There are so many conversation starters in “The Christians,” you’d better come prepared to stay up late. In fewer than 90 minutes, the questions raised about faith, truth and trust demand discussion that lingers long after the play is done.

In the daring drama by Lucas Hnath, a Tony nominee this season for “The Doll’s House, Part 2,” the playwright zeroes in on a megachurch in the United States and whips up a hellish scenario for the church leader.

David Whalen holds court in the juicy role of Pastor Paul, a charismatic clergyman who has grown a church from a handful of followers to thousands. In the Kinetic Theatre production at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side, his entrance is preceded by hymns sung by a trio (Monteze Freeland, Natalie Hatcher and Missy Moreno) against the backdrop of a massive cross. Two rows of chairs are arranged in a semicircle in front of the stage, for a more direct relationship between the pastor and his flock.

Pastor Paul arrives in a jovial mood before he delivers a sermon in four parts. First, there’s the good news that the church has become debt free. He then tells the tale of meeting his wife, and how he breached an “insurmountable distance” to communicate his intension. It’s all very pleasant, and there are smiles from his wife, Elizabeth, Associate Pastor Joshua and Jay, a church elder.

Then Pastor Paul relates a tale that he heard from a missionary, about a boy who committed a selfless act to save his sister, only to die himself. The boy did not share the church’s beliefs, and therefore could not be saved from hell, despite his goodness.

The story devastated Pastor Paul, who was on the toilet — a detail he repeats — when God came to him and challenged his belief in hell as a place of eternal torment as punishment.

The fourth part of the sermon, “A Radical Change,” was clinched by the pastor’s revelation that if Jesus died for our sins, all of our sins, then the only hell that exists is the hell on Earth we create ourselves.

“Where are we today?” he says in conclusion. “I say, we are no longer a congregation that believes in hell.”

As this edict was delivered Saturday night, you could see the confusion registering on the face of Jonathan Elijah Reese’s Joshua, expressing what we find out many in the congregation were feeling: disbelief and a loss of faith in their leader.

It turns out, Pastor Paul consulted no one — not his wife, not the church’s board of directors, not his associates — that he was about to change a fundamental Christian belief for all of them.

From there, the church and its leader begin to unravel.

Joshua leaves, and many follow. Mr. Reese shows his own power as a leader, debating Paul and delivering a crackling monologue to explain how he became a Christian and the personal price he paid for it.

It is not only Pastor Paul’s flock that has doubts about the sudden no-hell edict. Paul’s adoring wife (Mindy Woodhead, a newcomer to Pittsburgh) is baffled and hurt that her husband has excluded her from this monumental decision. There are consequences for his family that, again, he had not foreseen.

Nowhere in this scenario does Pastor Paul’s faith in his decision seem to be shaken, even during an awkward encounter with a parishioner, the excellent Gayle Pazerski. She plays a poor, single mother who has found solace in the church and challenges the pastor in front of the congregation, bringing money into the equation: Was the timing of the edict somehow tied to the announcement of the church’s paying off its debts?

At the writer’s direction, everyone in “The Christians” speaks through a hand-held microphone, even in the most intimate scenes. Although a bit awkward, it puts each of their beliefs and concerns on the same footing. These are people acting in good faith, even as their faith has been shaken. Another conceit is that Pastor Paul will at times say, “He said,” or “She said,” giving stage directions mid dialogue. Distracting thought it is, it also emphasizes Pastor Paul’s point of view in those moments.

“The Christians” is directed by Andrew Paul, who continues to bring provocative new works, or classics told anew, to Pittsburgh through Kinetic Theatre. We have seen a trio of plays with religious themes within the past year, including the satires “Hand to God” at City Theatre and “An Act of God” at Pittsburgh Public Theater. While there are some humorous moments in “The Christians,” this is serious business, watching a church cracking at its foundation.

No matter how you feel about religious faith, you may find yourself taking a side in the hell/no hell debate, and that’s just one of the conversations you are bound to have as you walk out the door. So many questions, none with definitive answers. Such is the nature of faith in “The Christians.”

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.

First Published: June 19, 2017, 9:43 p.m.