What Does It Really Mean to ‘Deconstruct’ from Evangelicalism?

This week on the Gravity Leadership podcast, pastor and author Skye Jethani explored some of the factors influencing why people are “deconstructing” from American evangelicalism, whether they are rejecting all or part of it. Jethani believes that one key factor influencing this rejection is the moral failures that people are witnessing in the church.

“One of the dilemmas that pop American evangelicalism is having,” said Jethani, “is a lot of especially younger people…are looking at the leaders they’ve put on these pedestals, and they’re recognizing they have really rotten fruit…And then what ends up happening is you meet someone from another tradition, whether Christian or otherwise, who holds very different theology, and you go, ‘Oh my goodness. They have more compassion and love and grace and maturity and fruit of the Spirit than I’ve found in my evangelical tradition, so I’m going to jump ship from that one to this one.’” Read More

After some thought I decided that a set of children's building blocks better represents the process that Skye Jethani describes as "deconstruction" in his article--a process in which a Christian reevaluates and rethinks his beliefs and values. Through trial and error a child learns which blocks can be used to build structures that do not easily topple and fall and which blocks, if they are used, will build structures that will collapse even before they are completed.