What’s Keeping Teens from Being All-In for Jesus?

I have the habit of keeping articles from magazines that somehow pique my interest. But there was quite a stack accumulating on my desk and so I decided to work my way through these again. One article I had saved was from the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Group Magazine, in which Rick Lawrence detailed some research about students and being ‘all-in’ for Jesus.What interested me most was the part on what was keeping teens from being all-in for Jesus. Here’s the top 5 reasons:

1. I wish I knew a lot more about how to actually have a day-to-day relationship with Jesus that made a difference in my real life.
2. The greatest pressures I face are all somehow connected to relationships.
3. Christianity, in the end, is primarily about being a good person.
4. I have lots of doubts about my faith and often wonder if everything I say I believe is really true.
5. There are many things in the Bible that I have a hard time believing.

What can we learn from this?I think the common denominator is discipleship.

Discipleship means showing and teaching how to live with Jesus on a daily basis.

Discipleship means building the relationship with students so they can open up about anything they face in life.

Discipleship means fully exploring the Gospel—moving way beyond the idea of being a good person.

Discipleship means giving room for doubt and hard questions, wrestling with these together instead of focusing on easy answers.

If we want students to go all-in for Jesus, discipleship is the key. How are you doing in this area? What could you do to disciple students more?