Youth Group Bible Study on Deconstructing Faith

I have never been through a proper deconstruction process, I can only assume it’s because I have an analytic mind and I find myself analyzing my beliefs in real time. So, maybe I’m alway deconstructing. I’m no super Christian though. I struggle with the tension between culture and scripture. The best I can do, like anyone else, like you, is pray, search the scriptures and attempt to know the heart of God.

I have often examined the conditions (who, what, where and why) of my conversion, and I thank God, they contained no red flags. A camp counselor, Chuck Winters, prayed with me on a bench in the game room. The simplicity of that moment sticks with me. I had great (not perfect) youth pastors who didn’t just tell me what to do to make God happy, they instructed me on how to feed myself, how to become fruitful in the faith and how to love others. In my younger days I swayed between being Pharisaical and grace filled, trying to find balance between being an obedient follower of Christ and a loving human being, sometimes failing on both counts. So many people, as teenagers, have had toxic experiences with the church, with overbearing Christian parents and judgmental youth pastors. I have seen and heard awful preaching and altar calls and probably shared in some of that and I regret those moments where I let hyper spirituality lead me rather than the Holy Spirit. 

After 30 years of ministering to youth, I have paid closer attention to my own way of calling kids to Christ and how to disciple them. I’m hyper aware at camps to make sure kids aren’t being manipulated into a commitment that the Holy Spirit has not led them to make.

We should take time to examine our commitments, our behavior and our beliefs (2 Corinthians 13:5) keeping in mind the scriptures rather than the culture. The culture is always changing and always skewing against God. My concern for anyone in deconstruction mode is that the baby Jesus is being thrown out with the bathwater. Some people come out stronger and healthier after deconstruction but many come out hollow  because instead of examining their faith in light of the scriptures they use their personal experiences, personal preferences (what’s easier) or even personal politics exclusively.

Many students and adults make the mistake of judging their faith by their feelings which often leads to a premature rejection of faith. In other words, if the main thought in deconstruction is,  “the faith I believe in can’t be good if it makes me make hard choices or puts any stress on me.” then this is bad deconstruction. The life of a follower of Jesus is hard and the path of a disciple is filled with stressful moments.

As youth workers, we shouldn’t add to the already stressful life of a teenagers with the pressure to perform or preach difficult topics without thoughtful discussion to help them understand it better and, maybe, we should ask, “Are they going to deconstruct this later in life and is it worth adding back when reconstruction begins?” when it comes to certain kinds of programming. 

I don’t believe in blind faith. I don’t believe everyone should be in lockstep with their denomination. I also don’t believe we should cast away wisdom for cultural popularity. Somewhere in-between their is a proper place to drop the thoughts or practices that make your faith unfruitful. 

I am currently using this video/podcast with Preston and Jackie Hill Perry to discuss deconstruction and friends who leave the faith with my Sunday School class. I am showing the video in 15 minute increments and have written up some small group questions (below) to use with it. Yes, there’s a lot there , more than enough questions for one study so feel free to break it up into multiple studies, in person and online. 

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