Baby Steps with Christ

Why Church and Bible Reading Aren't the First Step to Knowing God

• Leigh Trupin

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 7:13

Send us Fan Mail

Are you trying to start your faith journey but feel overwhelmed, confused, or unsure where to begin with God?

In this episode of Baby Steps with Christ, host Leigh Trupin talks about a major struggle for new believers: being told to immediately read the Bible and go to church before they even understand who God is or how relationship with Him works.

If you’ve ever searched for how to start a relationship with God, what to do first as a new believer, or why the Bible feels confusing at the beginning, this episode breaks it down in a simple and practical way. Leigh shares her own experience of feeling lost and overwhelmed when she was expected to understand spiritual things without first understanding God Himself.

Through her journey, she explains that faith is not meant to start with pressure, performance, or religious expectations. Instead, it starts with relationship. Just like any relationship in life, trust and understanding take time to develop through consistent connection.

If you’ve ever wondered:

  • Where do I start with faith?
  •  Do I have to read the Bible first?
  •  Do I have to go to church before I know God?

This episode offers a clear and practical look at faith as relationship first, not religion or performance. Everything changes when you stop approaching God like a checklist and start building connection with Him step by step.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • Why starting with Bible reading and church can feel overwhelming for new believers
  •  How faith develops like a relationship over time
  •  Why trust in God cannot be forced or rushed
  •  Why spiritual growth should not begin with pressure or performance
  •  Starting “kindergarten for faith” as a foundation for your relationship with God
  •  Why knowing God’s character comes before religious structure
  •  How to begin building a simple, personal relationship with God
  •  Why faith becomes clearer when relationship comes first

Join the Community:
Leigh invites you to her 100% free online community on Skool where you can grow in your relationship with God at your own pace without pressure or religious expectations. Listen to the podcast and access all free resources in one place!

Take the Next Step:

Resources & Links:


👉🔗Why Church and Bible Reading Aren't the First Step to Knowing God

Welcome back to another episode of Baby Steps with Christ. I'm your host, Leigh Trupin. This is a place where we build a relationship with God one step at a time without religious pressure, where we learn we have direct access to God and don't need a middleman. We can go directly to the source.

Today I want to talk about something extremely frustrating to me. When you hear someone say, "I'm new to faith and I don't know where to start," what's the first thing people usually tell them? And you know as well as I do, it's read the Bible and find a church. Then they start shoving suggestions of which Bible verses to read and what type of church to attend. And while I know these people mean well, it still pisses me off. Let's just call a spade a spade here. How does anyone expect someone who's new to faith to understand the Bible and to know what's being taught in church before they even know who God is?

When I was new to my journey, I started reading the Bible and went to church as was suggested to me. And guess what? I didn't understand Jack. As I've stated in my book, Dear New Believer Love God, I felt like a kindergartner in a college course. And then it goes further into you have to tithe, get baptized, trust God, love God. I mean, the list just keeps coming.

Now let me ask you something. Before you got seriously involved with your significant other, did you start off by knowing all about them, trusting them, loving them? Or did you have to build that over time as you spent time with them and as your relationship grew? Come on, let's be real. You had to spend time with them. You had to learn their character. Trust came over time, and you eventually fell in love. So how is God any different?

How in the world can the starting point possibly be the Bible and church? It is too advanced. You do not send your kids to college when they're five, expecting them to immediately graduate. You send them to kindergarten and they eventually grow. Where is the kindergarten for faith?

That's why I started Baby Steps with Christ. This is kindergarten for faith. This is where we learn to build a relationship with God first. Where we learn we can speak directly to him and where we practice until we learn how he speaks directly to us. Where we learn to understand his character. And over time, God will teach us how we can trust him. And when we're ready, we'll grow to love him. This is where we take one baby step at a time and go at our own pace. This is where we learn to become an expert in our relationship with God.

Once that foundation is built, and when God leads you to things like the Bible and to church, those things come next. Once you're aware of who God is and know his character, then reading the Bible and going to church don't feel so overwhelming. It doesn't feel like a chore. It doesn't feel like religion because everything you do with God is built from your relationship with him. And notice what I said: what you do with God, you don't do these things for God. You do them and you include him.

What if instead of throwing a hundred religious expectations at someone who is just trying to know God, we slowed down and taught them how to simply spend time with him first? What if the starting point wasn't religious pressure, performance, or trying to look like the perfect Christian? But learning how to build an actual relationship with God one honest step at a time, one conversation at a time. Because relationships are not built overnight, they grow in time. And God wants you to grow with him, learn from him, and he eventually wants you to follow where he leads. He knows these things take time. He isn't expecting you to have it all figured out as soon as you turn to him and as soon as you want to know more about him.

So consider Baby Steps with Christ your kindergarten course. A place that helps you build your relationship with God before you do anything else. A place that helps you build a strong foundation with God before you go on to your next steps with him. So if you're new to faith, or maybe you've been around religion your whole life, but you've never actually built a relationship with God yourself, I want you to know you don't have to rush the process. You don't have to force feelings you don't genuinely have yet. You don't have to memorize Bible verses or be a regular churchgoer to be here.

Start small. Talk to God honestly, include him in your everyday life. Learn his character little by little. Ask questions, be curious, be real. And over time, the relationship starts to grow naturally. Because the goal is not religion first, the goal is relationship first. And from that relationship, everything starts to make more sense.

That's why I just started a 100% free online community through an app called Skool. I'm getting off social media and I'll have everything there for you in one place. You can listen to my podcast, get my free carousels, my free guides, and walk and communicate with people who want to learn about God without the pressure of religion. If you want to join, I'd love to have you. It's absolutely free with no hidden upgrade charges. You can search Baby Steps with Christ on Skool, and it's spelled S K O O L. And I'll have the link in the show notes.

Come exactly as you are. Learn at your own pace. I look forward to seeing you there. Let's start at the very beginning and let's grow together without any pressure. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you know needs to hear it. And join me on Skool and let's keep taking those baby steps together. Thanks for listening. Until next time.

Join the Community:
Leigh invites you to her 100% free online community on Skool where you can grow in your relationship with God at your own pace without pressure or religious expectations. Listen to the podcast and access all free resources in one place!

Take the Next Step:


Resources & Links: