I just finished reading In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. Mark is the founding pastor of a very creative church in Washington D.C. In chapter 8 he cites an interesting study on divergent thinking, thinking outside the box. The study found that 98% of children between the ages of 3 & 5 core in the genius category for divergent thinking. Between the ages of 8 & 10, that number drops to 32%. By their teenage age years it drops to 10% and only 2% of those over 25 scored in the genius category for divergent thinking. According to John Putzier, who cites the study in his book Get Weird, the solution to this intellectual conformity and creative atrophy is "tapping your natural weirdness." Mark Batterson writes "tapping into our natural weirdness isn't just one key to divergent thinking, it is a key to divergent spirituality."
The Bible is full of weird and wacky stuff, talking donkeys, prophets who are instructed to do strange things, speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost, etc. Mark says "God love variety. He speaks and acts in divergent ways." I really believe that where our culture is today, Christians must tap into our natural weirdness in order to get the attention of people who are flying by without direction or purpose. Cookie cutter churches and cookie cutter Christians are simply not relating the wonderful truth that lives in them to the people around us. Our very familiar customs, programs, and ways of doing things do not relate anymore. Maybe it's time for some weirdness... Join me in reaching into the childlike parts of our being and let's try and awaken some of the out-of-the-box thinking that we were much more accustomed to as children. Maybe, just maybe, a creative idea for touching the lives of soon-to-be-Christians will emerge.
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