Yes, finally! Whew! After months and months of forming the project, gathering stories, writing, editing, re-editing, and production, Faith Shift: Finding Your Way Forward When Everything You Believe is Coming Part is out! It’s a messy & surreal process, especially on top of a lot of kids & the refuge & our crazy life.
But I am so excited that basically all of the stuff that I’ve been writing about for the past chunk of years is now in one place, in order–with a lot better editing and capital letters! (and, best of all, real stories from a bunch of my amazing and brave friends).
I can’t begin to tell you all how grateful I am for the stories, emails, comments, and messages over these past years that have reminded me that I’m not crazy, and I’m not alone, and that faith shifts are oh-so-real. It’s been so healing in more ways than I can count. My hope for this book is that it can help others find their way through the scary, weird, messy, beautiful process of life after an unraveled faith.
I won’t go on and on about the book in this moment; now you can get a copy for yourself online or you can take a peek inside. But I will share a few quick things this morning about it:
- It’s written for spiritual refugees, church burnouts and freedom seekers. It’s definitely not for everyone. It’s for people who have experienced a significant shift in their faith and feel lost and tired and lonely in the process. It’s for people who know some of these feelings or experiences.
- It’s meant to be interactive. It’s not a read-my-words and breeze to the next chapter kind of book. It’s to participate in, with questions and thoughts to consider, and ways to engage with it related to our own unique faith stories. There are questions for personal or group reflection at the end of each chapter, too.
- I really hope you will share what it stirs up in you, either on the blog or in messages. I have a new link on the Faith Shift tab specifically for responses to the material and to share your own experiences and ways you’d maybe illustrate your faith evolution or different words you might use to describe your journey. I’d love to hear more, and that’s another place to share where everything’s in one place.
- None of this would be possible without you. Your stories, your honesty, your courage here on the blog and in real life is really what Faith Shift is all about. I am so grateful! There have been others that have gone before us and others who will come after us, and that’s why sharing our stories–the good, the bad, the ugly–matters.
A few other things floating around related to Faith Shift this week:
A me-rambling-about-faith-shifts video / If you want to hear a little live snippet with my friend Travis Reed of the Work of the People, here’s a little video, part 1 of a fun (no way to be around Travis and not have it be fun) conversation we had together last month when I was in Texas.
A blog post / I have written a few pieces for the Convergent blog related to some of the ideas in the book. I already shared about the first one here–You Know Your Faith is Shifting When–and the second one came out last week–When our Faith Unravels, We Lose a Lot.
A livestream conversation about re-thinking church / It’s not directly related to the book, but for me, creating a space that can hold these shifts in tension is so important. All of the details are here. It’s on Thursday October 23rd at noon Mountain Time.
Coming soon:
The thing I’m most excited to do with Faith Shift is create little pockets of people who want to process it together live. Not a book-reading, but a really-engaging-with-the-material-together kind of gathering (always my favorite). Some friends in some different cities are organizing a few spaces & places for this in early 2015 and will keep you posted when and where (November 13th will be the first one in Colorado Springs).
Most of all, I’d love to hear what your thoughts about it! Please, share with me. You will see things differently, you will have things to add, you will find yourselves in the stories. The best part is hearing from you!
Have a great day. I know mine will be definitely filled with smiles and gratitude…
peace, kathy