When we sat down to record our latest episode of the Edge of the Map podcast with Jay Moon, we thought we knew exactly where the conversation was going. But a single phrase Jay dropped completely derailed our train of thought and hit us right between the eyes. He brought up a business analogy that completely reframed how we view the future of faith and culture.

He talked about the "Curse of Knowledge."

You remember Blockbuster, right? The blue and yellow sign, the distinct smell of plastic cases, the crushing anxiety of late fees. When Blockbuster started losing market share to a tiny upstart called Netflix, they didn’t change their worldview. They didn't rethink how people wanted to consume stories. Instead, they doubled down on what worked in the past: they just ordered more copies of the latest VHS tapes.

They thought they knew the game, but the game had completely changed. That is the “Curse of Knowledge”—when what you think you know prevents you from seeing what is actually happening right in front of you.

The Shift from Formulas to Listening

Jay was talking about this in the context of global church models, pointing out that Christianity is growing fastest where Western influence is weakest. For a long time, Western frameworks treated theology like a corporate manual—a rigid, one-size-fits-all formula. We used strategies from the 1960s to solve problems in the 2020s.

That is the "Curse of Knowledge"—when what you think you know prevents you from seeing what is actually happening right in front of you.

But the world has shifted beneath our feet. While we are still busy arguing over old formulas, the cultural landscape has evolved.

Traditionally, Western approaches to faith have been built entirely around a framework of guilt and justice (think: "You've broken a law, here is how you get a 'not guilty' verdict"). But as the podcast highlights, different cultures—and different generations—are fighting entirely different battles:

Fear vs. Power: Searching for protection from spiritual brokenness and unseen anxieties.
Shame vs. Honor: Longing for worth and restoration in a hyper-connected, deeply judgmental digital world.
Indifference vs. Purpose: The defining struggle of our modern secular age. People aren't necessarily angry at faith anymore; they are just bored by it.

If someone is drowning in indifference and a deep longing for belonging, and we hand them a legal brief about guilt, we are just ordering more VHS tapes for a Netflix generation.

Catching Up to the Conversation

So, how do we break the curse? Jay offered a beautiful definition of how we should approach the people around us:

"What if we consider evangelism as listening to the conversation God is having with people, and catching up on that conversation?"

It requires us to trade our "expert" status for open ears. We have to stop assuming we already know what someone is going through before they even open their mouth.

To build this kind of missional imagination in our everyday lives, we have to start practicing a few things:

Put on "bifocals": Look at life through both a practical lens and a spiritual one. When a friend is struggling, don't just look at the surface symptoms; listen for the deeper longing for community and purpose.
Listen first, pitch second: Stop trying to force a pre-packaged script into a conversation. Find out where that person is already searching.
Embrace the "adjacent possible": Welcome perspectives from people who look, think, or live differently than you. That friction is exactly where real insight is born.

It can be incredibly uncomfortable to realize that our old ways of thinking might not be leading the story anymore. But honestly? It’s also liberating. We don’t have to carry the pressure of having all the answers. We just have to be willing to sit down, drop our assumptions, and actually listen.

listen to the full conversation with jay moon

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