Disenculturation is the process used by missionaries to differentiate the gospel from culture. Having moved from one culture to another, missionaries can see that the gospel is like a kernel protected by an outer husk (culture). Their job is to ensure that the gospel kernel is free to enter new cultures without being captive to its old husk. This goes all the way back to the book of Acts, when the early church had to differentiate the gospel from Judaism as it entered Gentile culture.

Many of my friends and congregants who go on a deconstruction journey aren’t trying to lose their faith. They don’t want to end up in a Jesus-free place. They just want to make sense out of the faith they grew up in and let go of stuff that’s stale or stifling. They actually want a stronger faith, not no faith—more of Jesus, not less.

If that describes you, here’s food for thought: Deconstruction is not what you’re actually looking for. Disenculturation is.

Disenculturation is the process used by missionaries to differentiate the gospel from culture. Having moved from one culture to another, missionaries can see that the gospel is like a kernel protected by an outer husk (culture). Their job is to ensure that the gospel kernel is free to enter new cultures without being captive to its old husk. This goes all the way back to the book of Acts, when the early church had to differentiate the gospel from Judaism as it entered Gentile culture.

In the same way, you might need to differentiate the gospel from evangelical subculture. I’ve been through this process! I did not grow up in evangelicalism, but I became a Christian inside an evangelical high school. I fell in love with the gospel it taught me, but I could also see that this evangelical world had a lot of culture that wasn’t part of the gospel. Learning to disenculturate the gospel from evangelicalism has not only saved my faith. It’s helped me love the gospel more.

If you want to go on a disenculturation journey instead of a deconstruction journey, here’s how to get started.

1. Learn to See Culture

Like a fish in water who doesn’t feel wet, we often don’t recognize our culture, the languages and stories that explain our world. Cultures foster habits that comprise the good life and defense mechanisms that deflect the questions of outsiders. They elevate celebrities who exemplify their ideals. Then, having done all this, cultures pull a sneaky move: they pretend they don’t exist. They present themselves as “just the way things are.” But culture is always present, and it always plays a role in our experience of faith.

This means the first step is to learn to see culture and its power. My friends who grew up inside the evangelical subculture didn’t start doubting Christianity until they had left it. Coincidence? Probably not. The subculture had propped up their faith.

But this also means that culture contributed to their newfound questions. What many call doubt is actually a culture shift that displaces the old plausibility structures. What many call “deconstructing my faith” is actually a change of cultural locations that causes me to rethink old assumptions. When you learn to see the power of culture, you see what’s really happening: You learned Christianity in one culture. Now you’ve moved to a new culture. The first step, then, is to recognize this for what it is: tension caused by a culture shift and not necessarily by Christianity.

2. Wrestle with the Right Issues

Doubt can be disorienting. Disenculturation can’t save you from this struggle, but it can focus it in the right places. By differentiating the gospel kernel from the cultural husk, it says, “Wrestle with kernel issues.”

When I left my Christian high school, I started struggling with God’s judgment. I had been taught the holiness of God and the sinfulness of all people, but befriending thoughtful non-Christians was a surprising experience. They didn’t look so bad to me, but the doctrine of judgment suddenly did.

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