Right now, many Christians wonder how best to respond after a season of significant crisis for the church. So much rot has been exposed—whether seen through the proliferation of false teaching or authoritarianism or moral hypocrisy. Looking back, we can see some of what previous generations of the faith have gotten wrong—the elements that need revision, adjustment, or rejection.
We can rail against the mistakes of others all day long, and yet if we know the church will still be here in 50 years, we should be asking, What will the church look like then? Next come the corresponding questions: What should it look like, and how can we build a healthier future?
If the credibility of the church has taken a beating in the last half-century, then our job for the next 50 years will be rebuilding our witness so we look more like the Jesus we’re proclaiming. We want to be a church that walks the walk and doesn’t just talk the talk.
Need for Perspective
In the season 1 finale of my podcast Reconstructing Faith, Tim Keller, in one of his last interviews, explained that one of the things lacking in the church right now is perspective. He said we need the perspective of church history and the global church to understand the moment we’re living in. This notion sums up the whole point of my podcast: to encounter the global church and the church throughout history to better interpret the moment we’re in.
If you have a good understanding of church history, you won’t be completely shocked or shaken by scandals today, because you’re familiar with the dark times the church has faced in the past. And you’ve seen how God does amazing things in seemingly hopeless times.
If you stay connected to the global church, you’ll remember that in other parts of the world—like China, Africa, and parts of the Global South—the church is exploding as we speak. We all face challenges in the faith, but (thankfully) not all our challenges are the same. Engaging with Christians in other parts of the world can help us keep our sanity amid heated debates on different issues, helping us recognize the core of the Christian faith that unites us and the spaces where we can afford to have lively and respectful disagreement.
New Season of ‘Reconstructing Faith’
In the second season of Reconstructing Faith, I’ve pulled together a line-up of incredible guests seeking to do constructive work. It’s easy these days to find those in the business of critiquing. I wanted to seek out those who are building something, helping us envision a better future.
Season 1 covered the credibility crisis facing the church today, those areas where the church has taken a reputational beating (often for reasons well deserved). The second season assumes listeners have a heart for rebuilding and reconstruction. So we’ll look at some of the obstacles, both internal and external, that the church is facing in this time of rebuilding. This season is about gaining awareness of the challenges we must face.
Going in this direction for the podcast opened the door for us to deal with challenges not directly related to church failure but regarding current cultural challenges and those on the horizon.
We’ll address institutional distrust across the board, not just within the church. We’ll talk about dechurching, examine the crisis of masculinity, and assess the secret catastrophe of pornography, both inside and outside the church. We’ll talk about gender identity controversies, discussing the need for conviction and compassion in our congregations. We’ll talk about AI, the reality of spiritual burnout, the challenges of family breakdown, and even issues related to worship, liturgy, and how denominations and church networks can cooperate in an anti-institutional age.
Season 2 is about putting on our gloves and getting busy with the task of reconstruction and rebuilding.
Our Ultimate Hope
Through all this, let’s not forget there’s no cultural exegesis or strategy podcast that can make someone trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. Every conversion is a miracle. But if we’ve seen this miracle happen for 2,000 years—as implausible as it seems for billions across the world to believe that Jesus is risen from the dead—then our hope lies in the amazing reality that people are still believing and building their lives around this truth.
My goal is to equip the church to better understand the challenges of the recent past, as well as those we’re up against today and will continue to face in the future. We’re not responsible for rebuilding every aspect of the church’s crumbling walls. But I hope listeners will walk away from Reconstructing Faith’s second season knowing what section of the wall they can restore—the specific places they can help rebuild trust and credibility. We can’t do everything, but we can all do something.
It’s time to get to work. Enough carping against the church from the sidelines. We get it; the church is a mess. It has always been a mess, but if it’s going to be around in 50 years—and it is—then we must ask, What is it going to look like? What role do we have in what that church will look like then?
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