There are three basic things a new Christian should consider: 1. Reading the Bible; 2. Praying; 3. Spending time with more mature Christians.

BIBLE READING. Start simple. Just sit with a Bible and flip through the pages. Don't even read, just look. You can use a New American Standard Bible, a New International Bible, or a New King James Bible. These are all good translation that use modern English. By looking at every page, you may find certain stories jumping out at you. Some of them may be familiar, some may not. If something catches your eye, go ahead and read it. Don't worry about understanding any of it. Right now, you're just exposing yourself to the Bible.

When you're ready to start reading it, the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament is a good place to start. Luke and John will give you two views of Jesus and His ministry. Then continue through Acts for an overview of early Church history. Then continue reading until you reach Revelation. Only read the first three chapters. After that, Revelation gets cryptically prophetic.

Psalms and Proverbs give you a good feel for God. After reading Luke through Revelation, then Psalms and Proverbs, go ahead and start in Genesis and push through to Revelation, this time cover to cover. Don't feel bad if this process takes years. That's why you just look at every page first. It can take a while. There's no hurry. If a year or two passes and you still haven't finished, that's okay. Most Christians never read the whole Bible in their lifetimes.

At Agathos, we hope for a little more - but, ultimately, it's all up to you. We are a church for those who wish to grow into leaders - but not everyone has such a desire - which is perfectly okay. There are many churches that will accomodate a more passive faith, and we can help you find a good one.

PRAYING. Praying is as simple as talking to God. If you would like a formula for prayer, a popular one is called ACTS, which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Adoration means spending some time praising God, admiring Him for His character or attributes or things you know He did in the Bible.

Confession means admitting what you've done wrong, or, if you don't know of anything specific that you've done, you can just confess that you tend to make mistakes, and ask for forgiveness for the mistakes you've made and for help to not make as many in the future.

Thanksgiving means thanking God for good things He has done. Since He is Creator, thank him for all the good things you have even if you got them by your own effort. Even those things we are able to do on our own, we can only do because there are Principles of Cause and Effect that allow us to produce those results - so we thank Him for that, too.

Supplication is a fancy term that just means "ask for stuff." We can pray for others and pray for ourselves. Our prayers may be as simple as "bless so-and-so." Based upon an Agathos way of thinking, we should walk in total cooperation with our own prayers. This means that if we are praying for some outcome, we should also be working toward that outcome. If I am a man praying for my marriage, I should also be working to be the best husband possible. If I am praying for a new job, I should be looking for that job.

Prayers don't need to be fancy. You can just talk. You can pray out loud. You can pray silently. You can pray for a long time, or you can pray for just a minute or two. Just pray.

TIME WITH CHRISTIANS. "Fellowship" is the common term for this, but it basically boils down to "Spend time with Christians. At the most basic, just attend a good church. If a church believes our Critical Beliefs, we generally consider it a good Christian church. There are many "flavors" of legitimate Christianity. If you struggle with weakness in certain sin areas, a highly legalistic church will be a safe place. If you are intrigued by the supernatural aspects of relationship with God, charismatic churches focus on this. If you want to have a passive faith for a while, find a big church where you can slip in and out without being noticed - or you can find a solid Christian preacher on television or radio. If you want to grow right away, then Agathos is a good place to learn and gain skills and become a Disciple.

Just choose how you would like to begin your walk with God. Just Salvation may be enough for you for now - and that's perfectly okay. Or you may want more. Whatever more you may want right now, God has it for you. But it's your choice.

YOU MAY HAVE QUESTIONS. If you do, feel free to ask. You can ask questions at Agathos through the QIC2, by surfing this website, by asking others at our services, or by emailing us at Info@AgathosMinistries.org.