by Adam Tucker, Ratio Christi Chapter Director at University of North Carolina Greensboro
For those of you who don't know, Ratio Christi is a national organization that starts and runs student apologetics (that's defending the Christian faith) clubs on university campuses. So, much like CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) or Baptist Campus Ministry, we meet weekly with students except we only focus on apologetics issues like the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, truth, evolution, the historicity of the resurrection, morality, ethics, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. In other words, we don't do what many other Christian organizations do. In fact, we want our students involved in these other Christian groups for precisely that reason. Our goal is to compliment, not replace, what the other Christian groups are doing, and we are convinced that our role is a vital one in today's university culture and the culture at large. We gained official affiliation at UNCG in October of 2010. We've grown from a handful of students our first year to around 20 who come periodically throughout the school year. Please allow me to share some of the reasons this ministry is vital and some of things God has allowed us to do this past year.
What's the Big Deal?
One of our students shared with me some of the surprising things fellow students "learned" in her Elements of Christian Thought class this past semester:
- That Satan is not actually in the Garden of Eden story
- That Mary was not a virgin when she had Jesus
- How women get looked down upon due to the Genesis stories; the foundation men set up from the Adam & Eve story to repress women
- That there are two creation stories
- How the Bible could have been created by a group of men for other personal reasons besides the truth
- The fact that church leaders picked and chose which books they wanted in the Bible
- Different ideas of salvation and the different perspectives on how to gain salvation with Christ. I have only ever thought that there was one way.
- How much everything contradicts itself in the bible and how people just accept it.
- How to view marriage differently
- I’ve been surprised at how basic the principles are that I have been taught and how my teachers have failed to give different viewpoints or go into more detail about them.
- Pretty much everything caught me off-guard!
The list goes on, but notice those last two particularly. Students should not be caught off guard by these same old rehashed objections to orthodox historical Christianity and the reliability of the Bible. Sadly, in a recent debate/conversation we co-hosted, two members of the UNCG Atheist, Agnostic, and Skeptics club gave their "deconversion" testimonies, and their reasons for rejecting Christianity were so sad, and they were actually rejecting caricatures of the Faith because they never had their questions answered and were never shown an intellectually robust and consistent Christianity that doesn't hinge on blind faith and emotion. This is precisely why Ratio Christi exists. We have not been called to a blind faith. In fact, we are called to love God with all of our minds! We must learn, and equip others, to think well and know why Christianity is actually true.
Here are what a few students have said about Ratio Christi at UNCG:
"Ratio Christi is unique among campus ministries. While many groups focus on worship and Bible study, which are most certainly of utmost importance, Ratio Christi is quite different.…I have grown much closer to the Lord, learned how to more effectively defend the Faith, and been equipped to boldly communicate the Gospel message to a lost and dying world. I have also met some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ who have been a source of encouragement, spiritual guidance, and friendship. Ratio Christi is an amazing ministry and I pray that it will spread to more campuses across the nation and the globe in the years to come. To God be the Glory!" - James, Class of 2012
"As a deconverted Christian (Atheist), I first came to Ratio Christi to continue challenging my thinking. It was the right place to come. Although I am still an Atheist, they are respectful, coherent, and offer challenging arguments. Regardless of the fact we disagree, they value truth and critical thinking as I do. Even as an alumnus I continue to have conversations with Greensboro's RC leader, Adam Tucker, and he is very helpful in providing me with resources." - Jonah, Class of 2012
You can read a couple of blog-length testimonies HERE and HERE.
Finally, this one is shared anonymously for obvious reasons,
"The truth is, Ratio Christi saved my life. Before I joined Ratio Christi I was going through a God-crisis where I wasn’t sure if God was real, or just a human construct used to explain away things we didn't understand. This crisis threw me into a deep spiraling depression. The way I saw it, if there was no God, then there was no purpose for our existence; we were just useless, meaningless matter going about trying to justify our existence.…Ironically, that fear of death actually drove me to the point of contemplating suicide. I was getting to the point where I couldn't take the anticipation anymore. If I couldn't find reason, scientific reason, to believe in God, then I didn't see a reason to continue a meaningless existence. Luckily, I was introduced to Adam Tucker, the local Ratio Christi leader. He invited me to come to to the RC group meetings every Monday, as well as prescribed a book called I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist, written by Frank Turek. Between Adam's christian apologetic lessons and Frank's book, my faith was restored, my depression receded, and I'm living happier now than I ever have before. And I have Ratio Christi to thank for it!"
Obviously, God gets all the glory and we're just humbled and excited to be a tool He uses. But the point is, RC, and apologetics in general, are extremely important, even necessary, in our culture today, especially on the university campus.
How can You Help?
First and foremost, we covet your prayers and encouragement. This work involves a lot of emotional drain, spiritual warfare, and mental exhaustion. Gentleness, respect, grace, discernment, and wisdom are constantly needed to know how, when, and where to interact with people, or just to have the courage to interact at all. They are also needed in order to keep my priorities in order and not worship ministry and serve the club rather than worship God and serve my family.
Also, this work requires time, both for time on the ground at the university but also time to study, plan, prepare, etc. As a freelance graphic designer my schedule is more flexible than most. However, I am also a husband, father, and part-time seminary student as well. My hope is to begin raising support so that I can cut down on graphic design responsibilities, we can bring my wife home from work another day a week so that she would only work three days, and I can have the ability to spend more time at the university. With that said, would you prayerfully consider joining my support team as a monthly supporter? One-time gifts are accepted and appreciated, but monthly support helps relieve added stress by providing some fundraising security. Your gifts are tax-deductible and can be conveniently given online HERE. Simply click the "Make a Donation" link on the right side of the page. You will see instructions on that same page for giving your gift by check.
You can also partner with our UNCG chapter and support our club as a whole by clicking HERE.
Your partnership in this ministry is vital. And it is a partnership. As Paul said, some plant, some water, but God gives the increase and gets the glory. I will try my best to provide monthly, or semi-monthly, updates, and please let me know how I can pray for you or serve you in any way. If you or your church or small group would like to host some apologetics training, I would love the opportunity to help with that as well. Please CONTACT ME if you'd like to be added to my e-mail newsletter list or if you have any questions. Thank you again for reading this lengthly update, and I promise to keep future updates much shorter!
For His glory,
Adam Tucker