• Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
    • Apologetics
    • Atheism
    • Bible
    • Devotion
    • Church
    • Evangelism
    • Hiddenness of God
    • Leadership
    • Philosophy
    • Religious Pluralism
    • Science and Faith
    • Theology
  • My Books
  • Video
  • Talks
  • Invite Me
No Result
View All Result
Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
    • Apologetics
    • Atheism
    • Bible
    • Devotion
    • Church
    • Evangelism
    • Hiddenness of God
    • Leadership
    • Philosophy
    • Religious Pluralism
    • Science and Faith
    • Theology
  • My Books
  • Video
  • Talks
  • Invite Me
No Result
View All Result
Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry
No Result
View All Result

In and Out

August 11, 2022

Consider the following pattern:

www.freeimages.co.uk
  • Teenager: heavily involved in church youth group. On fire for Jesus!
  • College age and early 20s person: drops out of church, grows cynical, apathetic.
  • Late 20s: He/she realizes need for grounding, brings new spouse and toddler to church twice/month.
  • Age 30: A dramatic fork in the road distinguishes in-group from out-group:
    • The outs remain on the fringe of the church. They take what they can but give little. Nominalism sets in.
    • The ins find warm fellowship, dive into the deep end, make a commitment to a local body of believers.
  • 30s and 40s: The ins commit huge time to church work and wonder at those who opt out.
  • 40s and 50s: The ins start to fade once again, feel burned out.
  • 50s and 60s: The former ins sit on the sidelines, feel they’ve done their share, go to the cabin a lot, switch to being outs.
  • 70s and beyond: The outs upgrade to more regular church attendance in order to encourage grandkids, but have little personal investment.
Of course, many Christians defy the above pattern and are faithful to the church their whole lives. This I applaud.
But for the fickle masses, church seems to be just this: optional. I suppose we can blame it on individualism, self-determination, maybe just laziness.

But we cannot blame it on the Bible.

We’re told in Ephesians 5 and other places that the church is the bride of Christ.

That means we Christians are married, spiritually speaking.

What does that mean for the outs?

Share120Tweet75
Rick Mattson

Rick Mattson

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Me

Rick Mattson Outreach Ministry

Rick Mattson

Evangelist & Writer

Hello & welcome to my blog! My name is Rick Mattson and I'm a traveling evangelist/apologist.

SUBSCRIBE! You'll be notified by email whenever a new post comes out
Loading

Categories

  • Apologetics (152)
  • Atheism (47)
  • Bible (32)
  • Church (67)
  • Devotion (102)
  • Evangelism (52)
  • Hiddenness of God (9)
  • Leadership (65)
  • Philosophy (7)
  • Religious Pluralism (14)
  • Science and Faith (3)
  • Theology (1)

Popular

  • Apologetics for Kids

    Apologetics for Kids

    328 shares
    Share 131 Tweet 82
  • Tradition as a Guardrail

    326 shares
    Share 130 Tweet 82
  • Muslim Dialogue

    312 shares
    Share 125 Tweet 78
  • Objective Truth is Back

    306 shares
    Share 122 Tweet 77
  • What I’m Working On: Part 1 of 3: Inside-to-Out

    306 shares
    Share 122 Tweet 77
Facebook Twitter

© 2022 Site by 5BCreative

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
    • Apologetics
    • Atheism
    • Bible
    • Devotion
    • Church
    • Evangelism
    • Hiddenness of God
    • Leadership
    • Philosophy
    • Religious Pluralism
    • Science and Faith
    • Theology
  • My Books
  • Video
  • Talks
  • Invite Me