Q&A with Dale and Jonalyn Fincher
1 – How did Soulation get started?
We were living in Los Angeles. Jonalyn was teaching junior high. Dale was speaking, writing, and traveling with Ravi Zacharias. During this time, we both observed the overwhelming pattern of Christians, not skeptics, asking the hardest questions about the Christian faith. Christians were fleeing the church’s dogmatic leaders for solace in agnosticism, Buddhism, and secular activism. Christians were losing hope that their faith made sense of their real lives.
In 2004, we sat in a small cafe during a speaking trip in Washington, DC, scribbling ideas on a napkin. Christians feel like life is rote and meaningless. Too many Christians rise or fall depending on the leader they choose to follow. How could we help them see that Jesus was bigger than church attendance and dogma, that He’s alive in the wide world? What tools helped us stand firmly in knowledge and courage? What could rekindle the true significance of living whole, hearty, humble life? What word would help Christians come alive to their humanity and creativity in this world?
We wanted a word attractive to both men and women. We connected “Soul” with foundation and celebration. We didn’t need another program or movement; we needed our souls developed. Building better souls was the foundation for helping us grow. We wanted to celebrate the freedom of a healthy soul. We could imagine how differently Christians would read Scripture, make sound decisions, nurture and develop their own arts, relationships, sexual and spiritual formation. We offered a soul-foundation and celebration. Soulation.
2 – What’s the story behind your community and how it got started?
In 2012, when Dale was collecting research for a book on his college story of spiritual abuse, he invited his Facebook friends to join a private group to share their experiences. That group, “College Reflections,” exploded overnight: people discovering they weren’t alone with their bottled-up spiritual abuse. A private Facebook community was born from those who wanted to intentionally heal and grow beyond the wounds and into daily freedom. A year later, Jonalyn and Dale wrote the “Spiritual Health: A Foundation” study, and all graduates of that study became the “Freedom Builders.” A few years later, seeking greater privacy and protection for our growing community, we left Facebook for the private platform where we gather today. If you join our Soulation Community and complete “Spiritual Health: A Foundation,” you are a “Freedom Builder.”
You can join the Soulation Community here. You can start your journey to become a Freedom Builder here.
3 – Your vision statement says “empowering Christians to become fully human.” What does it mean to become fully human?
Hans Rookmaaker famously said, “Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian. Jesus came to make us fully human.” In other words, Jesus isn’t interested in recruiting us for a moral, rule-abiding religious sect. Jesus wants to make us into what People of Planet Earth were created to be, whole and fully ourselves again. Just like Adam and Eve before they chose to distrust God and mar their humanity, we are invited into freedom as friends of God.
4 – How is apologetics connected with spiritual abuse?
Apologetics literally means to “give an answer” or a defense for what we believe.
We’ve noticed that most spiritual abuse is a result of people settling for poor answers and then forcing others to live them out. For instance, some of the most powerful and persuasive atheists experienced an unhealthy, flimsy version of Christianity. And many of the best apologetic questions today come from wounded and confused ex-Christians.
We believe that when any sincere question is belittled or ignored, spiritual abuse is free to flourish. In our community we are free to ask these hard, even threatening questions, so we can all work to find our own answers. Questions such as:
- Why do Christians often refuse to examine their own beliefs?
- Why do people hide behind doctrine or intellectual-sounding dogmas?
- Why are so many Christians cruel to each other?
- Why are Christians content to live in denial?
- Why are Christians unable to name and confront evil and weather the storm of suffering?
- Why do so many Christians tolerate rotten and deceptive leaders?
All these questions come back to deep, fundamental truths about life, knowledge, God, and human identity. We believe apologetics (giving an answer) was born by addressing spiritual abuse. By using apologetics to root out spiritual abuse, we’re following a tradition of Jewish and Christian apologists. All the prophets addressed abuses. Jesus regularly warned against spiritual abusers, any wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing. Paul confronted false teachers, even powerful leaders like Peter when they distorted the truth (Galatians 2-3). Church fathers, like Justin Martyr and Thomas Aquinas, defended God’s goodness and freedom from those who put shackles on the souls of Christians.
The creeds we read today are the fruit of apologists trying to explain the Christian faith against the skeptics and spiritually abusive of their day. We continue in their footsteps so that people can know God and follow him faithfully.
5 – What are your credentials and education?
Jonalyn holds BA degrees in history and english (University of Virginia). Dale holds a BA and MA in performing arts (Pensacola Christian College). We both have MAs in philosophy of religion and ethics (Biola University). We also worked and volunteered for various non-profits before Soulation began. Dale worked with Ravi Zacharias for several years, before and after full-time employment with his team. Now, many years into running Soulation, we have blogged for a decade, authored over a dozen books, created curriculum, launched SoulationPress, led our writing teams, mentored, pastored and built community. But our best credentials are the fruit of changed lives.
Hang around and talk to people who know us and you’ll see why Soulation is special.
6 – Why do you call this group the “Freedom Builders”?
Because of Jesus’ words “The truth will set you free,” we believe that if you aren’t free in an area of your life, the truth hasn’t soaked in there yet. “Freedom Builders” is the group within our Soulation Community of members who have committed to find truth and healing together. They don’t just say they’re committed; they have all completed the prerequisite study “Spiritual Health: A Foundation.” They are devoted to growing into a free life with God and helping those around them do the same.
7 – You mention egalitarianism. What do you mean by it?
Men and women are to serve one another, even in authority positions, not based on their sex but on their giftings, knowledge, and abilities. The best summary we’ve found is “complementarity without hierarchy.” We believe men and women working together in partnership offers an accurate picture of God’s image on earth.
Christian egalitarianism stands in contrast to patriarchy and “complementarianism,” which gives men “the tie-breaking vote” in the community and the home, by virtue of their gender rather than their giftings, knowledge, and abilities.
8 – Are you guys “feminists”?
If “feminist” means we believe women are as fully made in God’s image as men, that women are not disqualified from any authority or leadership by virtue of being women, then, yes, we are “feminists.” But we are not of the secular brand of “feminist” that says human identity and sexuality is a social invention. We don’t think feminists should require LGBTQ advocacy, undermining men of any color, and recasting the meaning and purpose of marriage, family and gender. We believe in supporting men and women equally and that to diminish one for the rise of the other is unhealthy and abusive.