A Safe Space to Question Your Faith
I was excited to go to the exvangelical AWAKEN 2023 conference. It was co-sponsored by Quoir, the publisher of my new book, Breaking Bad Faith: Exposing Myth and Violence in Popular Theology to Recover the Path of Peace (releasing on July 4, 2023 on Amazon). I had already interviewed four of the speakers—also authors with Quoir—on my podcast and was looking forward to meeting them in person. This was going to be a safe place for people to voice their questions and doubts about their faith or past experiences with conservative Christianity. Most everyone would be exvangelical. What I didn’t expect is how much this conference impacted me.
Unity Without Insisting on Uniformity
The first thing I noticed was how we had a beautiful unity without insisting on uniformity, which is what conservative churches do. Keith Giles, author of the “Jesus Un” series of books, told us that no one here is going to agree with everything that each speaker is going to say. There were a wide variety of progressive Christians, agnostics, humanists, and atheists. We didn’t all agree on spiritual positions. And that was good! However, we did all have what mattered most in common. We had all deconstructed from evangelical or fundamentalist Christianity and lived to tell about it. We were exvangelicals. We had similar stories and experiences. We were all on a road to rebuild a meaningful and honest spirituality or philosophy of life. We were all trying to make the world a better place and make toxic faith less prevalent in our society. As one atheist speaker said, “I am anti-evangelicalism but not anti-theism.” All the theists could say the same thing. We are all anti-evangelicalism but not anti-atheism. We were all kindred spirits.
Brutally Honest Exvangelical Stories that Healed
Many of the speakers like Heather Hamilton and Karen Shock shared honest stories about their own experiences. There were stories about depression, anxiety, religious trauma, spiritually abusive practices, and spiritual breakthroughs rebuilding a more healthy faith or way of life. All of us could relate to their journeys. That made each story a way to further heal wounded hearts among the listeners. We weren’t alone trying to navigate our doubts and questions in isolation, but in a community that encouraged one another. The life lessons shared were transformative.
New Ways to View the Bible and Faith
I had interviewed Dr. Jennifer Bird on my podcast back in March 2023. At the conference, she spoke on themes of her next book, Marriage in the Bible: What do the Texts Say? What Dr. Bird brings to the table is helping people learn original meaning of biblical texts and thinking for oneself when it comes to the Bible. Jennifer also shared insights found in her first book Permission Granted: Take the Bible into Your Own Hands. She really helped the audience understand that we have permission to examine the Bible with an open mind to both critique it and decide for ourselves what’s inspirational. She gave examples of how knowing original meaning of Hebrew or Greek terms makes a huge difference. What hit home for me is the fact that it’s more respectful to the Bible to approach it this way.
Non-Racism vs. Anti-Racism
Former conservative Christian teacher, exvangelical, and another interviewee on my podcast, Dan Henderson, gave an amazing talk on racism in our society. He really opened our eyes. Drawing on his own experience working in the inner city and his own personal relationships with people of color, he helped each of us walk in the shoes of black and brown Americans. What struck me was the story of a black man who said he had been pulled over by the police 45 times during his time of four years of college. At the same time, several of his white friends said they had been stopped by police too during those same four years at the same college. But for them, they could only remember 2-3 times being pulled over! Dan shared the difference between being “non-racist” and “anti-racist.” The former is a passive view of the world where one agrees racism is bad but doesn’t really do anything to try to understand what happens to victims of racism or try to change anything. The latter is a way of life that actively seeks to both understand and bring change. He made a great point how the new Juneteenth holiday that commemorates the abolition of slavery in America should really be on par with July 4th. Afterall, we declared our independence from Britain in 1776 but didn’t declare true freedom for all until slavery was abolished (although the work of bringing freedom continues).
Overcoming Toxic Faith in New Healthy Communities
I met a new friend in Disember Rose at the conference. As a former pastor who deconstructed from conservative Christianity, she spoke on the brokenness and bondage of spiritual and sexual abuse in many of America’s churches. What a powerful speaker she is! She has a heart to expose the corrupt, harmful, and damaging elements of institutional church and rebuild healthy faith communities with true servant leaders and members who help heal the brokenhearted and oppressed and bring good news. I will be interviewing her on my podcast soon on her book, The Church Can Go to Hell: Overcoming the Brokenness, Bitterness, and Bondage of Church Hurt.
Healing Religious Trauma and Finding New Exvangelical Paths
Other exvangelical speakers included Jim Palmer, Laci Bean, Nat Turney, Eve_Was_Framed, Martin Brooks, and David Perez. They spoke on various topics that addressed harmful doctrines, Christian nationalism, historical realities, hope for healing, and a way forward. I was impressed with Jim Palmer’s insights, Laci Bean’s heart for people hurt by religious trauma, Nat Turney’s story (he will interview me on his podcast soon re: my book), Martin Brooks on being a Peace Catalyst, and the experience of Eve_Was_Framed in the charismatic movement. Turns out she knows and had experiences with several pastors I knew personally. I’m looking forward to having her on my podcast to compare notes. Finally, David Perez blew me away. After he deconstructed from evangelicalism, he formed a new kind of church. One that’s designed for people deconstructing their faith and looking to rebuild something more authentic. His church, Spero Dei, hosted the conference in Nashville. Oh, and I almost forgot! Jennifer Knapp performed an incredible concert on the last evening.
Experience this Exvangelical Conference and Concert Yourself
All this taught me something. My deconstruction of evangelical Christianity and rebuilding a healthy faith, after all these years is not over. I continue to learn knew things and meet beautiful people who have unique stories who help me both deconstruct even more and reconstruct something brand new. I encourage you to listen to all these speakers and Jennifer Knapp’s performance at your leisure now that the conference is available online. Visit AWAKEN 2023 Online. You won’t be disappointed.
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Michael Camp tends the Spiritual Brewpub, which helps disillusioned or post-evangelicals uncover historical facts and insights that help them deconstruct, rethink, and rebuild a more authentic faith or philosophy of life. He is the author of Breaking Bad Faith: Exposing Myth and Violence in Popular Theology to Recover the Path of Peace, which releases on July 4, 2023 (Quoir) on Amazon. To get updates and read other themes in the book, subscribe to this blog. To get specific help deconstructing conservative Christianity and rebuilding healthy faith, see Michael’s Religious Deconstruction Workshop and listen to the Spiritual Brewpub Podcast.
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