What is XP3?

XP3 is a downloadable curriculum designed to help churches implement the Orange strategy in student ministry. XP3 stands for eXPerience 3. We believe there are three things every student should experience in student ministry (and in life)—three things they must experience in order for them to have a personal, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Those three things are wonder, discovery and passion.

WONDER: Every one of us has a desire to marvel. We are looking for something to amaze us, something to incite wonder. There’s a generation of students growing up in today’s church who are somehow missing the wonder of who God really is and believing that He isn’t big enough for their experiences.

DISCOVERY: Every person is wired for adventure. We are curious from the womb. We want to explore, to see something we have never seen, something that helps us understand new things about ourselves. Many students today never make the discovery of who they are in light of God’s truth, and many feel that He isn’t relevant to their lives.

PASSION: Every one of us longs to make a connection, to make a difference, to have intimacy, romance, companionship. Many students today fail to engage in a God-given passion to become authentically involved in the lives of others. They don’t feel He is real enough for their relationships.

These three things ultimately affect everything we do. They pull at our hearts, drive our behavior and capture our imagination. They are the levers our culture pulls to move us emotionally—to appeal to our souls.

We are all going to give our hearts to something—good or bad—in order to experience wonder, discovery and passion. At reThink, we passionately believe in equipping leaders to help students discover these three principles in the context of their personal relationship with God in a way that demonstrates their own authentic, growing relationship with Him.

Every series we create will use one, two or all three of these elements so that students move beyond information about God to an actual experience with Him—one that incites wonder, discovery and passion. In the heart of a student, we want to incite wonder about who God is in such a way that compels him or her to discover who they are and their passion for influencing others. (Click here to view a list of the available XP3 series.)

Here are the ways we define not only these three experiences, but we’ve also unpacked some ways they show up in our everyday lives.
 
WONDER: I am created to pursue an authentic relationship with my Creator.
• Recognize. There’s more to life than what we can see with our eyes.
• Pursue. God initiated a relationship with us, and the Christian faith is learning how to pursue this relationship through spiritual disciplines.
• Follow. We’re invited not just to believe in Jesus, but to follow Him through faith.

DISCOVERY: I belong to Jesus Christ and define who I am by what He says.
• Made. I have been uniquely made to contribute to God’s world.
• Accepted. We are the loved sons and daughters of the perfect Father.
• Transformed. I am continually being changed by my growing relationship with God.

PASSION: I exist every day to demonstrate God’s love to a broken world.
• Restore. God allows us to participate with Him in restoring a broken world.
• Connect. We live in the complexity of relationships and the value God places on them.
• Serve. As the people of God, our lives are marked by our love for one another.

 

XP3 is a Strategy, Not a Curriculum

XP3 fits together with a comprehensive master plan. Teach with the end in mind—it’s the motivation behind our overall strategy. We believe that there are key things a child needs to learn at each age from birth to graduation—age-specific core concepts, principles and experiences to have a real, growing and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. By participating in the various age-specific strategies—First Look, 252 Basics, and XP3—your church develops a master plan that keeps the end result for a child in mind.

XP3 is designed to develop leaders. Our resources are designed to equip leaders to focus on the right things—developing volunteers into leaders, connecting with the home, connecting with students. We believe this shift in focus will allow you to concentrate your time and energy and allow you to grow as a leader.

XP3 is arranged to make community a priority. The role of the small group is elevated in each of our age-specific strategies. We feel that every teen should have a trusted adult in his or her life who is communicating to them the same things their parents are communicating. We believe that small groups are the primary place where truth is being processed because it’s where students have relationships. It’s the place where they feel safe to ask questions and internalize truth.

XP3 promotes interaction with parents. Each of our strategies seeks to create an alignment between the church and the home. As much as we try to maximize the impact we have on this generation, we realize that the time a student spends at home plays a huge role in his or her spiritual development. That’s why we develop ways to connect with parents and champion the parent/teen relationship.

XP3 mobilizes students to be active in ministry. At reThink, we believe in transitioning students away from a lecture-based format to one where students can actually experience the core truths of wonder, discovery and passion. We believe that is a key component to their faith becoming part of their DNA. And we believe that students should be active in ministry, getting a chance to be a part of the local church now and not waiting until that “someday” when we think they will suddenly desire to be a part of it. A key part of spiritual growth is service.