Made to Stick

I am currently reading Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.  So far it has been a great read and very practical for minstry.  I hope to blog about a few key things I have picked up from the book over the next week or so.  One key point in the book is called “The Curse of Knowledge.”  The Curse of Knowledge is what the authors refer to as what happens when we are so familiar with something that we forget what it is like to not know what we know now.  Their point is we tend to take for granted that some people don’t know what we know and we may leave out key information in communicating to them what we want them to know.  This is a very interesting thought for the church. 

How often do we forget what it was like to be lost, to not care about God, to not care about church, or to even be against them?  How often do we see the Apostle Paul re-communicating just how lost he was before Christ?  Paul never got over being “saved” and he never forgot what it was like to be “lost.”  Paul thought of himself as the “chief of sinners.”  How do we think of ourselves?  When sharing Christ with those around us do we put ourselves in their shoes?  Do we think about what it is like for someone who does not know Christ to attend our churches?  Are we making the most of every opportunity with outsiders, as Paul wrote?  Do we sometimes suffer from what the authors of Made to Stick call “The Curse of Knowledge?”