Neurodivergent Spirituality: When Traditional Worship Doesn’t Work for Your Brain

Neurodivergent Spirituality: When Traditional Worship Doesn’t Work for Your Brain

Traditional worship told you to sit still, be quiet, and focus. Your brain didn’t get the memo. If church overstimulates you, if “quiet time” feels like torture, and if your prayers arrive in tangents, you are not broken—you’re neurodivergent. And your way of worship can be just as holy. Neurodivergent Spirituality: When Traditional Worship Doesn’t Work for Your Brain tears down the myth of the “perfect worshipper” and replaces it with a biblical, practical vision of faith that fits real bodies and real brains. With humor, pastoral clarity, and theological depth, Dustin Gross shows how God meets ADHD, autistic, sensory-sensitive, anxious, and burned-out believers exactly where they are. Inside, you’ll discover: Biblical clarity that rescues misused verses (like “Be still”) and reframes them in context. - Practical adaptations for prayer, scripture, worship, and church life that actually work. - Tools for sensory overload without shame: headphones, pacing, stims, quiet spaces, and more. - A theology of belonging : the Body of Christ as neurologically diverse and beautifully whole. This is not about lowering the bar. It’s about admitting the bar was set wrong. Neurodivergent Spirituality offers freedom from counterfeit church standards and permission to connect with God in ways your nervous system can sustain. Perfect for: neurodivergent believers (diagnosed or not), small groups, pastors and ministry leaders, and anyone who’s ever left church thinking, “Maybe it’s me.” You belong. Your worship counts. God is not bothered by your fidgeting.