When we deconstruct our faith, it is certainly not always a loss of faith. Rather, it is a reconfiguring and reworking of some of those universal understandings. It is also an opportunity to look at the bigger picture, where God resides, and see if our worldview matches with that of God’s as far as we can know it. It is also an opportunity to take a look at your faith and the assumptions that have...  Read More

INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENThink about and share a time when you were incredibly blessed by the reading of God’s Word and then share a time when you found it to be challenging.HEADThis week we invite you to Read, Re-Read, or Review the...  Read More

I was recently watching the movie Silence, about 17th-century priests and their journeys to Japan. It is a difficult movie and quite brutal. It is not a simple watch and the book by Shūsaku Endō i is just as fascinating and compelling. But there was one scene where a former priest who had apostatized and a current priest were speaking. The former priest was making the case that the Japanese Christ...  Read More

Once you have sorted out what you believe scripture to be in your life, then it is time to come up with a plan on how you are going to approach this confusing and creative, and calculating series of books. Without a plan, you will probably flounder rather than flourish in your study. Here are a few practical ways that you can begin to make a plan. Find space. If you are anything like me, I love ha...  Read More

I have a few thoughts on this. Firstly, for those of us who have been in the church for most of our lives and who have also gone to Christian schools for a portion of that time, simply going to Genesis and starting there is going to be difficult. Remember, we have studied scripture repeatedly for what seems like forever. We have been exposed to the greater narrative that scripture offers. The stor...  Read More

I don’t know how you have interacted with the Bible throughout your life, but if you are like me, it is a on-again-off-again relationship. While I love scripture, there are times in my life where I am closer to it, and other times where I am further away. Some people read through the scriptures every single year, and some have never read it all the way through. Whatever your relationship with Scri...  Read More