The goal and practice of the early church towards new converts is worthy of our attention and emulation. Early Christians were eager to teach the gospel to the lost and longed to baptize each person with whom they studied, so that the individual’s sins might be washed away by the blood of Jesus. They even urged, with persuasive words, a lost person to not tarry but to be baptized right away (cf. Acts 22:16; 16:33; 8:36-38). However, getting them into the “baptistry” was not 
the end of the early church’s efforts, but it was the beginning of a new phase.
When Paul readied for his second missionary journey, his first order of business was not finding lost souls to whom he could preach. He said, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing” (Acts 15:36). This was not his first effort to do this, for he finished his first journey by returning and “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith” (Acts 14:21).
Brethren, let’s not drop folks once they’ve been baptized. Let’s continue to help them to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). — DS