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What happens to faith when the institutions meant to sustain it fail?

In Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls, ordained Episcopal priest Chantal Morales McKinney offers a searching memoir of spiritual reckoning from inside a progressive Christian community that could not live up to its own values. As cracks appear in the church's moral and relational foundations, she confronts painful historical questions about power, accountability, and the limits of institutional belonging.

Rather than walking away from Christianity, McKinney turns the church's failure into an invitation-one that leads her beyond institutional limits toward an expansive understanding of Jesus' teaching: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them." Beyond church walls, she begins to imagine a way of following Jesus grounded in relationship, moral courage, and presence rather than hierarchy or institutional authority.

Drawing on Christian mysticism, the Divine Feminine, contemplative practice, immersion in the natural world, and her own pastoral formation, McKinney reimagines what faith can look like when institutions fail. Structured around the spiritual arc of Root, Thrive, and Soar, this deeply moving memoir is both an exposé of the limits of even the most inclusive churches and a blueprint for building faith and community beyond them. Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls offers hope to those who have been harmed or disillusioned by religious institutions but still hunger for meaning, connection, and a faith that can survive the truth.