Before You Lose Your Faith (Paperback) by

“I’m deconstructing.”

Yet another social-media post announces departure from the Christian faith. The cause could be sex, race, politics, social justice, science, hell—or all of the above. For many, Christianity is becoming implausible, even impossible to believe.

While it might be tempting to leave the church in order to find answers, Before You Lose Your Faith argues that church should be the best place to deal with doubts. Featuring contributors such as Claude Atcho, Rachel Gilson, Jay Y. Kim, Brett McCracken, Karen Swallow Prior, Derek Rishmawy, and Jared C. Wilson, this book shows deconstructing need not end in unbelief. In fact, deconstructing can be the road toward reconstructing—building up a more mature, robust faith that grapples honestly with the deepest questions of life.

“Over the years I’ve met many younger Christians who aren’t sure they can or even should bother any longer with this ancient faith. Some end up leaving the church with a sense of liberation. Others feel as though they’re falling with no one to catch them. The church ought to be the place where they feel safe asking hard questions and sharing honest doubts. The distinguished contributors to Before You Lose Your Faith write with sympathy and understanding. They can help anxious readers reconstruct a stronger, lasting faith in our trustworthy Savior.”
— Collin Hansen, vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition and host of the Gospelbound podcast

Title

Before You Lose Your Faith
Author(s)

Ivan Mesa
ISBN

9780999284377
Format

Paperback
Publisher

TGC
Topic

Church, Gender & Sexuality
Audience

Adults
Pages

139
Published

04/09/2021

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Ivan Mesa

Ivan Mesa (ThM, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is an editor for The Gospel Coalition (since 2014), where he acquires books and oversees reviews, longform, and the Read the Bible initiative. He’s editor of Before You Lose Your Faith: Deconstructing Doubt in the Church (April 2021). He and his wife, Sarah, have three children, and they live in eastern Georgia.

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Overall rating

3.5 based on 2 reviews

Before You Lose Your Faith

This is the best book I’ve seen addressing the concerns of those young people who are struggling with their faith in the current climate in Evangelicalism. It is ABSOLUTELY up–to–the–minute. Solid and biblical but without ever falling into the easy–gotcha “apologetics industry” answers so so commonly employed in recent years. Well–written, enjoyable to read, intellectually credible, encouraging, gentle.

Pamela Jenkins

It’s been a tough few years, and many who I minister to have felt it. Many have moved beyond a “forced break” from church to a “voluntary abandonment”. They have real questions about Christianity, and the church. This book then, seemed like just the ticket. Yet, like skimming a flat stone over a glassy lake, each issue was touched on and then skimmed along to the next. No helpful engagement our answers are to be found here. Too often the contributors tore down straw men and avoided the real (and difficult) questions people are genuinely asking. In by far the weakest chapter (chapter 3) it was suggested that leaving the faith to be a hipster (read – countercultural) was a bad idea as that’s what everyone is doing. If you want to be really countercultural then stick with the church. Believe it or not, the issues people are facing are far more significant than seeing an “Instagram deconversion announcement” and wanting to follow suit to be cool and gain more “likes”. At first glance each of the chapters in part two seem helpful, (yes that is how my LGBT+ friends should respond to doubt. I have a lot of minority friends who could benefit from this!) – but as soon as you reach a chapter that hits closer to home, you are left laking. For example – the answer to a conceived disconnect between scientific discovery and the Biblical narrative is that scientism is self–refuting. While true, it hardly helps with the question at hand. This book points all the blame on the doubter, and like water off a ducks back none of the criticisms of Christianity or the church stick. As a church leader I’m the first to confess that the church is not innocent when mature, long time, followers of Jesus doubt. I’m also the first to acknowledge that those doubts are not toothless and impotent. Having said all of that, this book is not without any merit. It’s not a book I would give to someone who is on the brink of “losing their faith” or who has “deconverted”, but it is a book that I would read carefully with a group. The chapters do open the door for helpful discussion and deeper insight. When used as a tool to show what we as a church community are doing wrong and as a corrective for how we can “hold people close” before the take the leap away from Christ, I think this book is a great asset. This little work will get the mind working. It will make you want to shout in disagreement, and will leave you longing for something more substantial. But it also brings to the fore a major issue facing the church at a pivotal moment. (As an English reader who has also spent a significant amount of time living in America it is worth noting that you will need to do much cultural interpretation to apply the content of this book to our context in the UK. Issues like race, politics and a broadly Christian culture are not as immediately relatable here. Hopefully this does not prove a major hinderance.)

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