Gifts · New believer

Gifts for a new Christian
for the first year, not the decision

The first year is the one where people quietly stop. Not because anything went wrong, but because the excitement wore off before the habits were in, and nobody handed them the habits. So the useful gift for a new Christian is not a symbol of the decision — they have the decision — it is something that makes next Tuesday morning easier. Everything below was chosen on that test, and each one comes with the page on this site that teaches how to use it, which is the part of the gift that costs nothing.

One rule first. Do not give a new believer a study Bible. It is the instinctive gift and the wrong one: two thousand pages of footnotes tells a beginner that the book cannot be read without an expert, which is the opposite of what they need to believe in year one. Give them a Bible they can write in, and a pen, and let the footnotes wait.

The first item is our own title, and I say so where it appears. The rest are paid, sponsored links — I earn a commission if you buy through one, at no extra cost to you. I have not used every product here and I say so on each one. No prices on this page; Amazon changes them constantly, so click through and see what it costs today.

Something to do every week

The habit that most reliably survives the first year is a small, fixed one. Not a daily reading plan — those are abandoned by February and the abandonment is felt as failure — but one page, once a week, with the Scripture already chosen and one question to answer. It is hard to fall behind on a thing that only asks for Sunday.

Our own title · one page a week, for a year

Be Still: A 52-Week Christian Gratitude Journal — a Scripture, a short reflection, and room to write, once a week. This is our own title, so I’ll skip the pitch; it exists because a new believer needs a practice small enough to keep, and gratitude is the practice that teaches you to notice what God is doing before you have the vocabulary for it. There is a companion volume for anxiety if that is the year they are in.

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A Bible that is meant to be written in

A new Christian’s first Bible is usually a gift, usually leather, usually too nice to mark — and so it stays pristine and closed. Whether it is a sin to write in a Bible is the first question most new believers actually have, and the answer is no; the second-best answer is a Bible that was built to be written in, so the question never comes up.

A first Bible with room in the margin

A double-column journaling Bible with ruled two-inch margins, heavier paper made for ink, and a cloth cover that lies flat. I have not handled this edition; the format is on the publisher’s listing. It is the New International Version, which is a good first translation to read; if their church reads another, the same series comes in several, so check first. What to write in the margins is the page to send with it.

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The pen, so the Bible gets used

A beginner with a nice Bible and a ballpoint will not mark it, because the ballpoint dents the page and the first mark looks like damage. A fine pigment pen makes the first underline look like it belongs, and that first underline is the moment the book becomes theirs.

The pen that makes the first mark look right

Archival pigment fineliners in six sizes, black — no feathering on thin paper, waterproof once dry, and the finest tips fit a margin note beside eight-point type. I have not written in my own Bible with these; the ink argument is on its own page and it is the whole case.

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One box, so nothing has to be figured out

For the giver who wants the whole desk settled in one order, or for the new believer who would rather not learn what a highlighter’s solvent is. It is a mediocre purchase for someone already equipped and a good one for a beginner, for the same reason: it arrives complete.

If you would rather make one decision than five

A kit that bundles no-bleed highlighters and pens with tabs, sticky notes, an A5 notebook and a zip case — twelve dual-ended highlighters in muted colours, which is the detail that matters. Sold as a women’s kit with a pink case, which is worth knowing before you order it for someone else. What each thing in it is for is the page to give with it.

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Something to carry when the book is at home

The verses a new believer will need first are the ones for the moments they cannot get to a Bible — the 2 a.m. one, the argument, the hospital corridor. Twelve of them, chosen by the moment, are on this site for free; the box below is where they go once they are learned, and it is the least expensive thing on this page.

A memory box, with the first verse already written

A 3×5 index card case with a hundred ruled cards and five dividers — the exact shape of the five-section memory system. I have not used this particular case; the contents are on the listing. Write Isaiah 41:10 on the first card, put it in the front, and give the box with that one card in it. That is the gift.

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What not to give

The study Bible, for the reason above. Anything with a verse in script on it. A theology book, however good, in the first year — it will be read as a test. And a daily devotional with dates in it, because the first missed week turns the gift into a reproach on the nightstand. Give them the weekly one instead, and the habit that survives it.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. 1 Peter 2:2