Reflections of a Variant

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. – Proverbs 21:15

Recently the group The New Evangelicals, which holds large influence in the deconstruction community (an online community of people in various stages of navigating their beliefs, typically following religious abuse/trauma) had a scandal of its own to deal with after a GRACE report was released detailing allegations of abuse by its executive director. GRACE is an organization that investigates reports of abuse in churches and religious organizations, presents findings, and suggests responses.

People who identify with the deconstruction movement, myself included, have been painted by well-known Christian leaders as deconstructing due to the allure of sin or in rebellion against God. Some have gone as far as suggesting that we were never “truly saved”. But if you take the time and listen to story after story, you’ll find a movement made of the “twenty-percenters”, former youth pastors, worship leaders, “PKs”, kids who spent their summers doing missions, and young families who couldn’t pay their bills because a second job would interfere with their volunteer church obligations.

Deconstruction is largely made up of those who gave the most, believed the most, served the most, loved the most, and within those systems experienced the ugliest parts of human nature. We share the universal experience of being abused or religiously traumatized by the institutions we gave every part of us to serve.

Through storytelling on social media, many of us found each other, birthing many new organizations and ministries aimed at helping people heal and recover as well as hold institutions accountable.

I can’t speak to the specifics on what happened with The New Evangelicals as I didn’t know much about the organization. I was actually surprised to learn their account was connected to an organization at all since their social media content primarily consists of one creator calling out scandals or abuses in American Evangelical churches.

I didn’t necessarily disagree with the content as most of it is reporting on factual stories with some commentary, but it did lead the viewer to believe their sole purpose is being a call-out platform rather than an organization offering help services. This kind of content reaches a demographic of people who have been badly abused and are very hurt.

The GRACE report on The New Evangelicals provides an opportunity for the movement as a whole to exercise some honest self-reflection and ask, “Is it possible we get so much satisfaction from call-out content that is masks itself as healing and recovery? And in doing so, are we neglecting the second half of the process”?

After completing the first half: leaving the abuse, calling it what it is, sharing our story, we too often fail to complete the “and then what”? For those of us who reconstructed our faith and still want to follow in the ways of Jesus, we can’t neglect the “and then what”, which is the restorative piece. Without that second half, without something we’re moving toward, without people, fellowship, and the body of Christ, all we’ve done is re-package and act out the very harm we so passionately speak out against.

Love of the church and accountability of the church are not mutually exclusive. We don’t have to choose between being for church or against abuse. We can call out wrongs and “do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

the importance of interpersonal relationships and fellowship to God is emphasized throughout the whole Bible. I have an online track record for validating people coming out of abusive religious situations and I will never keep quiet about wrong where I see it. But there has to come a time when as ask ourselves, “Where is the hope? What is our purpose? We know what we’re against but what are we for“? If we’re only doing one or the other, then we’re not doing justice.

God’s justice moves toward restoration, reintegration, and redemption. God’s justice is inherently connected to healing the harmed, restoring what has been lost, and reconciling those who are estranged from God and community.
—Dominique DuBois Gilliard

Like forgiveness, the restorative nature of the other half of justice doesn’t mean you must become BFFs with your abuser or work alongside them. Rather, it means those experiences no longer steal from your life. For deconstructionists, what is commonly stolen is fellowship, opportunities to use God-given gifts and talents, joy, hope of making positive changes in the world through service, and being part of God’s kingdom.

The author of Proverbs is correct in saying, “justice brings joy to the righteous”. True justice must include both halves. Without both, the cycle of harm continues under a new name.