The Jesus Experiment -Day One

The Jesus experiment was birthed out of seeing a need for students to take ownership for the development of a relationship with Jesus Christ. One Sunday morning I was speaking in front of our teens. I asked them “In all honesty, how many of you feel like you are disconnected from God”? To my surprise twenty-six honest hands shot up in the air. The teens that raised their hands were students who would be considered committed Christians. They faithfully attend church, youth group, participate in small groups, or youth group activities. Yet, somehow they sense there is some sort of disconnect between them and God. I asked them another question. “Is it the church’s responsibility, your responsibility, or are both involved in the development of your faith”? All of our teens agreed to “both”.  

Our teens were open and honest. I was evaluating our youth ministry thinking what do we need to do different. In our discussion the students shared they had not been pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ on their own. I looked at my watch to realize that our discussion would need to come to a close. I was perplexed to what we might need to do on our part to develop disciples of Jesus Christ. It was clear that we were attempting to unite teens into a committed relationship with Jesus Christ, but the effort was one sided. For the next month and half I would be bombarded with image of twenty-six, honest hands in air admitting to some sort of spiritual disconnect. In my search to invite our teens to be followers of Jesus Christ I was enlightened to the fact that our students were being spoon-fed their faith. There were receiving two meals a week one on Sunday and a second Wednesday. I realized that there might be something that we need to adjust or create in our youth ministry to spark our students in to pursuing a relationship with Jesus.  

This is when I came up with the “Jesus Experiment”. The “Jesus Experiment” involves students committing their selves wholeheartedly to knowing Jesus for thirty days through the daily reading God’s word, reflection, prayer, and worship. The goal of the “Jesus Experiment” can summed up in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Philippians 3:8 (NLT) “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ”. In this thirty-day journey we hope to see our teen connect with Christ and experience the power of knowing Jesus as their “Lord”. Here we go!