For two seasons of my podcast Reconstructing Faith, we’ve explored the credibility crisis facing the church today and examined the challenges that stand in the way of restoring the church’s witness. We’ve sought wisdom from Scripture, church history, and the global church. We’ve discussed rolling up our sleeves and taking our place on the wall, ready to do the hard work of renewal.
But a question still confronts us: What if we can’t rebuild?
What if, despite all our good intentions and efforts, we’re not ready?
What if we’re not up to the task of restoration?
What if we aren’t healthy enough ourselves to lead the way toward a healthier church?
Necessity of Spiritual Formation
We don’t expect a novice runner to succeed in a marathon, or someone who hasn’t practiced piano scales to suddenly perform a Mozart sonata. Why, then, do we assume we can help restore the church’s witness without first attending to our spiritual formation?
We admire stories of martyrs and heroes, but their courage in the moment of testing doesn’t materialize out of nowhere. Yes, the Holy Spirit may provide extraordinary grace in the moment of crisis, but that assistance is often delivered through years of formation—choices and practices that flow from and reinforce virtuous character. Faithfulness in crisis depends on faithfulness in ordinary life.
Reconstruction doesn’t take place spontaneously. Real transformation requires preparation. And an essential aspect of that preparation is the practice of abiding in Christ and depending on his Spirit. Apart from Christ, our aspirations for renewal are doomed to falter.
Introducing Season 3
The third season of Reconstructing Faith is devoted to exploring spiritual formation—those practices and habits God uses to shape our hearts and lives. The work of reconstruction begins with acknowledging our limitations and throwing ourselves on God’s grace. Only the Spirit can transform us into the sturdy trees of Psalm 1, planted by streams of living water, ready to bear fruit in a dry and weary land.
The call to rebuild the church’s witness isn’t a call to self-reliance. It’s an invitation to deeper dependence on Christ. As we lean into the Spirit’s work, we’ll discover that renewal flows not from our strength but from the One who strengthens our hands.
The first season focused on the credibility crisis facing the church. Season 2 examined the big obstacles we encounter as we work toward renewal.
Season 3 offers a closer look at questions of spiritual formation and personal discipleship. We’ll explore the disciplines and virtues essential for becoming pillars of faithfulness in a world of chaos.
This season, we’ll look in more detail at the following:
- the necessity of spiritual practices and the growing movement of spiritual formation
- the three waves that have influenced evangelical churches in the past half-century
- what it means to become people of prayer who truly depend on the Spirit
- becoming Bible readers in a world where nobody reads
- preaching God’s Word faithfully (and becoming better listeners)
- how the digital era is reshaping how we view ourselves and the church
- therapy culture and the question of resilience in church leadership.
At the end of the season, we’ll look at seven big challenges facing the church worldwide, and we’ll spend some time in the Sermon on the Mount as we consider the characteristics of God’s kingdom people. Guests this season include Mark Sayers, Andrew Wilson, Christine Rosen, Brad East, Liliana Llambés, Michael Sacasas, and more. The first two episodes are available today wherever you listen to podcasts, and the rest will follow once a week.
My hope for this new season of Reconstructing Faith is to take a closer look at how we lean into the Spirit’s formation of our hearts and lives so that we grow in awareness of our need for God’s grace. So that we grow in wisdom about how best to meet today’s challenges. So that we grow more solid in a world of shadows. So that we run the race to win the prize.
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