After a lifetime in the pews, Vangel finds his faith on Route 24

For 14 years, Mathew Vangel of Dartmouth went to church every Sunday, sitting beside his devout wife, Jackie, and volunteering whenever he could. He looked the part. He spoke the language.

But he wasn’t a Christian.

“I was a false Christian,” Vangel said.

It wasn’t until about seven years ago that Vangel realized his devotion was superficial.

One afternoon around 4:30 p.m., while driving home from the Navy base in Newport, he got two unexpected phone calls — each from pastors located on opposite sides of the country and responding to months-old inquiries he’d made while helping his church’s finance committee.

Both pastors ask him the same exact question: “Do you know the gospel?”

A veteran churchgoer, Vangel was so sure he knew it, until he tried to explain and couldn't.

Somewhere along Route 24, just outside Middletown, Rhode Island, Vangel found himself pulled off to the side of the road in tears, asking Jesus to be his Lord and Savior.

“Repenting is not saying you’re sorry. It’s not asking for forgiveness. Repent is saying, ‘I am willing to allow my will to be changed by God,’” Vangel said.

He likened it to a complete transformation: “The Bible says you need to be changed so radically by God that it’s like you’re being born again. You’re like a new person.”

At 59 years old, Vangel enrolled in seminary school and began on the path to become an evangelist. He was determined to follow the new direction he believed God laid out for him.

Over the next two years, he built what would become the Lamb of God Christian Church, which is independent and non-denominational. It began in New Bedford when he was offered the free use of a building for a year. 

But as the church took shape, his wife Jackie’s health was declining. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she never got to see the physical church for herself. Still, when the couple decided to transform their own Dartmouth home into a place of worship, Vangel made sure her voice guided every detail.

Anyone driving in North Dartmouth can spot the home church as a wooden cross rises from the front yard. Inside, the house appears ordinary until reaching the “living room” where rows of chairs face a pulpit, flanked by cameras and audio equipment set up for the church’s broadcast services available across seven networks.

“I wasn’t going to be using the house all for myself anymore,” Vangel said. “I felt God gave us this house for a reason.”

He said Jackie had been the true believer first.

And according to Vangel, conviction needs action.

“You can believe an airplane can fly, but you don’t truly believe until you get into the airplane, you walk down the aisle, you sit in that seat, strap yourself in and stay seated while the plane is taking off the tarmac,” he said. “Then and only then, do you truly believe with faith and trust your life in the person who’s in the cockpit.”

“That’s what it is to be a christian,” he added.

“[Jackie] wanted God to change her life around,” Vangel said. And until the day she died from her cancer, she was unafraid “because she knew where she was going.”

As an evangelist, Vangel said it’s his job to spread the gospel, without shame, and teach others how to do the same. With this comes a sense of urgency. 

“You want everyone to be with you in Heaven,” he said, emphasizing that it is important he reaches as many people as he can before they reach the end of their time. 

“Amazon drivers never leave this house without hearing the gospel,” Vangel said. “And 80% of the Amazon drivers that leave here, they walk out this door, walk down these steps, as a born again believer, as a believer in Jesus Christ.”

He has stopped people at Dunkin’, at the gas pump and even his sanitation driver: “It’s the idea that as a Christian, you’re supposed to profess the gospel without being ashamed about Jesus and because you love them.”

Now 66, Vangel grew up in Mattapoisett and remembers his childhood fondly — from the mandatory swim lessons at the local beach to the day he toppled over his bike, a trading card in the wheel to imitate the sound of an engine. The fall left a scar still visible on his head to this day.

Returning to the town filled with memories, Vangel felt called to expand his ministry. He opened what he says is the first new Christian church in Mattapoisett in approximately 140 years.

He rents out the American Legion Hall on Sundays, offering church services, a grief support group and food outreach whenever possible.

But getting started wasn’t without challenges as the church’s presence in town-owned space stirred political conflict, which has since been resolved through a memorandum of understanding.

“I have no feelings about anything to do with disagreements people may have with us going out to talk about Jesus,” he said, adding that God is in control. “I have no control over any of this. I’m just a bald headed messed up man who just went to seminary and just has a love for everyone and talking about God. That’s all. No agendas. I have nothing to get out of this.”

He highlighted how he makes no money from the church and never will. Everything has been donated from the wooden cross just outside his doorstep, to the food, the furniture and even broadcast equipment. 

“God has always provided,” he said, noting the numerous individuals, businesses and organizations that have contributed both materials and funds.

Vangel said he believes there is only one meaning of the Bible, which is the authors’ intention. He noted his teachings provide individuals with the tools necessary to decipher this meaning. 

Similar to a college professor, Vangel said he wants people to have the ability to ask questions but also to learn the gospel through their own readings and not become dependent on him.

“It’s not about joining a church,” he added. “It’s not about getting more head count. It’s not about building up your own kingdom. It’s about building up God’s kingdom.”

In the less than 45 seconds it took for Vangel to repent seven years ago, he became a born again believer. And now with services already in Dartmouth and Mattapoisett, Vangel looks to expand to Marion and Rochester.

“I’m led by God to evangelize and go into towns and cities that reject Jesus 100% — that don’t know him,” he said. “It’s not that they are evil or bad, it’s the idea that where there’s no church, that’s where we’re led to go.”