Each of the videos on the Exploring Faith page were originally hand drawn diagrams I use to explain Christian ideas to enquirers. This section aims to teach people to draw these diagrams themselves. This will enable you to explain the gospel wherever you are, and in your own words.
This video helps you explain how to become a Christian. Again, it’s not hard to learn, but useful to know how to do it.
Rationale
Making and Receiving Promises
The Bible often uses the image of marriage to explain the relationship between God and his people because marriage is an interaction between two parties who each make and receive promises.
Therefore, using the ‘I do moment’ to explain the moment of ‘conversion’ or commitment to Jesus is appropriate. It helps avoid some of the pitfalls.
A common misconception of conversion is that it’s simply a change of mind. People think it’s like ‘I used to be a vegan, but now I’m a meat eater’- an intellectual decision, that has consequences in daily life. This is (somewhat) true of getting married ‘a decision that has consequences in my daily life’, but that wouldn’t be considered an adequate description of getting married.
The primary effect of getting married is a promise of relationship with and a commitment to a PERSON. It’s not simply an intellectual decision reached by weighing up the pros and cons.
A Public Commitment Leading to Change
The other misconception about becoming a Christian is that it’s something you can do in private with no visible change. If a person got married and then continued to live as if they were single, we’d be disturbed and question their promise making and receiving. Becoming a Christian changes a person’s life, they enter into a relationship with God. There have to be transformations in their life over time.
Thirdly, a person’s status is changed when they marry, just as a person’s status is changed when they become a Christian. They now belong to God and are part of the family of Christ. This is not a private event but instead joining a new family. A new Christian will at some point be baptised, and this will be the public declaration of the internal change.
For all these reasons, the ‘I do’ moment is a useful concept.
Pragmatically, it’s useful to write out the prayer for an enquirer, so they pray with a clear understanding of what they’re promising. The next step is to ask ‘do you want to pray a prayer like this?’, followed by ‘would you like to do that now?’.
If the answer is Yes
… I suggest that I pray for them, then they pray the ‘I do’ moment prayer, and then I pray again. This provides an example of what prayer is like, a space for them to pray and an opportunity to thank God for what he’s done in Jesus’ life.
If the answer is No
… they can take the prayer away to remind themselves, or to pray at a moment that is significant to them. I always ask people to let me know if they do pray the prayer, so I can help find someone to disciple them.