Outside the Box: Not Just About Being Weird

Here’s a question for any gamers out there. Have you ever been playing some sort of puzzle game and found yourself apparently stuck? Like, you’re in a room with no apparent way out, or you have a door you must open but you cannot figure out how?

I have a sure-fire way of getting out of those predicaments: go to a hints website and find a cheat. 🙂 No, seriously. I have no patience with stuff like that. Actually, what intrigues me about finding a hint is how simple the solution usually is–if only you approach the problem from a slightly different angle. When I get the hint, I usually have a V-8 moment. (*Smack* “Why didn’t I see that before??”)

One of my favorite moments in the movie Apollo 13 is when Mission Control is trying to find a way to rescue the stranded astronauts. At one point their carbon dioxide levels are getting too high in the cabin, so a group of problem-solvers gathers in a room back on earth. This guy dumps a bunch of gear on the table–stuff that would be found on the spacecraft–and basically tells them, “Find a way to fix this situation using only this stuff.” And they do it–because they have to. No matter how impossible it seemed at the moment, creative, out-of-the-box thinking got it done.

It’s pretty amazing how many seemingly-impossible problems can be solved simply by looking at it from a different perspective.

I’m thinking of another movie, one I’ve mentioned recently here: the classic movie Sister Kenny starring Rosalind Russell. Sister Kenny was a bush nurse in Australia who, years before the polio vaccine was discovered, “accidentally” found a method of treatment that caused patients to recover fully from the disease, without crippling. Yet when she presented this to the medical community, the doctors resisted her methods for years. Because their years of research were based on faulty assumptions about the disease, they simply did not have a grid for understanding how any treatment could prevent crippling–to the point that they dismissed her “cured” patients by saying that they could not possibly have had polio. This is a classic example of what it means to be limited and restricted by in-the-box thinking. The whole reason Sister Kenny found this new method was that she had not learned the classic institutional research on the disease, and so was not limited by it. She thought outside the box, used some common sense, and managed to view the problem from a different angle; and that made all the difference.

I think this is basically why I am questioning institutional Christianity. I know there are those who consider it an enemy because they have been hurt within (or by) the “system”. I understand that, because I’ve been hurt, too. I also know there are those who simply feel like they are outcasts or oddballs–people who, even though they love Jesus, just feel like they don’t fit in the institutional systems. The Wild One is very much like that. But taking all that into account…the more I look at it, the more I see problems and issues in relating to our world that institutional Christianity is not able to solve. It’s like we’re stuck, stalemated, and the way out is not easily seen. This begs the question: do we keep using the same old “tried-and-true” methods out of loyalty (even though they don’t work anymore), or do we look at the problem from a different angle?

The classic character Sherlock Holmes often said of his methods of deduction, “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” This is the crossroads at which I think we’re finding ourselves. The church itself (especially in the West) is in a place of crisis because we are becoming less and less effective at reaching people. When you have done all you can to solve the problem within the parameters of the institutional church, to little or no avail…then by process of elimination, you have to start asking whether the institution itself is part of the problem (no matter how improbable it seems). In my humble opinion, we are coming to that point. When institutional methods no longer work, you need to re-think them. It is simply irrational not to do so.

So being outside the box is not just about not fitting in, or being “weird” by some peoples’ standards. For many, it’s an honest attempt to look at the problems facing the Body of Christ from a different angle, to try a whole new approach. After all, some of the most formidable obstacles have been overcome by simple, out-of-the-box thinking.

As a point of balance, it should be said here that I realize there are still many institutional churches that are doing good things, and having good results, and I respect this. Looking at the overall trend, however, we see that on a larger scale the effectiveness of institutional Christianity is on the wane. Also…I don’t believe that these are problems that can be solved simply by the mind. I believe the Holy Spirit is already at work in the earth, and He knows what needs to happen; and I believe we must rely on the insight of God even in the midst of our re-thinking. Going back to the gamer analogy–God is where we get our “hints” when we feel stalemated. And as we do this…I think we’re going to be pleasantly surprised at how simple our answers will be–just by seeing things from a different perspective.

That’s what I think, anyway.

Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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