unveiling glory in an age of confusion and shame
life matrix
what is Life Matrix?
The Life Matrix is a comprehensive biblical theology of gender and human sexuality that explores Genesis through Revelation on what it means to be male or female in the image of God. The study is created and taught by Hannah Ploegstra and reflects over ten years of thoughtful Bible study as well as personal discipleship and leadership training in the lives of youth and young adults.
At the heart of Life Matrix is the idea that the leadership we carry into the world, our spirituality, and our sexuality are all interdependent.
If there is brokenness in one or more of these three categories, we’ll stall out, get stuck, and our lives won’t move forward.
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Leadership: we cannot lead our own lives if we don’t know who we are or what it is we’re created to do. Leadership flows from our security in our identity as humans in God’s image.
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Spirituality: our relationships with God and our leadership are designed to reflect who God is. If we’re cut off from God, our leadership is cut down to begin with.
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Sexuality: where the body and soul meet. Our sexuality gives us a way through this world. How we relate to other people as a man or as a woman is highly valuable and powerful.
our hope
Life Matrix will give Gen Z a biblical worldview on gender and sexuality in a way that speaks to identity and value, which is the language that Gen Z uses around gender and sexuality. In the Life Matrix, we look at definitions of male and female in light of who God is and in light of the human purpose as opposed to a moral, political, or social lens. We’re looking for ways of understanding gender that are universal and not cultural.
Our end goal is to empower human leadership and function in areas such as the home, the Church, and the community/society. Our goal isn’t to just get people “back in line” - we’re not trying to save a system that didn’t work in the first place but revive the creational system that God originally intended.
Life Matrix will give parents language that is more familiar to Gen Z around gender and sexuality, which will help bridge the generational gap and help further establish parents in a position of trust, which is where they belong, so that they can adequately lead and protect their kids.
A lot of Christian parents know what the Bible says about “the rules” around gender and sexuality, but almost no parents know why or could explain to their kids what’s good about gender and sexuality, which can cause the two to come off as scary, harsh, and detached. We want to give parents a resource that will help them lead out of joy for who their children truly are and not out of fear or shame that their kids aren’t “right.”
We want to provide a unifying resource so that churches can bring parents and families together around the truth in a way that doesn’t pit people against each other or take political sides.
For Gen Z
For Parents
For Churches
what are we building?
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video resources and online presence
podcast
community
Up until this point, Life Matrix has only been taught in an in-person lecture based setting, and we would like to create videos that can go online and layout the teaching in a variety of levels across the nation.
This will be an interactive platform to engage real voices and occasional expert guest speakers. We want this podcast to feed in-person and local events like retreats and conferences.
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Monthly episode with Hannah Ploegstra and Mercy Johnson presenting biblical Life Matrix concepts
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Monthly episode with Young Adults asking questions and digesting the concepts from the previous episode to see how/if they play out in real life
We’re making a safe space for people to ask questions and talk about gender and sexuality in an unheated way.
what do we need?
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For Video and Print Resources:
We need funding to support content creation for video and print resources, as well as to cover printing costs.
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For Podcast:
We are looking for funds to cover podcast platform subscription fees, equipment and staff costs.
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For Community:
We are seeking opportunities to share our mission with local churches, clubs, and organizations. If you are interested in hosting us, please click here to get in contact with us.