How Many Shades of Gray Faith?
No, the answer isn’t 50. At least I don’t think so. It’s a gray area.
Understanding and finding more of God is a process, and we need to give ourselves permission to seek God where our answers seem to run out, where our expectations aren’t quite met, where we can simply be our honest selves. We might gravitate towards black and white answers and easy spiritual growth- but in my experience, we’re missing so much of God in that safe and sterile Christianity.
I believe we find a lot more of God in the shades and tones of gray, at the end of our control, at the end of what we think it means to just be a “good Christian”, at the end of the simple answers we’ve believed in our head but missed in the depths of our soul.
If you’re looking to step out and meet God in the middle of real life and mess and questions this summer, I invite you to join me for an online “Gray Faith” book study this summer starting Monday June 26th!!
Here are just a few shades of gray you can expect to explore as we go through the 8 chapters of the book:
Gray Beginnings: Are we believing the lie of “Good Christianity”? What have we picked up from our spiritual beginnings? What have we grown up believing and how can we critically question those beliefs and spiritual routines in a healthy way?
Gray Christian Culture: What have we been raised in the church to believe? How has our “Christian culture” shaped our view of God and others, and are we brave enough to step outside of that culture long enough to see the parts that honor God and the parts that may be keeping us from fully experiencing Him? What are those outside our Christian culture really seeing and hearing from us?
Gray Church: What does it mean to be part of a church or body of Christ? How do we handle disagreements and denominations, loving each other and loving the world? What does it mean to balance each other? Does God have a one-size-fits-all plan for how church looks?
Gray Sin: What does it truly mean to love a broken world? Does that look more like waving a protest sign or sincerely listening to people we may not agree with? What does it mean to acknowledge that we’re all broken and need grace? How do we keep our hearts in check before a Holy God?
Gray Evangelism: What does it look like to “share our faith” with others? Do we need an exciting before and after story to impact people? What motivates us to share God with others? How can we share physical love with people that goes hand-in-hand with our words? Where have we gotten “evangelism” twisted?
Gray Expectations: What are some of the expectations and assumptions we’ve come to make about God? Do we perpetually think He’s unhappy with us? Are we frustrated with Him for not blessing us the way we thought He would when we followed Him? Our expectations have the power to reveal our true beliefs of God- and wrestling through those expectations honestly helps us find God more intimately.
Gray Walk: What does it look like to grow and change over time with God? Where are the places that God has been changing our views or opinions? How do we continue to find God in each season; the waiting and the receiving, the loss and the joy, the beauty and the ashes? Can our process with God lead us to crave His presence even in the ups and downs?
Gray Answers: At the end of the day, on this side of eternity, we simply won’t have all the answers. What does it mean to humbly walk with others knowing we don’t have all the answers? What does it look like to encourage friends without trying to fix their problems with the “right” answer? How do we handle difficult questions like why God allows pain and suffering? Can we trust that God is big enough to meet each us uniquely precisely in the gray?
The beautiful thing is, if you’re the extrovert kind of person who wants to get a group together and go through the study with friends, go for it! I’ve done the study with friends and absolutely loved the raw, genuine conversations that came up.
But if you’re the kind of person who still feels a bit uncomfortable asking gray questions in front of others- if you’d rather just wrestle with God in the privacy of your own home wearing your sweats and a tiara (hey, I’m not judging!) then you can absolutely follow along on your own.
Either way, here’s what to do to JOIN THE ONLINE STUDY:
- Optional: Purchase a “Gray Faith” book (paperback or kindle version) here: Gray Faith Book (Note: you can still follow along with the study videos/questions without having a book.)
- “Like” my facebook author page, where I’ll be posting all my updates and videos!
- Check into facebook every Monday for a new video and FREE weekly Study Guide downloads on my blog!
- Comment on the weekly video to join the conversation, challenge others, and open up about your own process with God. This is one of the most exciting parts for me- really getting to connect with YOU and hear your heart.
- Share with friends! If you know someone who might be interested in joining, or if you find encouragement from the study, please pass the news along!
Thanks so much for checking in; I can’t wait to start this “Gray Faith” journey with you all.