Rick Mattson's Blog, page 16
April 2, 2018
Walking Away from the Faith, Part 4: The Queer Exit
In the old days, sex education for young people in the church focused on boundaries: how far one could go with a partner without actually sinning.
These days, things are more complicated, to say the least.
Consider Mary, a 17-year old Christian high school student.
Her friend group at school includes a mix of Christians, quasi-Christians, agnostics, atheists and one Muslim.
Most are sympathetic to — or members of — the “queer” community of gays, lesbians, bi’s, and gender non-conforming persons.
At church, Mary is taught to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” But she knows most of her friends recoil at that idea. They won’t allow the separation of a person’s actions from their sexual identity. And most are negative toward the church.
Mary’s caught in the middle. A volunteer at her Wednesday night youth ministry makes a few disparaging remarks about the “homosexual agenda.”
Something isn’t right. She’s not sure what to think.
Relational complications
October of her senior year Mary’s best friend, Emma, announces she’s transitioning to a male identity. He chooses a new name for himself — Ethan.
Back at church, in a Bible study on purity, Mary reads texts from Genesis 19, Leviticus 18, and Romans 1. Seems like God is mostly against queers, she thinks. Against Ethan.
But Mary isn’t. She loves her friends. At some point she comes to believe they’re right about the church: it’s a judgmental, oppressive institution. Definitely not loving.
Leaving?
Mary decides it’s finally time to show support for her friends, and leave the church. Time to get angry.
Next post: What the church should teach about sexuality.
For a well-written blog on the topic of transgenderism from a courageous parent, click here.
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash
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March 11, 2018
Walking Away from the Faith, Part 3: Suggestions from the Pros
I have the arduous privilege of working in the arena of higher education where young people regularly come and go from the church. Mostly go, actually (they leave).
Of a plethora of studies and literature out there about the millennial “exodus” from the church, here are three articles that may be of interest:
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)
Overall, the picture isn’t pretty:
The segment of “nones” (religiously unaffiliated who still believe in God) is increasing dramatically in America.
Catholic and mainline young people are leaving the church at high rates.
Evangelicals aren’t far behind.
On a contrary note, Ed Stetzer at CT notes that many millennials eventually come back to church. That is, they go on hiatus, not permanent leave.
The solutions? How to stem the tide? Stop the exodus?
To summarize the research and suggestions from church leaders, kids are more likely to stay in the church if the following five elements are present:
Adult Relationships in the church. Kids need more than their parents.
Mission trips and service projects. They need tangible experiences of serving others in the name of Christ.
Integrative discipleship: where faith is brought into relevant areas of life such as school, work and sexuality.
Parents who model an active faith at home. We can’t rely just on the church.
Bridge to a campus ministry: For those that go off to college, they must get involved in Cru, Navigators, InterVarsity, etc.
Regarding #5, a new resource called Campus Ministry Link helps students entering college find a ministry at their school of choice.
My thought is that a whole series of factors must come together to keep young people active in the faith. Even then, however . . . no guarantees.
Next time: Sexuality and “friend group” bring church into question.
The post Walking Away from the Faith, Part 3: Suggestions from the Pros appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
February 19, 2018
Walking Away from the Faith, Part 2: Angry at “The Church”
Prior post: misunderstanding the “perfection” of God leads to disappointment
Research institutions such as Barna Group and Lifeway (as summarized in CT) tell us that the church dropout rate for young people age 16-24 is more than half.
Some young adults return to the church later on, when they start families. Some never return at all.
Those of us in campus ministry tend to run into church dropouts fairly often. They are my focus here.
What are they like?
Often they’re angry, hurt, or both.
Some had a negative experience at church, such as not feeling accepted by a youth ministry, or getting too close to the hostilities of a church split, or not believing they could ask questions or express doubts.
Other dropouts feel judged and rejected, often over issues of sexuality. They may have queer friends who despise the church, or they may be pursuing or experimenting with queer identity themselves. And now they feel the support of campus culture, providing them with a sense of empowerment for the first time in their adult lives.
* * *
Belief in the basic gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ frequently melts away at some point in the process of leaving church, giving credence to the idea that experience and feelings shape belief.
* * *
How should church leaders and parents respond?
I’ll attempt an answer in my next post.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
The post Walking Away from the Faith, Part 2: Angry at “The Church” appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
February 11, 2018
Walking Away from the Faith, Part 1: The Perfection of God (revised)
How can the church prevent its young people from leaving the faith?
I don’t know, exactly. But perhaps the current exodus from the church is at least partially our fault.
Recently I encountered a now-adult atheist who grew up in the church but became disillusioned with God in his teen years because God didn’t perform as advertised. God didn’t answer prayer in the way he’d come to expect.
I’m afraid young people have gotten the impression that God is “perfect” by some worldly definition of perfection, perhaps along these lines:
For the faithful and righteous believer, God answers prayers, provides health and prosperity, chases away sadness and despair, and shows up when needed. Every single time.
* * *
But there’s a different perfection at work in the Bible. Perfect required Abram to wait twenty-five years for a promise to be fulfilled. Perfect commanded the people of Israel to wipe out the Canaanites, chose Jacob over Esau, and established a portion of the Messianic line through incest and foreign (non-Jewish) persons.
Perfect came to us in the manger, the donkey and the cross. And of course the resurrection. This is the perfection young people need to learn. Perhaps they will then adjust their expectations accordingly.
Next post: Walking away, angry at the church.
The post Walking Away from the Faith, Part 1: The Perfection of God (revised) appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
Walking Away from the Faith, Part 1: The Perfection of God
How can the church prevent its young people from leaving the faith?
I don’t know, exactly. But perhaps the current exodus from the church is at least partially our fault.
Recently I encountered a now-adult atheist who grew up in the church but became disillusioned with God in his teen years because God didn’t perform as advertised. God didn’t answer prayer in the way he’d come to expect.
I’m afraid young people have gotten the impression that God is “perfect” by some worldly definition of perfection, perhaps along these lines:
For the faithful and righteous believer, God answers prayers, provides health and prosperity, chases away sadness and despair — and above all, shows up when needed. Every single time.
There is no ambiguity, no mess, no suffering, no losing your mother to cancer. Everything about gender and sexuality is crystal clear.
Do your devotions, repent of your sin, show up to youth group. You’ll feel the presence of God walking with you every step of the way, performing miracles and clearing a path in front of you.
And don’t forget: God has the perfect “one” (spouse) in store for you, if you remain faithful.
* * *
But kids feel they’ve been duped — that you and I sold them a load of wishful thinking. Thus my contention is that the root of much apostasy in the church can be summed up in a single word: disappointment.
We should have told our kids about the God of the OT who made his servant Abram wait twenty-five years to fulfill a promise, and who required the people of Israel to slaughter the Canaanite nations.
Our kids should know that the “perfect” God we worship formed the messianic lineage through incestual relations, a prostitute, and foreign (non-Jewish) women. That the symbols of Jesus are manger, donkey and cross, and that Jesus used the parables not only to reveal truth but to conceal it.
A perfect God, of course, would never do all these things. It seems to me we should reconstruct our definition of perfection, then — and thereby realign our expectations — from the inside out, by examining the peculiar God of Scripture and only then declaring: now that’s perfection.
The untamed, radical God of both Testaments and the humble, revolutionary “anti-hero” Jesus Christ of the NT will connect intellectually and viscerally to young people. Dare try it out.
The post Walking Away from the Faith, Part 1: The Perfection of God appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
February 1, 2018
Endorsements (and two full reviews) for Faith Unexpected
Rick Mattson has written a book about struggling people who have an authentic and sometimes messy encounter with a delightful and disturbing and wooing God. Whatever your faith background or orientation, you will be inspired and encouraged by these real life and powerful stories!
– Dr. Rick Richardson
Director of Academic Programs, Church Outreach Initiative and Research
Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center
Author: Experiencing Healing Prayer and The Heart of Racial Justice
We’re all so busy, so harried and worn, and our world is so full of noise and echo-chambers that it’s a rare thing to find stories that cut through the din and compel us to listen. The ten people in this book are offering us a gift. They have willingly stripped away the usual noise and ‘facade’ and bared their lives to us by way of their personal stories. Therein they have invited us to a “pause-point” saying, basically, “Hey! Take a break! Slow down, give me your attention, and let me share with you something remarkable, something that you might want, and something that you can have!” It may be easy to dismiss one story as an anomaly, but ten diverse people from around the world, different cultures, different issues, coming to a shared realization: “God cares about me personally and He’s offering me just the thing that I’m so hungry for!” – that’s hard to ignore. I think that the reader will find it hard to put this book down, and will be compelled to share the stories with others.
– Dr. Michael Hein, M.D.
Healthcare CEO
Jesus said that coming to faith in him was like being born all over again. Being born is a miraculous, messy, unforgettable thing. So… is coming to faith in Jesus just as miraculous? Just as messy? Just as unforgettable? In Faith Unexpected Rick Mattson helps us find out the answers to those questions ourselves. These are true stories of re-birth you will not soon forget.
– Don Everts
Author: Jesus with Dirty Feet: a down-to-earth look at Jesus for the curious and skeptical. And co-author of I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus
Everyone likes stories—especially accounts of turnarounds and life change—and in Rick Mattson’s book, you’ll discover a diverse group of people with unique journeys, on their way to an unexpected destination. You may recognize yourself in some, or know of someone who took a similar path. What’s evident in each story is the gentle, persistent grace of God bringing about transformation and hope. Expect the unexpected and enjoy the journey.
– Neil Stavem
Director of Programming, Faith Radio Network, St. Paul, MN
Reading Faith Unexpected was like experiencing a Billy Graham crusade in a book. Everyone’s journey in getting to the crusade is unique, but the work that God does for each person is always the same – miraculous life transformation. The ten transformational miracles that Rick documents in this book, including his own, were all very inspirational for me, and I think they will inspire ALL who read this book, whichever side of the faith decision line they currently are on.
– Dane Anderson
President and Chief Executive Officer, FAST Global Solutions, Inc.
Read full review by “Bob on Books,“ popular blogger/reviewer.
Read review on Amazon by author John Prin
Full Description of Faith Unexpected
The post Endorsements (and two full reviews) for Faith Unexpected appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
Endorsements for Faith Unexpected
Rick Mattson has written a book about struggling people who have an authentic and sometimes messy encounter with a delightful and disturbing and wooing God. Whatever your faith background or orientation, you will be inspired and encouraged by these real life and powerful stories!
– Dr. Rick Richardson
Director of Academic Programs, Church Outreach Initiative and Research
Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center
Author: Experiencing Healing Prayer and The Heart of Racial Justice
We’re all so busy, so harried and worn, and our world is so full of noise and echo-chambers that it’s a rare thing to find stories that cut through the din and compel us to listen. The ten people in this book are offering us a gift. They have willingly stripped away the usual noise and ‘facade’ and bared their lives to us by way of their personal stories. Therein they have invited us to a “pause-point” saying, basically, “Hey! Take a break! Slow down, give me your attention, and let me share with you something remarkable, something that you might want, and something that you can have!” It may be easy to dismiss one story as an anomaly, but ten diverse people from around the world, different cultures, different issues, coming to a shared realization: “God cares about me personally and He’s offering me just the thing that I’m so hungry for!” – that’s hard to ignore. I think that the reader will find it hard to put this book down, and will be compelled to share the stories with others.
– Dr. Michael Hein, M.D.
Healthcare CEO
Jesus said that coming to faith in him was like being born all over again. Being born is a miraculous, messy, unforgettable thing. So… is coming to faith in Jesus just as miraculous? Just as messy? Just as unforgettable? In Faith Unexpected Rick Mattson helps us find out the answers to those questions ourselves. These are true stories of re-birth you will not soon forget.
– Don Everts
Author: Jesus with Dirty Feet: a down-to-earth look at Jesus for the curious and skeptical.
Everyone likes stories—especially accounts of turnarounds and life change—and in Rick Mattson’s book, you’ll discover a diverse group of people with unique journeys, on their way to an unexpected destination. You may recognize yourself in some, or know of someone who took a similar path. What’s evident in each story is the gentle, persistent grace of God bringing about transformation and hope. Expect the unexpected and enjoy the journey.
– Neil Stavem
Director of Programming, Faith Radio Network, St. Paul, MN
Reading Faith Unexpected was like experiencing a Billy Graham crusade in a book. Everyone’s journey in getting to the crusade is unique, but the work that God does for each person is always the same – miraculous life transformation. The ten transformational miracles that Rick documents in this book, including his own, were all very inspirational for me, and I think they will inspire ALL who read this book, whichever side of the faith decision line they currently are on.
– Dane Anderson
President and Chief Executive Officer, FAST Global Solutions, Inc.
Full Description of Faith Unexpected
The post Endorsements for Faith Unexpected appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
January 26, 2018
Faith Unexpected: Full Description
Faith Unexpected: Real Stories of People Who Found What They Never Imagined
How did Pentagon military strategist Donald Wellington find faith in God? Not the way you’d expect – not through attending church or reading the Bible. In fact, Donald discovered faith in ways that he never expected.
Or Deedra Reyes, Hopi Native American girl – how did she find faith? By traversing the mountains of northern Arizona in search of spiritual truth? No. Nothing like that. It had more to do with evil spirits, a 9mm Glock and a father who . . . well, you can read her story for yourself.
Faith Unexpected is a collection of real stories of people who found faith they weren’t looking for – faith, in fact, they never imagined for themselves.
Detroit native York Moore, for example, was a persecutor of believers at the University of Michigan. He never saw faith in his future, certainly not in the “death wish” he eventually brought upon himself.
Or Sarah Gross. She grew up in a liberal family in San Francisco and learned to hate on Christians for their homophobia, racism and pretty much all the ills of society. Then she visited a spirit channeler . . .
So if you are a believer who loves to read inspiring stories, or a spiritual seeker or skeptic looking to awaken your dormant faith (or find faith for the first time), this is the perfect book for you.
The accounts feature ordinary folks from around the country who are diverse in age – from twenties to near seventy – and ethnicity – including Black, Asian, Latino, Native and White.
A reflection guide included will help you think through the implications of the stories and, if you wish, discuss with a friend.
If you simply cannot imagine a scenario where a certain friend of yours finds faith in God, then give that person this book. And if you are trying to kindle your own faith into full functionality, give yourself this book.
Lastly, if you’re a person who simply cannot see yourself ever finding faith in God, then Faith Unexpected throws down the challenge: Take a risk. Pick up a copy of the book. Read the stories. Something might happen in your soul that you never imagined.
Author: Rick Mattson
Intended Audiences:
Friends who are “on the way” toward God
First-time church visitors
Alpha participants, outreach Bible study members, etc.
Anyone who wants to be inspired by the powerful faith stories of others.
ISBN: 978-0-692-04899-3
Page count: 120
Published by MattsonOutreach, 2018
Imprint: Pavement Publishing
Price: $10 Order Faith Unexpected (available now).
Free shipping for orders of ten or more books.
Price, online retailers: $12 (not yet available).
Bulk discounts available for churches. Write to us at rickmattsonoutreach@gmail.com for more information. The book is a tailor-made gift for first-time visitors to the following: your church, Sunday School, Adult Ed., Men’s Ministry, Women’s Ministry, Alpha participants, outreach Bible studies, etc. Consider giving it away at Easter. Free samples available for pastors and ministry leaders (write to us at rickmattsonoutreach@gmail.com)
Previous book by Rick Mattson: Faith is Like Skydiving: And Other Memorable Images for Dialogue with Seekers and Skeptics (IVP)
The post Faith Unexpected: Full Description appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
December 30, 2017
Story Part 2: How to Read the Biblical Story
A few years ago when I read the famous book pictured at left, it changed the way I approach the Bible.
Robert Alter taught me to pay closer attention to the story of Scripture, that is, to the author’s intended literary elements, such as:
“the minute choice of words and reported details, the pace of narration, the small movements of dialogue, and a whole network of ramified interconnections in the text.”
In the OT book of Ruth, for example, Alter points out that the main character, Ruth, a foreigner from Moab, is similar to the patriarch Abraham in making a fateful trek to the promised land:
She “returns” to a place she’s never been. Abraham goes to a place he’s never been. Both are critical to God’s overall plan of blessing and salvation.
This connection can be found in standard commentaries.
But the contribution Alter makes is to show such connections in the actual story-telling of the biblical authors. Alter wants us to appreciate the brilliant detail of the narrative and not fall into thinking that if we could just clear away the story, we’d get down to what really matters — the brass tacks of doctrine.
* * *
Inspired by the likes of Robert Alter, my forthcoming book, Faith Unexpected: Real Stories of People Who Found What They Never Imagined (February 2018) utilizes the power of story to inspire faith in others. The gospel message embedded in story is, indeed, powerful.
The post Story Part 2: How to Read the Biblical Story appeared first on Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry.
Story Part 1: Jesus Used Stories. So Should We.
In his fine book Reimagining Evangelism, Prof. Rick Richardson of Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center reminds us of the power of story:
“Jesus taught truth by telling stories and his stories still reverberate in our souls centuries later: the prodigal son, the sower, the parables of the kingdom. Jesus knew how to lodge truth not just in our heads but also deeply in our hearts and imaginations. Only stories can speak to all those levels . . .” (p85).
As a campus “apologist” for InterVarsity, most of my dialog with students and faculty is built around case-making — that is, providing sound reasons to believe in Christianity.
At Hamline University, for example, an atheist student recently asked me straight-up: “Why are you a Christian?”
Case-making ensued: origins, design, the historical case for Jesus . . .
And yet, as I’ve interviewed people around the country for my upcoming book, Faith Unexpected (Feb 2018), I’ve been brought back to the power of story time and again.
Stories shape our lives — just like Rick Richardson said.
And just like Jesus modeled.
* * *
Challenge: Write out your own story of faith. Practice telling it in increments:
The one-minute version.
The five-minute version.
The twenty-minute version.
Now tell it to a friend.
Next post: Robert Alter tells us how to read the biblical story.
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