Daniel Lloyd Mattson

1. 10/17/1942 Willmar, Minnesota USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Ruth Ann (nee Zabel), b. 8/1/1943 Plainview, Minnesota USA, m. 8/20/1966

Children: Daniel Thomas (1969); Anne Maria (Good) (1973); Andrew Mark (1985)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1974-77 Ethiopia/Eritrea Professor

1977-82 Nigeria Professor

1983-91 South Africa Professor

1991-present LCMS World Mission Missional Education

Associate Executive Director

 

Biographical Summary

Both Daniel (Dan) and Ruth Mattson attended Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota.  After two years at Concordia (1960-62), Dan attended Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for another two years.  Ruth was at Concordia 1961-63 and from there went to Concordia Teachers College at River Forest to earn a teaching degree.  Dan began his studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1964. In 1966, they began their married life on his vicarage in Decatur, Illinois, and then came back to St. Louis for his final year of study.  Ruth taught in a different location and school every year from 1965 until 1969.

 

Dan graduated from seminary in 1968.  At the time he and Ruth were interested in foreign mission work, but the mission board was having a difficult time deciding how many missionaries to send overseas and finding a placement for them.  Finally Dan decided he would begin graduate work, which he had planned on doing at some point in any case.  The Mattsons packed up and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Dan began studying Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature related to the Old Testament at the University of Michigan.  He also served as pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church.  Ruth taught during the 1968-69 school year but chose to remain at home once their first child, Daniel, was born in 1969.  Their daughter Anne would also be born in Michigan in 1973.

 

Dan was not quite finished with his Ph.D. degree when the Mattsons were called to be missionaries to Ethiopia.  Their young family left in 1975 to travel to the city of Asmara, where Dan would be professor at the Church Studies Center.  They were the first LCMS missionaries to be called to Ethiopia.  A church body begun by Swedish Lutherans had requested assistance, and the LCMS saw an opportunity to explore possibilities for a new mission field.  However, the situation was tenuous.  The day after the Mattsons arrived in Ethiopia, the ongoing conflict in that country spread to the area of Asmara, and on their fifth day they were evacuated to Addis Ababa.  They were not able to return for another three months.

 

Given all the strife and uncertainty they witnessed, Dan and Ruth were aware that their assignment in Ethiopia couldn’t last for an indefinite period of time.  Therefore, in addition to his teaching, Dan devoted significant time and effort to preparing the church and its indigenous leaders for the eventual departure of missionaries.  He surveyed church resources, trained local leaders to be able to train others in church leadership, and had fellowship and conversation with as many people as possible in order to make as much of an impact as he could.

 

Meanwhile, Ruth homeschooled their own children and held Bible studies and lessons with local youth, who then taught younger children.  The family lived in a fairly basic manner, mainly using a kerosene camp stove and what might be considered basic amenities, so keeping up the house and providing for the family’s needs also took up much of her time.  She recalls the situation in Asmara as “pretty grim” because of the uncertainty and threat of violence, but with “glimmers of hope” for the church and through the youth who were interested in learning and in hearing the Gospel.

 

In 1977, the Mattsons did have to leave Ethiopia because of the conflict.  (Asmara is now in the country of Eritrea, after that nation broke away from Ethiopia.)  They were called to Nigeria, where Dan was asked to teach at the Lutheran seminary in Obot Idim.  Ruth continued to homeschool their children, and because the headquarters of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN) are also in Obot Idim, she was involved in hospitality for people who visited the seminary or headquarters.  Meanwhile, Dan worked closely with the president of the LCN – by this time the LCN and the seminary were administered by Nigerian leaders.  He provided support and helped facilitate good relationships among missionaries and church workers.  Besides his work at the seminary, he learned about Theological Education by Extension (TEE) and worked with the LCN to begin TEE work in outlying areas.  In a few months, the TEE program had grown from nothing to 250 students; the demand was high, and the numbers of students would have been higher had the LCN had more resources and teachers for the program.

 

During their time in Nigeria, the Mattsons visited many churches, and Dan spoke or preached when asked.  They also “hosted a lot of backyard soccer games and did a lot of butterfly catching!”  Although their work kept them busy, they took time with their children to have a fun experience of mission work, and they even inspired some other missionaries to take up butterfly catching.

 

The Mattsons remained in Nigeria until 1982, when they returned to the U.S. in order for Dan to finish his doctoral work at the University of Michigan.  He received the Ph.D. degree in 1983.  Ruth also went back to school, attaining a Master’s Degree in elementary education, also from the University of Michigan.  Once they had finished their studies, they again packed up to travel overseas.  This time they were called to South Africa, where Dan was to teach at a seminary for Tswana and Zulu students.  Here all their missionary colleagues were German.  Ruth began teaching English at the seminary, and they completed their family with the birth of son Andrew in 1985.  Their older two children attended boarding school, but were able to come home every weekend.  The Mattsons were in South Africa at a very interesting time, just as the apartheid system was ending.  In fact, Nelson Mandela was released from prison shortly before they left South Africa in 1990.

 

Their departure in 1990 was due to another call Dan received, this time to serve as a staff member of LCMS World Mission.  Because of his work with seminary and TEE training, LCMS asked him to be part of their effort to make sure local leaders on mission fields were being trained well for ministry.  Currently, he serves as Associate Executive Director for Missional Education.  He has traveled worldwide to observe and assist mission fields with their training of indigenous leaders, working with both missionaries and nationals.  When the Mattsons first returned to the U.S., Ruth worked as a substitute teacher, and she now works part-time at Concordia Publishing House as a proofreader, as well as volunteering for several LCMS ministries.  They attend Abiding Savior Lutheran Church and remain active within the congregation.  After many years in the mission field, Dan and Ruth Mattson continue to serve their Lord in many ways, promoting the spreading of the Gospel and care for others in the U.S. and abroad.

 

Nota Bene

Dan has served on the board of the Distance Education Leading to Ordination (DELTO) organization.

 

He has also helped organize and facilitate translation work, currently assisting with the Chinese edition of Luther’s Works.

 

Dan and Ruth are both involved with the Lutheran Society for Missiology; Dan serves on the board and has written for the journal Missio Apostolica, and Ruth volunteers as the treasurer of the organization.

 

Phase 2 Information

 

Biggest missiological issue faced?

Working with people of different nationalities and with different church bodies taught Dan and Ruth a lot about different approaches to mission work; ministry with so many different people was not easy but was eye-opening.

 

Mission workers always face the issue of paternalism.  The question is what are appropriate roles for nationals, and how can missionaries facilitate the work of nationals in those roles.  National leadership is absolutely necessary (consider St. Paul’s enabling of local church leaders in the cities where he evangelized), and the Mattsons discovered and believe that national workers are very capable of deciding things for themselves.  They found some differences among missionaries regarding the best ways to develop national leadership.

 

Somewhat specific to the Mattsons’ work was the times and places in which they served – they were in places that were going through truly culture-changing times (particularly Ethiopia and South Africa).  The issue they faced was how to make the most of the time they had in volatile and changing situations.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Dan and Ruth hope that those they worked with were empowered to believe that they could do the Lord’s work themselves; they wanted to instill, in all the people they taught or worked with, confidence in themselves and in God’s plan to use their abilities for His work.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

The seminaries in which Dan taught all remain open and continue training students; the church leaders he helped train have gone on to influence the work and presence of their respective church bodies.  One of his students in Nigeria went on to become president of the LCN, one as a refugee from Ethiopia  became a missionary in various countries,  and his students have become principals of seminaries in Nigeria and in South Africa.

 

Dan’s work with LCMS World Mission has allowed him to assist and encourage the work of mission fields all over the world.

 

Lessons Learned

• The Mattsons found that they always learned more than they taught.
• In the different cultures, and sometimes tense situations, the Mattsons worked in, they had to adapt and discover new ways of living and getting along – it’s important to be open to new experiences of all kinds.
• Trust God at all times; we are not in control of events or even of our own lives, and it is God’s plans that will be accomplished.
• It’s not necessary for missionaries to be fully self-sufficient.  Better is when there is reciprocal give and take between missionaries and locals; otherwise the relationships don’t feel right.

 

Best Practices

• Local people can do it!  Mission workers don’t need to make decisions for people.  Locals know what will or won’t work in their context, and they don’t need to be or act just like foreign missionaries in order to do the work of the Gospel.
• Locals also need to be in control of mission and church work from the beginning so that a church does not arise that doesn’t fit with the culture it serves.
• Mission workers need to be intentional about creating an infrastructure that works for a national church and not only for a mission field.  In the same vein, missionaries must be careful about using or providing resources that won’t be available to the national church when the missionaries leave; it creates problems if national church members feel the church is going backwards when missionaries leave.
• A best practice of mission work is simply to enjoy the place you’re at!  Appreciate and enjoy the resources of each country to which you’re sent.

 

Phase 3 Information

 

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

Ruth grew up on a farm in Minnesota, and somehow her farm family produced four daughters who all did some kind of mission work.  Ruth worked in three different African nations; her older sister was in Nigeria; and her two younger sisters served for a time in mission in Appalachia and Australia, respectively.  They were inspired by their parents and in their Lutheran elementary school and she was very supportive of Dan’s call to teach in different mission fields.

 

Dan was interested in the possibility of mission work since his seminary days.  When the call came to Ethiopia/Eritrea, his father had already died and his mother had health problems, so he decided that he needed to talk to her about the fact that he was considering moving to another continent.  Her response was that when she was a girl, she had wanted to be a missionary in India but never had the chance, so she thought it would be wonderful for him to go to Africa.  Although he had not been aware of her interest in mission before this, his parents’ support of mission work was likely a factor in his own desire to serve in a foreign mission field.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• The Mattsons were grateful for the kindness of a stranger one day in Asmara.  They were driving in the city and Ruth stepped out of the car to take a picture.  Immediately a soldier approached them and began asking questions and hassling them about what they were doing.  He said they’d have to go to the police station – but he had no transportation, so he would have to ride in the car with them to the station!  As the soldier was trying to fit himself and his machine gun into the back of the car along with their kids, a civilian approached the car.  He asked the soldier why he wanted to cause problems for himself by bringing these people to the police station.  The soldier reconsidered and decided to let the Mattsons go on their way.  They never found out who the civilian was, but they were grateful that instead of looking the other way, he had placed himself in the situation in order to help them out.

 

• While they were living in Nigeria, Rev. Jonathan Ekong, the founder of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria, died.  Because Rev. Ekong was so well-respected, the leaders of the LCN decided to plan the funeral involving the entire church body and villages.  Dan was serving on the synodical council of the LCN at the time, and during a meeting to discuss the funeral, the then-president of the LCN turned to him and said, “I think the person who should be responsible for planning the funeral is Dan Mattson.”  Dan was surprised along with everyone else in the room, since he was the only missionary there!  But the president had a reason: if anything went wrong with the planning, the leaders of the LCN could always claim that Dan didn’t know any better and all would be forgiven!  In truth the national leaders of the LCN did most of the planning, but they did put Dan’s name on it.

 

• One of the strange situations that arose for the Mattsons and other missionaries during the conflict in Ethiopia/Eritrea came during a prayer meeting with some of their Swedish colleagues.  The missionary compound had a small medical dispensary since it was the site of the only mother-child care clinic in Asmara.  Fighters associated with the Eritrean Liberation Front were coming through the area and knew that there were medications available, so as the prayer meeting was going on a man with a pistol walked in and interrupted it, demanding medications for their troops.  The missionaries remained where they were as this man guarded them while another fighter raided the dispensary.  In the middle of all this, one of the cats that lived on the compound came into the room and the Mattsons’ daughter Anne followed it to play with it!  So now there was a cat running around the room, rubbing up against the legs of their “guard,” with a toddler following it, as the guard tried to step away from the cat and avoid both the cat and Anne.  Finally he told Dan to pick Anne up so she would stay still.  The guard did look a little less intimidating trying to avoid the affections of the playful cat.

 

• Gudina Tumsa was a devoted Christian and the general secretary of the Mekane Yesus Church in Ethiopia (currently the second-largest Lutheran church in the world).  Because of his position and his faith, he became a martyr in the war.  While still living and working with the church, he often had to do some mediation between missionaries and nationals, and he would explain the cultural differences he noticed in the missionaries in this way: “If I go to investigate a problem and I ask the missionary what’s going on, I get different answers.  If it’s a Norwegian, he’ll tell me his problem, I multiply by two and get about the proper perspective.  If it’s an American, he’ll tell me his problem, I divide by two and figure I have the proper perspective.  If it’s a German, I know he’ll tell me the exact truth of the matter because if things aren’t already as bad as he says they are, he’ll be sure to make them that bad!”