NakedPastor is the brand name of author and cartoonist David Hayward. [1] [2] [3] [4] Hayward started a blog called nakedpastor in 2006 and initiated his public analysis of religion, religious communities, and spirituality through his writings, art, and cartoons. Hayward was one of the first people (possibly the first) to start using the word deconstruction in relation to faith. His work includes topics such as spiritual abuse, faith deconstruction, exvangelicals, Women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. [5] [6] [7]
NakedPastor has published nine books, including his most recent book, Flip It Like This, [8] which was published in July 2022. NakedPastor is followed by many communities, including those of deconstructing, those who have left the faith altogether, and LGBTQ+ Christians. Although Hayward is known for his cartoons, he also creates other pieces of art, including watercolors.
NakedPastor claims to be the first to use the word Deconstruction in relation to leaving the faith in 2008. In an online interview he stated "I was studying Derrida at the time my belief system started to erode, and I co-opted the term because it sounded like a good way to describe the process I was going through. It’s not the slight changing of beliefs but basically the demolition of one’s belief system,” [9] NakedPastor has written two books centered around deconstruction: The Lasting Supper: Letters for Deconstruction [10] and Til Doubt Do Us Part: When Changing Beliefs Change Your Marriage. [11] Deconstruction is a growing phenomenon which has been spoken about by well known authors and speakers such as Tyler Huckabee, Joshua Harris (who briefly offered a course on deconstruction) [12] [13] and Marty Sampson. [14]
Although many people think NakedPastor is a Christian encouraging people into the faith, he has openly stated that his goal is to make sure that every individual finds their own spiritual freedom in whatever that may seem fit. [15] [16]
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th century as a loose association of churches working towards Christian unity, then slowly forming quasi-denominational structures through missionary societies, regional associations, and an international convention. In 1968, the Disciples of Christ officially adopted a denominational structure at which time a group of churches left to remain nondenominational.
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian body in the United States. The SBC is a cooperation of fully autonomous, independent churches with commonly held essential beliefs that pool some resources for missions.
The World Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is an international Pentecostal denomination.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), who objected to the rise of Liberal and Modernist theology in the 1930s. The OPC is considered to have had an influence on evangelicalism far beyond its size.
The Potter's House Christian Fellowship, commonly known as The Potter's House, is a Pentecostal Christian organisation based in the United States of America. It was established in Prescott, Arizona, in 1970 by Wayman Mitchell. The Potter's House was a member of the Foursquare church until 1983 when they separated to form a new independent fellowship.
Memorialism is the belief held by some Christian denominations that the elements of bread and wine in the Eucharist are purely symbolic representations of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the feast being established only or primarily as a commemorative ceremony. The term comes from the Gospel of Luke 22:19: "Do this in remembrance of me", and the attendant interpretation that the Lord's Supper's chief purpose is to help the participant remember Jesus and his sacrifice on the Cross.
Christian naturism is the practise of naturism or nudism by Christians.
Deeper Christian Life Ministry also known as Deeper Life Bible Church is an international Pentecostal Christian denomination with its headquarters, Deeper Life Bible Church Lagos, in Gbagada, Lagos. It is overseen by the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi.
The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States founded in 1914 during a meeting of Pentecostal ministers at Hot Springs, Arkansas, who came from a variety of independent churches and networks of churches. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work Pentecostal denomination and is the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. With a constituency of 2,928,143 in 2022, the Assemblies of God was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States.
Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" and "the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ" can be understood as synonyms. Opponents of this school, who hold that eternal damnation is the ultimate fate of some or most people, are sometimes called "infernalists."
The terms internet church, online church, cyberchurch, and digital church refer to a wide variety of ways that Christian religious groups can use the internet to facilitate their religious activities, particularly prayer, discussion, preaching and worship services. The internet has become a site for religious experience which has raised questions related to ecclesiology.
Positive deconstruction, in relation to Christian apologetics, is a term first used by Nick Pollard in Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult, to describe a methodology for engaging with worldviews in Christian apologetics. The process is one of deconstruction because it involves 'dismantling' the worldview in order to identify areas of conflict with a Christian worldview. It is positive because the intention is not to destroy a person's ideas and belief system, but to build on areas of agreement between the two worldviews in order to argue for the truth of the Christian worldview.
The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention, is a Baptist Christian denomination headquartered at the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee and affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. It is also the largest predominantly and traditionally African American church in the United States and the second largest Baptist denomination in the world.
John C. Hamer is an American-Canadian historian and mapmaker. His research has focused primarily on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, authoring several books on the topic. Hamer is a leading expert on various schisms within especially non- far-Western (U.S.) portions of the Latter Day Saint "Restoration" movement. Raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hamer left the religion before joining Community of Christ in 2010 and now serves as Pastor of its Toronto Congregation.
In Reformed theology, the Lord's Supper or Eucharist is a sacrament that spiritually nourishes Christians and strengthens their union with Christ. The outward or physical action of the sacrament is eating bread and drinking wine. Reformed confessions, which are official statements of the beliefs of Reformed churches, teach that Christ's body and blood are really present in the sacrament and that believers receive, in the words of the Belgic Confession, "the proper and natural body and the proper blood of Christ." The primary difference between the Reformed doctrine and that of Catholic and Lutheran Christians is that for the Reformed, this presence is believed to be communicated in a spiritual manner by faith rather than by oral consumption. The Reformed doctrine of real presence is called "pneumatic presence".
The New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement is an association of conservative, King James Only, independent Baptist churches. The New IFB began with Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in response to perceived liberalism in other independent Baptist churches. The New IFB does not consider itself to be a denomination. As of 2019, the New IFB listed 32 affiliated congregations on its website, most in the U.S. with some in Australia, Canada, the Philippines and South Africa.
Exvangelical is a social movement of people who have left evangelicalism, especially white evangelical churches in the United States, for atheism, agnosticism, progressive Christianity, or any other religious belief, or lack thereof. People in the movement are called "exvangelicals" or "exvies". The term prodigals is sometimes used for exvangelicals by people who remain evangelical.
Faith deconstruction, also known as deconstructing faith, evangelical deconstruction, the deconstruction movement, or simply deconstruction, is a phenomenon within American evangelicalism in which Christians rethink their faith and jettison previously held beliefs, sometimes to the point of no longer identifying as Christians. It is closely related to the exvangelical movement.