Refining My Focus On Reconstruction

I realized something today: My focus needs to shift from helping people deconstruct their faith to helping people reconstruct their faith.

It’s a pretty big realization for me.

And, to be honest, it’s not easy for me to make that shift. I’ve spent over 12 years blogging about my own deconstruction process, and an equal amount of time writing books about why we need to look at the Gospel, and the Church and the Church and the Bible from a different perspective.

It almost comes naturally for me to do these things. It’s automatic.

So, like this morning on Facebook, I spent about an hour going back-and-forth with a few people trying to show them that – according to the Bible – our foundation is Christ [not the Bible], and our authority is Christ [not the Bible], and that Jesus told us that the Law and the Prophets would disappear and become obsolete [because that was why he came: to fulfill the Law and the Prophets].

Most of the time my efforts along these lines fail miserably. At least for the specific persons I am having the conversation with. [Not all the time, fortunately. There have been a few surprising changes of heart over the years in a few people]. But, the main goal of those online debates is to help those who are lurking and reading along and following our back-and-forth conversation to process everything and eventually to see with new eyes.

That’s honestly the only reason why I continue to engage in those sorts of conversations online.

And, I’m not saying I will totally stop doing this, but I do feel as if I need to shift the majority of my time and energy towards helping people who have already deconstructed their faith to experience reconstruction.

In fact, at the moment I am about to unveil a 90-Day program to help people do exactly that: Move from deconstruction to reconstruction.

If you’re curious, there’s a little landing page for this project here: www.BK2SQ1.com

In a nutshell my reasons for launching this are simple: Deconstruction is a painful process and no one should have to go through it alone.

Believe me, I know. I’ve been going through it, and still am in many ways, and it’s not easy.

I’m very blessed because my wife, Wendy, has been my guide and my counselor every step of the way. More than once she’s lovingly helped me to walk back from the ledge and help me to hang on to my faith in Christ, even as all other beliefs crumbled away.

But not everyone has someone in their life who can help them through deconstruction.

If possible, I want to help others who find themselves going through this process and walk hand-in-hand with them to find a foundation to reconstruct their faith.

So, I have set aside all my other projects between now and the end of the year. I’ve committed myself to spend several hours building this platform and designing this process. I’m going to spend every day – and several hours each week – for the next 90 days, focused on helping a group of people survive toxic Christianity and rebuild their faith again.

I’m putting together several hours of weekly instruction, setting aside several hours each week for one-on-one conversations with people, and scheduling weekly conference calls to help everyone process their deconstruction.

The irony is, that as I am in the process of building this platform and writing these sessions on deconstruction, I am going through my own literal deconstruction process of packing up my life here in Idaho and moving to our new home in El Paso, TX at the end of this month.

How appropriate.

Packing things away. Donating unused items. Driving across the desert. Searching for a new home. Making new friends. Reconnecting with old friends. Establishing new patterns of living.

All of this is a living metaphor for spiritual deconstruction.

So, I guess I’ll have a constant reminder over the next 90 days in my actual life of what people are enduring in their spiritual and emotional lives as they undergo this deconstruction/reconstruction process.

I can’t wait to unveil everything tomorrow. This is something I’ve been praying about and working on for several months. It’s almost ready to go.

My prayer is that the people who need it most will find it. I hope that all of this will result in transformation for people who feel alone and abandoned by their family, friends and church fellowship.

If you’re one of those people, I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

Meet me at Square 1

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Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community. Today, He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.