Set Adrift: Deconstructing What You Believe Without Sinking Your Faith

How to analyze and reevaluate your Christian beliefs and experiences in the church while keeping the core of your faith intact.

The number of Christians leaving the church today is significant. Many feel there is no place for them within the faith—they no longer feel at home in their church community or tradition. For various reasons, they are unsettled by the version of Christianity they've inherited.

Stripping away the nonessential aspects of Christianity, Sean McDowell and John Marriott will help you navigate the jarring questions and cultural challenges that lead many to walk away from the faith. You'll come to recognize that there are other ways Christians throughout history have understood what faithfulness to Jesus looks like.

Each chapter provides practical advice on how to disassemble, rethink, and reassemble beliefs that are truly Christian and culturally and personally relevant. You'll learn how you can continue to seek an authentic faith by:

• Establishing Jesus and his teachings as the foundation.
• Utilizing the creeds as boundary markers of what is essential.
• Seeing the entire Bible as a truthful revelation from God.
• Seeing Christianity as a historic and global tradition that encompasses diverse communities and viewpoints.

192 pages.

Set Adrift is the first book I would give to someone working through deconstructing their faith (or someone trying to help others who are deconstructing). John Marriott and Sean McDowell don’t respond to the deconstruction phenomenon with alarmism or defensiveness. They invite questions and doubts and encourage a relentless search for truth. But they identify the guardrails and guides we need so that deconstruction ultimately results in a more authentic faith, rather than heresy or deconversion. Set Adrift is faithful to the Bible and historic Christian orthodoxy, balanced and reasonable in treating contested Christian doctrines, culturally insightful, and fair-minded to thoughtful objections. It is also not difficult to read and focuses on the most pressing interests readers are likely to bring to the table. If I could, I would give a copy of this book to every person engaged in the deconstruction conversation happening in the church today.

GAVIN ORTLUND, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai

Here’s a wise and helpful guide which demonstrates that deconstructing faith doesn’t have to mean destruction of faith. Sean and John offer insights and practical experience that can help you follow Jesus more faithfully. This much-needed resource will help countless Christians pursue Christ. I’ll be recommending this book for years to come!

LEE STROBEL, New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Lee Strobel Center at Colorado Christian University