You Won't Be Alone Digital Cartoon

I think I was the first one to employ the term “deconstruction” to describe the questioning of our beliefs, the loss of the faith we once knew, and leaving the church.

It started when in 2008 I went to a workshop with other pastors to hear a theologian argue against the philosophical ideas of people like Derrida. Derrida invented the word “deconstruction” for challenging the attempt to establish that there is an ultimate and secure meaning in a text. All texts and language is an attempt to dominate and control. We deconstruct and analyze the parts to discern this.

There was a list of books to read in preparation, all critiquing Derrida and the deconstruction school because it threatened the idea that the Bible could be relied upon as THE Truth. 

I went to the workshop intrigued by this idea and left convinced that deconstruction was valid.

I started sharing my thoughts about it on my blog. Someone called me a deconstructionist. I didn’t mind. 

It was a good word, I thought, to describe what I and others were going through

Back in 2008… 13 years ago... it was a scary and lonely road. But as the years have gone by, more and more of us have met on that road so that now there are countless numbers of us all around the world.

Now we are not alone. Just look at our community here online! We have friends and support all over the world here. 

Sometimes we’re lucky and get to meet each other face to face too.

You’re not alone.