afterwards, I showed him these two booklets and his immediate reaction was very positive – commenting that this is an area of vital importance, yet also largely neglected, echoing Lambourn’s remarks.  Dan Holland has successfully addressed this resource gap, doing so in a way which is very timely for the generation in which we live, and full of wise advice presented in an easily readable way.  Throughout, the author provides helpful, real-world examples to illustrate the principles and approaches he recommends.  Appropriately for this visual age, the reading material is also further enhanced by a variety of crystal-clear diagrams.  To finish this review, here are a couple of quotes from the books to give the reader a feel for the quality and value of the material:

“The primary way the new Christian is going to grow is through digesting Scripture…. Reading the Bible is spiritually opposed by the forces of darkness.”

“There is nothing which more quickly separates out sons and orphans than the arena of discipline, and I refer to healthy, loving discipline.”

“None of us like to think that we are someone else’s project, not worth knowing for ourselves.”

“The aim of healing and deliverance is to extract all the poisoned roots and rotten entanglements in the heart, so that true and healthy spiritual roots can take their place.”

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Caring for new Christians as printed book, here:  http://www.christian-publications-int.com/CaringForNewChristians.html

And freely downloadable as PDF here:  https://www.throughfaithmissions.org/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=347695

Growing as a New Christian as a printed book, here:  http://www.christian-publications-int.com/GrowingAsANewChristian.html

And freely downloadable as PDF here:  https://www.throughfaithmissions.org/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=347696

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Simon Pease is author of “Ruth – A Prophetic Parable”. Sub-titled “How does the story of Ruth relate to YOU today?” He teaches on the unity of Scripture and contributes to the UK magazine Sword.

Ruth – A Prophetic Parable is freely downloadable in PDF format, here: http://www.christian-publications-int.com/images/PDF/Ruth.pdf