Description

The mission of this podcast is to highlight the beauty and diversity of God’s Church – both in Chattanooga and the Church at large.

Right in the heart of downtown Chattanooga, you’ll find City Collective, a community that not only doesn’t shy away from sticky topics but asks the questions many Christians are afraid to ask. Lead by pastors Matt Moore and Brookes Jones, City Collective attracts the unchurched, de-churched, and disillusioned with the goal of building a true family that pursues not just faithful deconstruction but also reconstruction into a “humble orthodoxy.”

In this episode, Matt and Brookes explain what deconstruction means and how it leads to scriptural adherence. Listen in to hear them tell Adam about deconstruction within Scripture, issues with fundamentalism, and how confession and repentance are helping their church grow into a family. 

Note: this podcast was recorded earlier in 2021.


About Adam Whitescarver

Adam is passionate about seeing God’s people possess vibrant prayer lives to help them make a difference in the sphere of influence God has given them. In ministry since 2001, Adam enjoys his family, teaching, singing, and reading a myriad of subjects. He and his wife, Stephanie, live in North GA with their four children.


Jump Through the Conversation:

• [0:58] Introduction to pastors Matt Moore and Brookes Jones
• [1:29] Church location, service times, connection information
• [3:10] What does it mean to contextualize the gospel?
• [5:53] The church culture of City Collective
  • Matt: recognizing the place of City Collective within the Church as it exists in Chattanooga
  • Brookes: City Collective is made up of people who are tired and who don’t think the Church is doing what it’s supposed to
• [13:35] City Collective’s culture of embracing questions and struggles
  • Matt: we should be having the conversations everyone else is having
  • Brooks: why wouldn’t we engage issues of post-modernity and deconstruction?
• [21:04] Deconstruction
  • Definition and why it’s significant in the 21st century (Brookes)
  • How Jesus deconstructed culture via Scripture
• [25:03] Faithful deconstruction and the role of the prophetic voice (Matt)
• [28:41] On discipleship/spiritual formation and expressions of fundamentalism (Brookes)
• [32:23] How City Collective creates space for both grace and forward movement
  • Adam: On how the reformed tradition handles correction within the body
  • Matt: Jesus’s vision for the Church
  • Brookes: Confession and repentance
• [42:15] On healing and confession in the family context of the church
• [48:40] Final exhortations to believers
  • Brookes: “stay”
  • Matt: practicing empathy like Jesus

Links and Resources:

• A Beautiful Church website
• Chattanooga House of Prayer website
• Give today
• City Collective website

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