P2 Book Review: Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett's "The Deconstruction of Christianity: What it is, why it's destructive, and how to respond"

Introduction:

    In the last post I began to review the book: "The Deconstruction of Christianity: What it is, why it's destructive, and how to respond" by Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett. On page 26 of their book, Childers and Barnett offered the following definition of faith deconstruction: "Faith deconstruction is a postmodern process of rethinking your faith without regarding Scripture as a standard." 

    In my last post I covered the first two parts of the book that readers may review here: Growing Christian Resources: P1 Book Review: Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett's "The Deconstruction of Christianity: What it is, why it's destructive, and how to respond" In today's post I want to conclude my review of Childers and Barnett's book by summarizing it's third part, followed by some final takeaways.

Part three of the book: #Hope

    The third part of the book offers hope for those who are deconstructing or for those who have loved ones or friends that are undergoing this process. In the opening chapter of this third part, Childers and Barnett share the story of a man who had gone through a decade long period of deconstruction. When he started having children, he realized he needed to know what he was going to teach them about God. 

    He prayed God would guide him to whatever the answer may be. To his shock he felt God leading him to a church where the pastor was, in his words, "fanatical about something called discipleship". The Pastor gently led the man into the Scriptures and would ask questions like "what is the author saying here?" Over time, the man was guided back to the historical view of the Bible as God's Word, was discipled or taught how to think like and live like Jesus and was able to lead His family in that same direction. 

    As the authors recounted that story, they then offered what would be a pathway of hope in the remaining chapters of the book.

    In their next chapter entitled "questions", the authors pointed out how one of the reasons people deconstruct is because they do not feel like they have the liberty to ask tough questions. In sharing findings of a poll conducted by the Fuller Youth Institute, the following statistic was cited:

"According to our study...over 70% of churchgoing high schoolers report having serious doubts about their faith. Sadly, less than half of those young people shared their doubts and struggles with an adult or friend. Yet these students opportunities to express and explore their doubts were actually correlated with greater faith maturity. In other words, it's not doubt that's toxic to faith; it's silence." 

    As the authors go forward, they note the need to make sure the church offers good answers to questions, as well as knowing how to discern when a questioner is asking questions in search of truth versus asking questions for the sake of finding an exit out of the faith (page 218). The ending of the chapter has a good section on what the authors call "how to doubt well". 

    First, express your question. Secondly, express your question in the context of a community of believers whom you trust. Thirdly, understand the question and its implications (this comes about as you and fellow believers work through the question raised). Fourthly, seek the answers with the goal to finding the truth. Fifthly, Jesus can handle our doubts, which implies cultivating a prayer life before the Lord as one works through their doubts.

    The authors then move on to the third chapter of part three they entitle "advice". I really liked this chapter because it aids those who are trying to help someone going through the deconstruction process. The authors note the following steps.

1. Pray for that person.

2. Stay calm and stay in their life. 

3. Do some triage, which is to say, ask evaluative questions about the person deconstructing. 

-What is your relationship to the person?

-Do you have trust built with the person to engage them in conversation?

-How old are they?

-What do they understand deconstruction and what they're experiencing to mean?

-Have they been hurt by the church?

-Are they struggling with their sexuality?

-Have they concluded that biblical ethics are oppressive?

-Are the confused about certain passages of Scripture in the Old Testament?

4. Set boundaries and respect theirs.

    Then in the final chapter of the book, the authors offer closing thoughts on how the disciples were working through doubts between Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. 

    The final chapter, entitled "Saturday", uses the day after the crucifixion to frame the closing of the book. Tim Barnett summarizes this final chapter with these words on page 249:

"I still have lots of questions. Christianity isn't tidy, and neither is the church. As long as there is a church, there will be church hurt. As long as there is a cursed creation, there will be suffering. As long as there is mystery, there will be unanswered questions. But as long as there is a risen Savior, there is hope."

    The book closes with a prayer for those who are deconstructing. The last two sentences capture the intent of the prayer: "Help me to trust you with this relationship, knowing that you will work all things together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. May the beauty of the Gospel be on display in my life that it might be beautiful to all who see."

Final Takeaways.

    Overall, I found this book helpful in getting introduced to the topic of Christian deconstruction. As I read through the book, I thought through something I heard Norman Geisler, one of the foremost Christian Apologists of our time say was the top opposing worldviews of Christianity. He noted that naturalism, pluralism, and relativism were at the top of his list. 

    When one reads or hears Christian deconstruction accounts, these three worldviews are woven into their process. As Childers and Barnett pointed out in their definition of Christian deconstruction, the denial of objective truth in favor of relativism reigned in the thoughts of those who have went through some sort of "deconversion". 

    Many either reduce their view of God, change Him all together, or deny His existence, with many "exvangelicals" going into progressive Christianity, agnosticism, or secular humanism - hence drifting into a naturalistic worldview. Then, those who deconstruct come to believe that Christianity is among a plethora of options - thus the increase of pluralism. 

    In the recent "State of Theology" poll conducted by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research in 2025, when given the statement, "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam", 47% of self-professed evangelical Christians agreed with the statement (see the link here The State of Theology) 

    The book challenged me as a Christian leader to take seriously the task of equipping people in the church I pastor with tools for defending their faith, discipleship opportunities, and making sure people know that they can ask their questions and find reliable answers. May the Lord help us in this troubled age with the only hope: Jesus Christ in the Gospel.