The first season of Reconstructing Faith is now complete. The season finale features Ajith Fernando, Jen Wilkin, and Tim Keller—three servants of the church with insight into how we might see renewal in the days ahead.
One of my goals in working on this podcast was to provide listeners with perspective: to connect us to the global church and the church throughout history, so we can draw from fresh resources as we seek to renew the church in our day. I’ve tried to highlight constructive voices who want to see the church strengthened and built up. We’ve included discussion guides for pastors and church leaders walking with members through the subjects addressed in these episodes.
I love the church. I want to see her renewed and refreshed and healthy again. I know we’ve experienced a season of humiliation and pain, in which the Lord has seen fit to expose our sins and failures. But tragedies and disasters have a way of clearing the mind of clutter and focusing the heart. So let’s clear the debris and focus on what’s central, and let’s prepare for the adventure of reconstruction and repair.
’Mid toil and tribulation,And tumult of her war,She waits the consummationOf peace forevermore;Till, with the vision glorious,Her longing eyes are blest,And the great church victoriousShall be the church at rest.
Episode 1: The Church’s Credibility Crisis
When we see leaders fall by the wayside because of either life or doctrine, the pain cuts in many directions all at once, with a lot of hurt left in the wake. The long-term effect of this kind of failure is a diminishing of the credibility of the church. Will God fail because of human weakness? No. But the church’s failures can become obstacles in the path of those who don’t yet know God or can cause believers to stumble in their faith. The spiritual fallout can be devastating. In the first episode, we tackle a problem that has been decades in the making.
Episode 2: Renewing the Church
We’ve experienced a wave of terrible revelations about the condition of the church in the past decade. So much has come to light. And like homes that didn’t get the attention they needed after a flood, there’s rot, for sure. There’s mold in the house. Rotting floors. Sin has seeped in, and it’s left a watermark. And even after the floodwaters are gone—after the church split, after the abuser is exposed, after the deconversion—the effects of all that remain. The rot is strong. But thankfully, so is the foundation. In this episode, we discuss how we can be the generation that roots out the rot to start the process of rebuilding.
Episode 3: The Water is Toxic
Social media primes us to see our life as a stage, a performing of an identity for our online community. These practices form and encourage negative character traits that lead us away from the kind of wholeness God desires for us. We get lonelier and more isolated, finding online communities that don’t ask much of us, often at the expense of flesh-and-blood neighbors and church members. Social media makes it harder to be a follower of Jesus, to be whole, an integrated person. The water is toxic, and we feel trapped. In this episode, we discuss how we can be purifying agents in the toxic waters of social media.
Episode 4: I Kissed Chastity Hello
What if we can acknowledge with clarity some of the problems of purity culture while also rediscovering and fortifying the foundational Christian teaching about chastity? What if we can remove the rot and uphold the foundations, as a way of standing apart from the world for the good of the world? We need to distinguish what the Bible teaches by getting out of our culture and looking at the church through history (including the excesses and flaws there) as well as the church around the world (where the question of sexual ethics is a nonnegotiable). In this episode, we wrestle with the best way to articulate and apply a Christian sexual ethic in our day.
Episode 5: The Authority Question
We can’t talk about renewing the church in our generation if we don’t put the question of abusive leadership on the table. But discussing leadership raises an even bigger question: one of authority and how it’s to be exercised. There’s no easy task in front of us. The problem is multifaceted: Shepherds who, for one reason or another, abuse their authority, lording their power and domineering the sheep. And shepherds who respond by failing to lead, abandoning the proper sphere of influence they’ve been given. What will it take for future church leaders to look like Jesus and reject the sinful scrambling for power? And what will it take for pastors to stand firm, to not abandon the sphere of influence they’ve been given but to lead with boldness and courage, reflecting the wise rule of the Creator who called them to ministry? In this episode, we discuss how to rebuild the culture of leadership in the church to showcase healthy examples of authority and power.
Episode 6: Reckoning with Race
In the past decade, many Christians have wrestled afresh with questions about racial injustice, racial disparities, racial prejudice and discrimination, and what racial reconciliation can and should look like in the church. There’s no avoiding this challenge. And if we truly believe God gets glory when we reflect the beautiful diversity of his kingdom, we can’t opt out. Are we up for the task of letting theology, not politics, drive the discussion among Christians regarding race? Can we avoid the pitfalls of secular ideologies and religious denialism as we take this path? In this episode, we examine the road to racial equality and racial unity within the church.
Episode 7: Can Anything Good Come from D.C.?
If you’re active and involved in your church, you’ve probably noticed that things have gotten more tense regarding politics in recent years, and unless your church is monolithic in its political views, you’ve probably seen some division and debate. You want to apply your faith to your political involvement, yet you also want to avoid getting co-opted by partisan alliances. In this episode, I offer some suggestions as to how better think through the relationship of Christians to political life.
Episode 8: The Stain
The stain of sexual abuse is one of the biggest reasons the church faces a crisis of credibility today. There’s mold in the house of the Lord. And with righteous anger and determination, we’ve got to say: this rot must be removed. In this episode, there’s a challenge to the church to respond in ways that bring healing and restoration out of a place of deep contrition and repentance.
Episode 9: The Silent Scandal
So far in this podcast, we’ve looked at various ways the church’s credibility has been harmed by a lack of consistency between our beliefs and our behaviors. These are the big issues that make headlines, that draw attention, that spark conversation. But what if there’s a problem so prevalent, so pervasive, so all-encompassing that we have a hard time even seeing it? What if a church filled with Christians quietly devoted to the American Dream is the silent scandal of the church? In this episode, we explore how the church can adopt disciplines that mold and shape hearts that chase a bigger dream—the dream of God’s kingdom, announced by Jesus himself.
Episode 10: The Credible Apologist
We’ve seen that there’s rot in the house of the Lord. Some of the rooms are dilapidated. In need of reconstruction and repair. It’s good to remind ourselves that the ultimate goal of addressing these challenges is not so we can reconstruct a healthier house, a more enduring edifice, for ourselves only. It’s so we can beckon others toward the light, toward wholeness, toward the salvation found only in Christ. In this episode, we consider the legacy of C. S. Lewis (including a tour of Lewis’s home in Oxford) and how the task of rebuilding the witness of the church is intertwined with the task of apologetics and evangelism.
Episode 11: Your Questions Answered
In this series, we’ve been addressing the church’s credibility crisis, reflecting on the challenges of today while learning from church history and the church around the world. In this special episode, we address some of the questions listeners have sent in.
Episode 12: It’s Time to Rebuild
As you look at the church today, you may ache for the church. But maybe you ache because you love . . . You love the church and know she can be better than this. And you love Jesus and know he deserves a Bride whose beauty showcases his. As we bring this season to a close, I talk with Tim Keller, Ajith Fernando, and Jen Wilkin about how we might see renewal in the days ahead.
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