Baptizing the Imagination

Baptizing the Imagination is a recent article on ChristianityToday.com. The basic premise is that we have so devoted church and discipleship to either knowledge or skills that we miss the actual nature of our minds which is to think. We do not and are not reaching people because we are not reaching them with how we truly think. Imagination.

I enjoy watching my 2 year old play. He has a stash of Hot Wheels that he has recently been playing with almost nonstop. He parks the cars and then pretends to open the doors and tell us who is getting out and where they are at. Imagination is key to developing our minds and faith. Show me in my mind how this works, and then I can live it.

Here are some quotes:

knowledge and skill based models, while necessary components of spiritual formation, both miss the imaginative aspect of the human spirit. And by ignoring the intuitive capacity of the mind the church has essentially surrendered people’s imaginations to the pop secular culture without a fight.

Those filling the pews every Sunday may be full of information about God, and they may be expertly trained to obey God, but without an imagination enraptured by God they will be powerless to live the life he’s called them to. They simply cannot imagine living any differently than the culture around them.

Posted by Skye Jethani on October 12, 2006 12:00 AM on ChristianityToday.com