About the Author: Martin Thielen

Martin Thielen has served as a minister in the United Methodist Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. He has pastored small, medium, and large churches, including a megachurch of ten thousand members. He also worked as a national denominational editor, consultant, and adjunct seminary professor. He holds a bachelor of arts, a master of divinity, and a doctor of ministry degree, plus a year of Ph.D. studies at Vanderbilt University. Martin is the author of hundreds of articles and eight books, including the best seller, What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian? His website, Doubter’s Parish, helps thinking people navigate faith in the twenty-first century. The books, articles, stories, and posts are all free, including his new downloadable novel, An Inconvenient Loss of Faith. You can visit the site at www.DoubtersParish.Com.
  • A five-part fictional story

    By Published On: March 26, 2024

    A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

  • A five-part fictional story

    By Published On: March 21, 2024

    A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

  • By Published On: February 26, 2024

    Whether you identify as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, or something else, one thing is overwhelmingly clear. The world desperately needs positive examples of authentic Christian living.

  • A five-part fictional story

    By Published On: February 12, 2024

    A five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Reverend Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ.

  • By Published On: January 8, 2024

    After sharing his story, Jason asked me his provocative question, “So, do you think I am still a Christian?” I wasn’t sure how to respond. I mulled it over for a long time. I finally said, “I guess it depends on how you define Christian.

  • By Published On: October 7, 2023

    I belong to a support group of seven retired mainline clergypersons. Six of the seven no longer affirm historic, creedal, orthodox, traditional theology.

  • By Published On: August 2, 2023

    If I had to summarize my religious journey with one Bible verse, I would choose Matthew 28:17, “When they (the early disciples) saw him (the risen Christ), they worshiped him; but some doubted” (NIV).

  • By Published On: June 10, 2023

    It’s no secret that the United Methodist Church is fracturing, primarily over LGBTQ issues. Thousands of UMC churches have already disaffiliated from the denomination.

  • By Published On: April 21, 2023

    It would be refreshing for churches to boldly proclaim a countercultural message that love, compassion, community, service, and justice matter more than institutional survival.

  • By Published On: March 25, 2023

    At this point in my life and faith, knowing too little about God feels healthier than knowing too much.

  • By Published On: February 2, 2023

    Stories of clergy losing faith don’t just exist in the realm of fiction. They also exist in real life. I know because I talk to such clergy all the time. Many have retired. Some have found new careers. Others remain in ministry, struggling to navigate strained faith with Christian vocation.

  • Three Theological Responses to Suffering

    By Published On: November 5, 2022

    Revisioning ancient faith for the modern world is not an easy task. No simple answers exist. The process will be long, complicated, conflicted, and uncertain.

  • How Religious Doubts Can Lead to a More Mature Faith

    By Published On: October 6, 2022

    Healthy doubt can save people from many toxic beliefs. For example, Christians need to doubt the horrific idea that God eternally torments people in the flames of hell for holding erroneous beliefs.

  • By Published On: September 9, 2022

    Progressive Christians are perfectly comfortable holding faith and science in harmony. For example, they believe God created the world but did so through the process of evolution.

  • By Published On: August 5, 2022

    I recently queried readers of my Doubter’s Parish website concerning their relationship with institutional religion. I specifically asked if they were (1) staying in church, (2) leaving, or (3) undecided.

  • By Published On: June 25, 2022

    Midnight Mass - In spite of the blood, gore, and violence you would expect in a vampire film, the miniseries (seven one-hour episodes) offers an engaging and thoughtful examination of American religion through the eyes of popular culture.

  • By Published On: June 2, 2022

    Most traditional Christians believe in an all-powerful and all-knowing, loving heavenly father who supernaturally intervenes in the world, who can be experienced directly through prayer, and who performs miracles. My small group of seven unorthodox persons no longer believe in that kind of personal, supernatural, and interventionist God.

  • By Published On: March 22, 2022

    Almost two decades ago, during a combined Holy Thursday/Good Friday worship service, I told a true story from the Holocaust. The story involved a Polish army sergeant named Franciszek Gajowniczek and a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe.

  • By Published On: March 19, 2022

    In January and February 2022, I communicated with several dozen clergypersons across the country, seeking their perspective on pastoral morale after two years of serving churches during a pandemic. Participants included a diverse mix of gender, age, location and denomination. Almost all of them said that clergy morale, including their own, stood at an all-time low.

  • By Published On: February 26, 2022

    before long, my grandchildren will be vaccinated, and I’ll be able to go back to church. But the haunting truth is, I’m not sure I want to return to an institution that consistently untethers itself from the life, example, spirit, and teachings of Jesus.

  • By Published On: January 12, 2022

    It’s not an exaggeration to say that the evangelical church saved me in every way a person can be saved. They introduced me to Jesus. They became the family my childhood family could not be. They loved and affirmed me. They educated me. They gave me a vocation. And they gave me exceptional opportunities of service. Although I left the evangelical church years ago for a more progressive expression of faith, I’ve always appreciated the gifts they gave me.

  • Rethinking Christianity for the Twenty-first Century

    By Published On: October 21, 2021

    For millions of people across the globe, God (as we have historically known God) is no longer a working number. Neither is traditional theology or the institutional church. In response, many of these spiritual skeptics have given up on religion altogether. However, plenty of them are still searching for a faith that can work in the modern world.

  • By Published On: August 18, 2021

    Some orthodox believers argue that the flames of hell should not be taken literally since hell is also described as a place of utter darkness. The point is, they argue, hell is a bad place, a place where God is not to be found, and a place where there is no hope. Literal flames or not, the traditional doctrine of eternal punishment should be an unacceptable belief for followers of the one who ate with sinners, blessed little children, and forgave his executioners.

  • By Published On: July 28, 2021

    I talk to a lot of people who grapple with religious doubts. Many of them harbor doubts about traditional faith, including a personal, supernatural, providential, and interventionalist God. An even larger number of them express doubts about institutional religion.