Inside our church doors, hurting people are struggling to see Christ in their lives. Instead of giving the world a beautiful picture of Christ’s bride and a glimpse of his love for us, many see disillusionment, despair, and abuse. Look at our scars. Look at the scars on the church. How did we get...

What do we do when church isn’t what we thought it was? Many find that instead of the church helping us to make sense of the world, we can’t make sense of the church.

Aimee Byrd and Nijay Gupta, Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, discuss disillusionment with the church and with God.

Why do we see so little repentance in the church when stories of hatred, cover-up, and abuse surface? The shame this produces chokes out our hope, making us feel like God doesn’t care enough or that we aren’t good enough. We can’t develop the healing scars we need. And then we miss
the good news.

Aimee Byrd and Chuck DeGroat, Professor of Pastoral Care and Director of the Clinical Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary, discuss the shame and anxiety Christians experience in some church cultures.

What so many of those church leaders are missing in hurling out public shaming of God’s people.is the picture of beauty: Christ and his bride. Beauty matters. Truth matters. Goodness matters. Because Love matters.

Aimee Byrd and Amy Peeler, Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and Assistant Priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, discuss the nature of faith, beauty, truth, goodness, and love.

Celebrity culture always leads to disillusionment. But here's the story: If we do not love the Lord with our souls and our bodies, then we surely are not going to love his bride.

Aimee Byrd and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University, discuss the importance of truthfully presenting the full spectrum of the history of the church.

Many of us grow up in the church and still don’t know what healthy discipleship is supposed to look like. We can deceive ourselves into thinking discipleship is measurable, but it's more vulnerable than this. It's about how Christ is shown in our lives, and how we love.

Aimee Byrd and Chuck DeGroat, Professor of Pastoral Care and Director of Clinical Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary, discuss the complete picture of healthy discipleship that includes both left-brain and right-brain pursuits--doctrinal understanding and intimacy with God.

In the real world of goodness and truth, obedience and love are not pitted
against each other. Instead, understanding comes from obedience to love. Knowing all this makes me closer to fine. It gives me the patience not to settle for less than the love, beauty, goodness, and truth that Christ gives.

Aimee Byrd and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University, discuss how we view hope in the church and how that helps us move forward from disillusionment.

A lot of what we thought was “good Christianity” isn’t real. Our own sense of self can be an illusion. Let’s be a church that helps one another lay it all down for the glorious real thing. Christ’s coming to meet us at the underground is very real.