Alternatively Practicing: A New Publication for Deconstructing the Faith You Were Handed + Reconstructing Something Better

I began deconstructing my conservative evangelical faith over two decades ago. Back then, there were essentially no resources. The term deconstruction had not yet been coined. There were no communities of ex-vangelicals. It was just called backsliding, falling away from the faith, or losing salvation.

But first, a little about me. I’m originally from Western Washington in the United States. I’ve been living and working abroad since 2010 in South Korea, Thailand, Italy, and now France.

I grew up attending various evangelical and pentecostal denominations: CMA, Baptist, Assemblies of God, and non-denominational. I graduated from Seattle Pacific University, a Methodist school, in 2005 with two degrees in European Studies and Romance Languages (Spanish, French, and Italian).

Growing up, I would often attend youth group up to three times per week. Sunday morning worship services, Wednesday night small groups, and the occasional weekend outreach or overnight student leadership meeting. Then there were the summer camps, weekend retreats, choir tours, and mission trips. Being in the left-leaning Seattle area, things were quite a bit more tame than what you might come across in the Bible Belt, but…