Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home

"Billups is a sharp critic of the evangelical church, and readers will be heartened by her thoughtful advice on how to chart a brighter future for the faith."—Publisher's Weekly

In the wake of the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, many young evangelical Christians found themselves untethered, disillusioned, and—ultimately—orphaned as they grappled with the legalistic, politically co-opted churches of their youth. Perhaps you are one of them. Perhaps, like Sara Billups, you have felt alone, misunderstood, and maligned in the American church, longing for a more loving, more biblical expression of the faith and discipleship taught by Jesus.

Part spiritual memoir of an apocalyptic childhood and part commentary on growing up as an evangelical kid during the culture wars, Orphaned Believers follows the journey of a generation of Christian exiles reckoning with the tradition that raised them and searching for a new way to participate in the story of God. Because for all the baggage, we still belong, and a bigger, more beautiful story awaits.


"As American Christianity changes, and as we change along with it, we need guides to remind us who we are and who we're not. Sara has been one such guide for me. She's brutally honest and hilarious, and her heart is wide open to the radical possibility that belonging to Jesus is identity enough for Christians. I couldn't be more grateful for her."—Jon Guerra, singer-songwriter and producer

"Billups reminds us that no matter who we are or where we come from, God can move us from a place on the margins to a community of faith."—Foxy Davison, educator and activist

"Sara helped me feel more 'found' than I did before—orphaned but also anchored in a much better story than the one the world's been selling me over the past decades. I needed this book more than I knew."—Chuck DeGroat, author, therapist, and professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary