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Cover: Jesus First — one figure on a ridge at first light, looking out over the hills.

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Jesus First: 40-Day Challenge

For Christians who are disappointed with the church. Forty days back to the Word, the Spirit and the people God is drawing, until Jesus is first again.

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Maybe you have been in church most of your life, and somewhere along the way you got honest. You started to see how much of it is about the building, the budget and the schedule. You noticed how many people around you seem to have a Sunday faith and nothing more. Maybe you were hurt by people who spoke for God. Maybe you have already stepped away, or you are close.

People call it church hurt, and it is real. But it is not God’s fault that His people behave badly, and it is not Jesus’s fault that His church so often focuses on the wrong things. This class does not ask you to pretend otherwise. It asks you to take your disappointment to Jesus Himself.

For forty days you will be honest about the problem, work through what you feel, and fill in the gaps church life may have left: your own relationship with the Bible, and what the Holy Spirit does in people who seek and obey God on purpose. Along the way you will rediscover personal Bible study, rediscover serving others with your eyes open for people who are looking for God, and be challenged to make disciples of them.

The whole class rests on one sentence Jesus said:

Then He said to them all, “If anyone wishes to follow Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Luke 9:23 (OTB)

What many of us have been missing is not a better church. It is honest, intentional obedience to Jesus. Church first has not worked. This is Jesus first.

About 15 to 20 minutes a day. Once a week, a day to talk it over with a friend or a small group. Everything you write stays in your own browser. Start with the welcome, then Day 1.

If you walked away from God altogether and are thinking about coming back, Restarting My Faith may be the better place to start.

Print it

Chapters

  1. Start here: how the 40 days workWho this is for, what a day looks like, and how the six weeks fit together.
  2. Day 1: Honest about itStart where you actually are, even if where you are is disappointed.
  3. Day 2: God sees what we can'tWe see behaviour. God sees hearts, all of them, including ours.
  4. Day 3: Jesus saw it firstYou are not the first to be grieved by religion without a heart.
  5. Day 4: Busy, and far awayA church can work hard, hold the right beliefs, and still leave its first love.
  6. Day 5: He is still knockingEven to a lukewarm church, Jesus stands at the door.
  7. Day 6: He weptJesus grieved over His people before He cleared the house.
  8. Day 7: Talk it overNo new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
  9. Day 8: How long?When God goes quiet, you are in good company.
  10. Day 9: The only one leftElijah thought he was the last faithful person. God spoke in a whisper.
  11. Day 10: Good, and lacking one thingGod wants more from us than good behaviour.
  12. Day 11: He shows HimselfJesus's own answer to the silence: love that obeys.
  13. Day 12: Church-first or Jesus-firstIt is possible to be busy for Jesus and miss Jesus.
  14. Day 13: To whom would we go?Why switching churches will not fix it, and what to do instead.
  15. Day 14: Talk it overNo new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
  16. Day 15: Faith comes by hearingWhat you need most is faith, and faith has a source.
  17. Day 16: What kind of groundThe same seed lands everywhere. The ground decides what grows.
  18. Day 17: PlantedA life rooted in God's word does not dry up when the weather changes.
  19. Day 18: We had hopedTwo disappointed disciples, and the conversation that changed everything.
  20. Day 19: Doers, not just hearersHearing without doing is how a whole church goes to sleep.
  21. Day 20: The book found againGod's people rediscover His word, and it brings tears, then joy.
  22. Day 21: Talk it overNo new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
  23. Day 22: The HelperJesus did not leave His people alone with a book. He sent the Spirit.
  24. Day 23: A new heartGod does not ask you to fix your own heart. He promises to give a new one.
  25. Day 24: Keep in stepFruit is the Spirit's work. Keeping in step is ours.
  26. Day 25: The shield of faithFaith does not stop the arrows from coming. It stops them from burning you.
  27. Day 26: Help my unbeliefYou do not need great faith to ask for more of it.
  28. Day 27: Stay, and stir each other upStaying is not putting up with it. It is helping others along.
  29. Day 28: Talk it overNo new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
  30. Day 29: The harvestJesus looked at the crowds and saw a harvest, not a problem.
  31. Day 30: Look for the person of peaceGod is already at work in someone near you. Your job is to find them.
  32. Day 31: What I haveServe the need in front of you, then point to the One who meets it.
  33. Day 32: Fields ready for harvestA woman with a past tells her whole town, while the disciples worry about lunch.
  34. Day 33: Go home and tellThe people closest to you may be the field God has ready.
  35. Day 34: Do you understand what you are reading?Open the Bible with a seeker, and let God do the rest.
  36. Day 35: Talk it overNo new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
  37. Day 36: Go and makeThe last thing Jesus told His followers to do.
  38. Day 37: Entrust itDisciples who make disciples who make disciples.
  39. Day 38: The church He lovesJesus has not given up on His church, and He asks you not to either.
  40. Day 39: Do you love me?After failure, Jesus asks one question and gives one assignment.
  41. Day 40: Jesus firstTake up your cross, every day, and follow Him. Then look back over all forty days.
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Have questions as you learn?

You don't have to work it out alone, and asking costs nothing. Tell us what the class raised — where to start, what to do next, or the part that didn't make sense — and we'll write back by email.

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Leading this class

For Leaders

Printables

Leader book (PDF)Everything in the workbook, plus facilitator notes, timing, and answers.Leader book booklet (11×17)Leader book booklet (A3)Tabloid paper: print double-sided, flip on short edge, fold in half and staple on the spine.A3 paper: print double-sided, flip on short edge, fold in half and staple on the spine.

How to use them

Who this class is for

Jesus First is for Christians who are disappointed with the church. Some are still in the pew every Sunday and quietly running on empty. Some have stepped away. Some were hurt by people who spoke for God. The class takes them from a faith organised around the church back to a faith organised around Jesus, and then sends them back to love the church as He does.

It is not a class about how to fix a church, and it is not a class for people who walked away from God altogether. Point them to Restarting My Faith instead.

Two ways to lead it

A small group works through the forty days together. Everybody does the daily session on their own, and the group meets on days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35, and again on day 40 for the final gather.

One friend walking alongside does the same thing with one person, often by phone or over coffee. The leader book is written for both. Where the two differ, each day has a paragraph for each setting.

Either way, the daily session is the class. The talk-it-over days are where people say out loud what the week stirred up, and where the “I will” gets somebody to answer to.

What a day asks of them

Every ordinary day is a short Discovery Bible Study done alone: check in on yesterday, pray the written prayer, read the passage twice, retell it, ask what it says about God and about people, and decide one specific thing to do today and who to tell. The picture is Eat, Digest, Grow: they eat the passage by reading and retelling it, they digest it by deciding what to do, and the growth belongs to God.

Your job is not to explain the passage to them. It is to ask, to listen, and to keep the conversation tied to what the text actually says.

The posture that makes it work

People will bring real anger about the church. Receive it. Do not defend the church, and do not pile on. Some congregations really are doing well, often because somebody stayed through the mess and watched God work. Others are not. The class lets both be true and keeps bringing people back to Jesus Himself.

When the class counsels staying where you are, that counsel is for the disappointed. It is never for someone caught in abuse, spiritual manipulation or false teaching. If that comes up, say plainly that staying silent is not what this class asks, and help them talk about it with someone they trust. Someone who has felt numb or hopeless for a long time needs help beyond the class as well.

Using the two books

The workbook is the participant’s: a short lead-in for each day, the reading printed in full, the prayer, and room to write. The leader book carries the same pages plus a leader layer for every day. Hand out the workbook, never the leader book.

This class

41 chapters

For Christians who are disappointed with the church. Forty days back to the Word, the Spirit and the people God is drawing, until Jesus is first again.

Time needed

Per session
15 to 20 minutes a day alone; 45 to 60 minutes on each talk-it-over day
In total
Forty days: six weeks, with five talk-it-over days and a final gather on day 40

Before you lead

Do the first week yourself before anyone else starts: the readings, the prayers, the questions and an "I will" each day. You will be asking people to be honest about their disappointment with the church, so settle beforehand what yours is, and that you will not defend the church or pile on it. Fix the day and place for every talk-it-over day before Day 1, so nobody has to negotiate a meeting in week three.

What to bring

  • A printed workbook for each person, or the class page open on a phone
  • A pen each
  • The leader book, open in front of you on talk-it-over days