I discovered Alisa Childers through the excellent documentary American Gospel: Christ Crucified. In the documentary, Childers speaks about her experience attending a progressive church and how it made her doubt her faith. She shares her story in greater detail in her book, Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity.
Childers was born and raised in a Christian family. She accepted Jesus in her heart when she was five, read the whole Bible in her youth, and as an adult, she wrote and performed music for the Christian band ZOEgirl. At first glance, Childers seemed a devout Christian with firm beliefs. But the illusion broke when she sat under the teachings of a progressive pastor.
Instead of building her faith, her pastor increased her doubts; instead of solidifying her stand on the solid rock, he shook the ground beneath her. Her progressive pastor led her to deconstruct her faith, which is a process of “systematically dissecting and often rejecting the beliefs you grew up with.”
Childers was filled with doubts but refused to let them fester. She went on an intellectual quest to find answers to her questions and separate truth from lies. She shares this journey in Another Gospel, which is an account of the reconstruction of her faith as well as the deconstruction of progressive Christianity.
The book features teachings Childers received from her progressive pastor, her crisis of faith when she realized she couldn’t dispute his claims, and her research to learn the truth. The claims she examines include the inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility of the Bible, the authority and credibility of Scriptures, the doctrines of penal substitutionary atonement, total depravity, the humanity of Christ and hell.
She concludes the book with a chapter titled reconstruction, where she identifies the essential building blocks of historic Christianity as established in the Holy Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
Childers wrote this book because progressive Christianity has gained a large presence in the church. Many believers sit under progressive pastors and follow progressive bloggers and authors without realizing it. And she wants Christians to be watchful against this destructive heresy.
She says, “Like wheat and tares, true ideas and false ideas have grown together throughout church history, and it’s up to faithful Christians to be watchful and diligent to compare every idea with the Word of God and see if it lines up.”
Childers accomplishes her goal with excellence. She provides a thorough examination of progressive Christianity and shows where it deviates from historical Christianity. She deftly dismantled each claim using Holy Scriptures and the witness of the saints throughout Church history. And the conclusion is undeniable; progressive Christianity differs from biblical and historic Christianity. It’s another gospel and must be marked and avoided.
I enjoyed learning more about progressive Christianity, as I was not familiar with it. Childers gives many insights that helped me understand this movement and confront its adherent. She also did a superb job of providing facts that will help us defend the gospel. It was mostly basic not in-depth facts. Readers of other apologetic books like The Case for Christ will be familiar with them.
But Childers shared an excellent list of additional resources to further our education and dig deeper into apologetics.
I highly recommend reading Another Gospel if you are an honest skeptic, struggling with doubts, or just want to learn more about progressive Christianity and apologetics. Childers provides a robust biblical defense of the true gospel that will edify, encourage, and strengthen you in the faith.
I also recommend reading other apologetic books and growing in that area because all Christians must contend for the faith. As Voddie Baucham said, we must know what we believe, why we believe it, and communicate it in a winsome and effective way.
*The publisher graciously gave me an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.*
