This is NOT a deconversion story!
I suppose I need to be clear about that right up front. Why? Because deconversion stories are currently trending. What is a deconversion story? Good question. Typically, conversion stories (aka testimonials) were designed to reach the unbeliever or spiritual seeker and encourage them towards faith. Deconversion stories, on the other hand, are NOT designed to reach “the lost” but “the saved.” Their purpose is to convince other believers that their beliefs are outdated, that organized religion is deeply flawed, and that most Christian are mean-spirited, narrow-minded yokels.
But this is NOT a deconversion story.
Yes Disciplish: My Unconventional Pilgrimage thru Faith, Art, Evangelical Culture, gets into the muck of religious experience. As Southern novelist Flannery O’Connor put it in The Habit of Being:
“…the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that it is somehow the body of Christ and that on this we are fed. It seems to be a fact that you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it…”
As an ex-pastor, I have “suffered” both for the church and from the church. Like the deconversionist, I can tell stories (and do!) of extremists, false prophets, and religious whackery. My story, however, is not a provocation to bail on God and His Bride. Quite the contrary, I seek to use my spiritual journey, its triumphs and tragedies, to impart hope and endurance, which they have produced in me.
I genuinely believe that this is a message that is needed now, more than ever.
You can purchase a copy of “Disciplish” for either Kindle or paperback.
