Of all the questions on this site, this is the one I most want you to get right. You can be a great person, a great parent, even a great church leader, but if you miss this, you've missed the point.
The good news is that when people in the Bible asked this exact question, they got a straight answer. A jailer in Philippi asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:30–31 ESV). A crowd in Jerusalem was cut to the heart and asked Peter, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:37–38 ESV).
Put those together and you get three things: you must hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and repent.
You might be thinking, "That's it? What about going to church? What about saying the prayer?" Notice what's not on the list. I'm not against church. I'm a pastor, so that would be bad for business. But sitting in a church building doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.
1. Hear the gospel
Paul asks, "How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:14 ESV). Nobody has ever sat on their back porch and figured out the gospel on their own. Someone has to tell you. So let me tell you:
God created us to be in relationship with Him, but sin broke that relationship.
Everyone has sinned, by nature and by choice (Romans 3:23).
Sin deserves to be punished. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Someone has to pay that price. You can pay it with an eternity away from God, or you can let Jesus pay it for you. But somebody is paying.
Jesus lived a sinless life, died for your sins in your place, and was raised from the dead. He's Lord now, and one day we'll all stand before Him (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Now, you might be wondering why I'd start with sin instead of "God loves you." Here's why. If I offered you a cure for malaria, you'd say, "That's great," and you'd never take it, because you don't think you have malaria. A gospel that skips sin is a cure for a disease nobody thinks they have. But here's the other side: you and I are so sinful that Jesus had to die, and we are so loved that He was glad to die. If you want to know what God thinks about sin, look at the cross. If you want to know what He thinks about you, look at the cross.
2. Believe the gospel
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9 NLT).
"Okay, I believe in God. I'm good." Well, so do demons. James says, "Even the demons believe—and shudder!" (James 2:19 ESV). That's a little uncomfortable. The word for believe, pisteuō, is a verb. It means to be so persuaded of something that you put your weight on it.
Think about a chair. I can stand next to a chair all day telling you how much I believe in it. You won't know I believe it until I sit down. If you really believe something is true, you'll act like it's true.
3. Repent
I know, "repent" sounds like a guy on a street corner with a cardboard sign. But Jesus preached it: "Repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15 ESV). And God "commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him" (Acts 17:30 NLT).
Here's the simplest way I can say it: repentance is a change of mind that produces a change in action. You stop thinking you're in charge of your life and start trusting that God is. You stop thinking sin is no big deal. Then you actually turn around. Feeling bad isn't the same thing. Judas felt terrible, but he never turned to God.
"So if I mess up again, am I not saved?" I'm not saying Christians never sin. We do, a lot. But there's a big difference between sinning and living in sin. "The righteous falls seven times and rises again" (Proverbs 24:16 ESV). What marks you as saved isn't that you never fall. It's that you get back up, own it before God, and keep fighting instead of getting comfortable.
What comes next
In Acts 2, about 3,000 people repented and were baptized that same day. That's a lot of wet clothes. Then their lives changed. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to sharing meals and to prayer (Acts 2:41–42). Baptism is how you publicly say, "I'm with Jesus now," and a changed life is the fruit.
If you've read this far and something in you is saying, "That's me," don't wait. Tell God you believe Jesus died for you and rose again. Turn from your sin and give Him your life. Then tell someone, and let us help you take your next step, including baptism.
Scripture: Acts 16:30–31; Acts 2:37–42; Romans 10:9, 14; Romans 3:23; 6:23; James 2:19; Mark 1:15; Acts 17:30; Proverbs 24:16; 2 Corinthians 5:10