From our DCE / Vicar

Experience,

What are the experiences that have shaped your life?

Was it a time at summer camp as a young person?

Was it a Job?

Was it the adventure of getting to know another person?

Was it becoming a Husband/Wife, a Father/Mother?

What it a hurtful loss?

When I have asked people about their faith lessons and the most 

transformational learning’s of their lives people have mostly pointed 

to experiences that they have gone through. It does seem like the best 

classroom is the school of life. I believe that God knows this about us.

One thing that has always struck me about the Gospels is how full of 

actions they are. Jesus did not just stand up and talk in one place 

for His ministry but he engaged different individuals in experiences 

that both revealed who He was and is and taught the individuals about 

the Kingdom of God.  He calmed the storm, fed the 5000, and raised the 

dead, and even when he did get up and preach, he preached in parables, 

he preached about experiences.

This is one reason why the youth ministry at Redeemer Lutheran is very 

committed to experiential learning. This is why we go to a camp in 

Wisconsin and care for God’s special children who are developmentally 

disabled. This is why we travel to New York City, one of the largest 

cities in the world, and work with inner-city missions, and 

organizations. We do all this because God has made us in such a way 

that we learn from experiences. We do this so that all the 

participants might fall deeper in love with Christ through the 

experiences that He will lead us through, so that all may return with 

a deeper passion for serving our Lord and Savior Jesus.

May God grant you rich learnings in the experiences of your life!

Peace,

Jason