Make Christianity weird again

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In striving to be ‘normal’, the Church has committed a grave missional error, says Tim Alford. If we want to reach a spiritually open generation, it’s time to make space for people to encounter God – even if it looks weird

It was not what I was expecting to see on my morning run through the streets of Great Malvern. In the window of a tearoom located in the upmarket Mount Pleasant Hotel was a poster that read: “Halloween Psychic Night: Connecting with the Spirit World”. I did a double take – and not just because of the brazen normalisation of the occult. I was struck that not once in my decades of ministry have I seen a church take a similar approach to its marketing: “Join us this Sunday, connect with the spirit world!”