So what does this new paradigm look and feel like?

The nature of the new paradigm

If you are looking for an easily grasped ABC, 3 steps to a new model of church which can be easily implemented and will soon help usher in the Millennium then forget it! We are not just talking about slightly tweaked church structures with a few cosmetic changes which will magically connect with the surrounding post modern culture and bring the crowds running; it goes far deeper than that. This is a completely new paradigm of church. A totally different way of thinking as Christians. It goes without saying that to make this transition from one paradigm to another is not going to be easy, quick or pain free. But we must do it.

Some have broadly referred to this new paradigm as the ‘emerging church’, but I think it would be helpful to make some differentiations. Here in Britain the emerging church primarily manifests itself through a focus on alternative forms of worship (alt worship). Many of these new expressions fall under the Anglican umbrella and are attempts to become more culturally relevant to the new generation.

The online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_Church) defines emerging church as,

“a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism.”

The facing of these cultural issues and the desire to find fresh expressions of worship and church, form an important part of the new paradigm, however it is just that, only a part.

The new paradigm that I see is much broader. It is concerned with the bigger picture; the discipling of a whole nation through a spontaneous church planting movement triggered and fuelled by a totally new kind of church.

Therefore, when I refer to the ‘new’ or ‘emerging’ I am referring to the new paradigm of church which, although expressed in many different ways, principally carries within it the vision, desire and potential for multiplication and movement.

At the heart of this new paradigm then are a number of key ingredients, its DNA, which would also be passed on as it reproduces. Indeed each of these core elements itself contributes towards the process of reproduction and multiplication. It is taken as read that this new paradigm is inherently missional and derives its shape and momentum from this characteristic.

1. Family / Relational

As referred to above family is really the starting point for the new. This is where we live out most of our daily lives. Thus when I say ‘Family’ I could just as well say household, social group or work environment. In other words wherever we live out our lives in close connection with others. Church is about our whole lives not just the brief occasions we gather with the larger group on a Sunday or Wednesday. As life happens so does church. God is involved with every part of our lives 24/7. Church happens first therefore in the home with those we relate to most closely. If we do not first see this we are missing the essence of church. Church is about daily life lived in relation to those around us with God at the centre. Where there are at least 2 believers and Jesus is welcomed, there is church. Yes there are set times when a family will gather together for different reasons but family and life don’t stop simply because we are not all gathered together. Family life goes on and is worked out in constantly fluid ways. As we go through our daily lives and interact with others we are being church. Another way of expressing this would be relational . Relationships are the focus rather than meetings and programmes.

Using this picture of family one can see how easy it would be for someone wanting to observe and button down how to ‘do new church’ to completely miss the essence of the whole thing. They would be looking at totally the wrong thing. Infact they would probably go away thinking, well if that’s supposed to be church we’re in trouble because all I saw was a bunch of people coming and going, hanging out, eating, and yes, sure they did pray a bit and oh yes they kind of had communion but it was more like a meal they were doing and I overheard a number sharing stuff they’d got from the Bible recently, but there wasn’t anything organised, no guitar led worship session from the front, no message, no offering (that I saw), but it was kind of real I suppose and they were obviously very close to one another which was cool and yes I sort of enjoyed it.

This element of family lies at the very heart of the Godhead itself (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and God inaugurates it as the building block from which fruitfulness and multiplication, for the purpose of filling and blessing the whole of creation, derive.

Be fruitful and multiply 

Gods pattern in the physical and the spiritual is multiplication through fruitfulness as an outflow of oneness and unity. He wants His blessing to reach every last person in creation and He achieves this through men and women who receive this blessing as they come together in oneness (family) and as a result bare fruit which in turn yields more fruit until multiplication kicks in and the blessing is spread organically to the entire world.

In Genesis 1 God lays out the pattern for all that was to follow.

“28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Having blessed the man and the woman, who were one, He then told them to be fruitful and multiply , to fill the earth and have dominion.

This fruitfulness and multiplication is a direct result of the unity or ‘oneness’ of the man and woman. As they come together in love and oneness, they literally reproduce themselves and become family. This family then contains within it the potential for more fruit and thus multiplication begins.

This pattern is then repeated in His instructions and promises to Abraham; He would make him ‘fruitful and multiply him exceedingly’, so that through his seed the whole world would be blessed.

Gods plan and desire for man is fruitfulness and multiplication for the blessing of the world.

This is picked up by Jesus in John 15;

16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Then through Jesus’ parting commission to His followers;

19 Go therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.

Indeed the first 16 verses of John 15 clearly restate the process; Fruitfulness comes as a consequence of answered prayer, prayers are answered because we obey him by walking in love, i.e. oneness and unity. The result of this is that we continue to dwell in Him and He in us (oneness again). Blessing, oneness, fruitfulness, multiplication beyond ourselves.

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