The 1-2-3 Challenge

Nope. You are chosen in Jesus. You are forgiven in Jesus. You are loved in Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection is all-sufficient, and you are saved by grace through faith.

Read Romans 16:1-16, Philippians 2:19-30, or Colossians 4:7-17 (or the other several dozen verses just like them). Paul names names. Paul explicitly celebrates when the saints of God are fulfilling what our Lord has called them to.

And keeping score changes things. When little kids are playing soccer or t-ball, sometimes the league doesn’t “keep score.” But every kid on the field knows the score. Or notice how the feeling on the basketball court shifts once someone says, “You guys want to keep score?” Game on.

Yes! Do it! Challenge your friends and family to see who can cross off the most in a day, week, month, or year!

Nope. Just two marbles for each of our three discipleship strategies for every one person. Six marbles!

Nope…any order is good. Take a step!

Absolutely! The more the merrier. Make it a party.

For sure! Whatever your official church home or membership (including “none”), we are glad that you’ve connected with this community and this resource. Take a step in faith and tell us about it. See “I Took a Step. Now What?” on page 5. We want to hear about your experience and add a marble to our display to celebrate with you.

Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Paul tells Timothy, “Set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Your example is an encouragement that builds up the body of Christ. Even if no one knows what step you did, or even that you were the one who did it, your marble makes a visual difference as we walk together in faith. Even that anonymous marble is an encouragement to someone else that they’re not alone, we are in this together, and we can do this.

Bring them along with you! If they’re present for your step, then they get to celebrate with a marble too! Let us never underestimate the value of mentoring and modeling. Seeing adults living out the Christian faith is one of the most important things for the faith formation of our young people.

This might be the case for lots of people for lots of reasons. If this applies to you, or you’re in a position to advocate for someone who’s feeling this, look at the section “I’m Still Not Sure What Step to Take” above and schedule a time to meet one-on-one and we’ll come up with a custom plan together.

Sure! Though, I don’t think you are neccesarily “using” them. Maybe you can say something like, “As a Christian, I am trying to grow in my faith and be more intentional about practicing what I believe. I want to grow in my practice of loving well by [ABC] and I thought of you! How do you feel about that?”

Motives matter, but they’re not always the most important thing. Many kids don’t want to eat their vegetables, but their parents require the right behavior even when the motivation isn’t there. Just because we want something doesn’t mean we should do it, and just because we don’t want to do something doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. Think of this challenge as training wheels or a practice workbook. Put in the deliberate practice, even when it doesn’t feel natural so that it will become more natural.