Here’s the usual process in the Modern Church:
Methods may vary amongst congregations, but this is basically it.

Phase 1: Decision

1. Preach a wishy-washy message. By that I mean, preach a heart warming message. A message that encourages and uplifts people’s spirits. Since you know… the Church isn’t here to be hard on people and offend them. As people would say, “We already got it hard from the world you know!” Thus, “be seeker-friendly”. Yeah, since our Christianity today is all about having a “Relationship with God” and love, joy and victory, not like that dull ‘ol “Religion”.
2. After the sermon, tell people that they won’t have all those things said in the message if they do not have Christ in their life. Or tell them that if they want those things, all they have to do is ask Jesus in their hearts. Tell them that it isn’t a formula or anything, but if they do pray that prayer they will have victory, a life of victory.
3. You don’t really have to go off explaining the prayer, just ask them to repeat the prayer after you. They can learn all those things later since the “Decision” part is what’s important. If we get them to “Decide” this one time, then “Discipling” is an easy task that will surely follow. No need to really explain anything in the pulpit, all you have to do is get people raising their hands.
4. While you’re pleading with the people with the “Decision”, use the “Heads bowed, eyes closed, I see you, small-group-leader go over there!” method, to make sure that after the “Decision” these people would be looked after. End of Phase 1.

Phase 2: Deep Stuff
So now you got each person, who came forward and prayed the prayer with you, each with a small group leader now right? Now these guys will start to meet regularly so the new guy can get into the “deep stuff”.

1. Of course it is basic knowledge among Christians to talk about first what that decision actually meant. (To make it clear in the prayer above, as long as you get them to decide, even though they don’t have a clue what they are doing, it’s ok since we explain it all here in phase 2.) Thus we talk about the Decision/Salvation.
2. First, you need to explain why we need to become a “new creation”, why we need salvation. Tell them that before making the decision we are separated from God. That no matter what we do, no matter what religious activity we accomplish, we will be eternally separated from Him.(Back it up with Scripture of course.)
3. Then move on to the next question, “why exactly are we separated from God?” And of course, the answer is because of sin. Tell them that God is good and man is not. And give them scriptures like, “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” and “The wages of sin is death…”. Or you can simply say, “It’s because of sin! You know we’re all sinners right? That’s what separates us from God!”
4. Now to the next evangelical hoop, “the wages of sin”. Explain to him/her that God demands a sacrifice for man’s sin. That God is holy, righteous, and just, and that He could not allow sin to go unpunished. But God doesn’t really want that for us. He doesn’t really want mankind to be separated from Him. And here’s where you guys talk about Jesus.
5. Tell Him that Christ died and took the punishment for you. He exchanged His righteousness for our sin. He took our curse and gave us His blessing. He lived a sinless life, thus, He was the only one qualified to pay the penalty for man’s sin and to bridge the gap between God and man. Therefore this is salvation, it is based on what Jesus did. Not on what we do for Him, since Jesus alone can and did pay the penalty for sin.(You can even use graphical illustrations in this part. Showing how we we’re when we were separated from God. Then there’s this gulf of separation from God. Then Christ came and became the bridge that connects man to God.)
6. Then explain to him/her what salvation reall
   y means. Well, actually you just summarize everything here. Tell him/her that God must punish us because of sin (You don’t really have to explain what sin is… since, you know… he already agrees and knows that he’s a sinner. No need to go off condemning the poor guy… or gal.). That the punishment is eternal separation from God in hell. But God made a way so we wouldn’t go to hell forever ‘coz He loves us so much. He sent His Son to pay our penalty by dying on the Cross. Because of His sinless life, death could not hold Him. He was raised from the dead on the third day.
7. Lastly, how does one receive salvation? (This is where you actually explain what clueless little guy did before you guys even met.) We receive salvation when we stop trusting in ourselves and put our trust in what Christ did for us. Also, give them those verses, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…” and “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…”

There you go, now the new guy has officially gone past the first foundational truth. And yeah… you can say that he/she’s pretty much saved. (Praise God!) Now he/she can move on to more “deeper stuff”.

Don’t forget that as you go through all these steps, you must be as friendly as you can be. Never condemn, don’t do that. Since, you know, we’re Christians after all. We love people.

So that’s it. The Modern Day Gospel.

I welcome your comments and opinions concerning this.

I haven’t really dealt with anything here. I just stated these things. So be sure to check out the blog again tomorrow and we’ll deal.