Amanda Wells Ministries

Ten Paradigms of changing our thinking toward the Marketplace

The winds of change are beginning to gather strength and it is obvious that change is coming. All over the world there is a quiet movement of the Spirit of God that is causing believers to re-examine how they “do church.” Churches are throwing out the old measures of success. It’s no longer merely about size, seeker sensive and friendly services, spiritual gifts, church health, nor the number of small groups. It’s about making a significant and sustainable difference in the lives of people around us—in our communities and in our cities.

There is a growing awareness that we cannot continue to do the same old things and expect a different result. If we want to be the salt and light, as we the church were created to be, we have to do something different…we have to be something different!

Community transformation is not found in programs, strategies, campaigns or tactics. It may take a paradigm shift of seismic proportions to create what the the church is to be in the 3rd millennium. A paradigm is a model consisting of shared assumptions regarding what works or what is true. A paradigm shift is that “aha!” moment when one sees things in such a new light that one can never go back to the old ways again. Each paradigm shift takes us from a model of thinking that we must then discard into a new model that we must then embrace. A new paradigm is the new wineskins that will be needed to hold the new assumptions about what is true.

To maximize our impact on our communities--urban, suburban or rural, we need changes in at least ten of our paradigms of how we currently view church.

This newsletter we will discuss five...

1) From building walls to building bridges.

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13,14). The first paradigm shift pertains to where we, as the church, see ourselves in relation to our communities. Will we remain outside of the community inviting people in or will we go to our communities, seeking to be a transforming agent? The church is called to be separate in lifestyle but never called to be isolated from the people it seeks to influence.

The church must be challenged with the question, “What can we do that would cause people to marvel and say, ‘God is at work in a wonderful way for no one could do these things unless God were with them?”’ That one question is the first step in becoming what we could call a “bridge-building church.”

A transformed community touches every area, schools, governments, media etc even down to setting records for Red Cross Blood donations and enlisting thousands of new organ donors. The church must reach out to the community through "LifeSkill" classes (on finances, wealth creation, marriage, wellness, aging, etc.sexual issues, health and weightloss) Its the church that must have an answer for school bullying and meeting the needs of at-risk youth.

The church must let their light shine in such a way that Jesus Christ is made real to the community. Once a church makes this mental shift regarding how it lives in its community, it is only limited by its creativity in how it can serve its community and be the salt and light it was meant to be. It makes the transition from providing ministry programs for the community to forever changing its relationship to a community.

2) From measuring attendance to measuring impact.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast...mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33). In a post-modern world most people are neither impressed with the size of a church or its commitment to “truth.” Yet from the cover of TIME magazine to the front page of the Wall Street Journal, transformational community-centered ministries are grabbing the attention of people. Perhaps, in this century, the greatest apologetic for the reality of Jesus Christ living in a community will be observational more than propositional. To have a faith that can be observed is to be living out the truths we want others to grasp and the life of the Savior we want them to know.

When Jesus chose one passage to describe his mission and ministry, he picked up the scroll of Isaiah and read from Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…” The way he “preached” best was by holistically combining proclaiming with comforting and providing. This is how Jesus did ministry. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Likewise, the apostle Paul was as “eager to remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10) as he was “eager to preach the gospel” (Roman 1:15-17). Effective ministry has always been holistic, combining good deeds with good news (Acts 10:36-38).

Lets be frank and ask the question that churches in all kinds of neighborhoods must increasingly ask themselves: "Would the community weep if your church were to pull out of the city? Would anybody notice if you left? Would anybody care?"

The question, “How big is your church?” should be replaced with “How big is the impact you are having on your community?” Every other measure is interesting but not relevant. Let’s refuse to be impressed by numbers alone. There are many ways to engage the community and make an impact. The only “bad” way to engage the community in service is not to engage at all!

3) From encouraging the saints to attend the service to equipping the saints for works of service.

“It is (God) who gave some to be…pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service…” (Ephesians 4:11,12) In the typical church, lay people are asked to serve in five or six capacities:

· Teach a Sunday School class

· Work in the nursery

· Lead a home Bible study or small (home) group

· Sing in the worship team

· Be an usher or greeter

· Serve on a board or committee

Little wonder pastors lament that only 20% of their members are “active.” Could it be that the service opportunities are not broad enough to engage the energies and passions of people in the church? many pastors believe the only vision that matters is 'his 'vision and so is it any wonder we observe that after around five years, people get bored with church if they are not involved in ministering to others. It is only when the church begin to serve their community do members find their serving niche and continue in their growth. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City writes that the process of mobilizing members into ministers “starts by articulating clearly and regularly a theology of ‘every-member ministry’…From the pulpit, in the classes, by word of mouth, it must be communicated that every layperson is a minister and that ministry is finding needs and meeting them in the goal of the spread of the kingship of Christ.”

4) From “serve us” to service—from inward to outward focus.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give…” (Mark 10:45). When the Communists took over Russian in 1917, they did not make Christianity illegal. Their constitution, in fact, did guarantee freedom of religion. But what they did make illegal was for the church to do any “good works.” No longer could the church fulfill its historic role in feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, housing the orphan, educating children or caring for the sick. What was the result? 70 years later, the church was totally irrelevant to the communities in which it dwelt. What Lenin did by diabolic design, most churches have done by default. But the result is identical. Church is irrelevant to most people. Take away service and you take away the church's power, influence, and evangelistic effectiveness. The power of the gospel is combining the life-changing message with selfless service.

The power of the church is not merely in the number of churches but the focus of those churches. Churches should perhaps have an admonition to church planters : “Don’t go to start a church…go to serve a city. Serve them with love and if you go after the people nobody wants, you’ll end up with the people everybody wants.”

First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Florida (population 20,000) has a prevailing influence on their community though their incarnational (John 1:14) ministry which they call ‘ministry evangelism.” The church has spawned over 70 ministries to intersect the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the people in Leesburg. Through their Men’s Shelter, Women’s Care Center, Benevolence Ministry, Latchkey Ministry, the Children’s Home etc, they regularly lead hundreds of people to Christ and disciple them towards maturity. Senior pastor Charles Roesel (since 1976) says, “The only way the gospel can be biblically shared is to focus on the whole person, with all their hurts and needs, and to involve the church in ministering to those persons and leading them to Christ. This is the essence of ministry evangelism.”

5) From duplication of human services and ministries to partnering with existing services and ministries.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Nearly every community has a number of human service agencies that are morally positive and spiritually neutral that are doing their best to meet the needs of the underserved and under-resourced people of the community. Such agencies include the local food bank, homeless shelter, emergency family housing, and safe houses for abused women etc. Equally true there are church and parachurch ministries that are effective in ministering to specific target audiences (business community, youth, uni students, etc). Rather than starting a new ministry, why not form partnerships with existing groups as “partner ministries” of a local congregation? Chances are that people from your congregation are already serving in many of these organizations. Why not use the current community energy to create synergy?

The Bible is replete with examples of how God used secular people in partnership with his people to fulfill his purposes. Think of Joseph and Pharaoh, Nehemiah and Artaxerxes, and Esther and King Ahusuerus. Instead of each congregation having its own food pantry, why not partner with the local community food bank? When needy people request food, congregations could refer these people to their “partner ministry.” Maybe we can effectively love our city with the love of Jesus Christ through agencies and mechanisms that already exist! Most human service agencies need what the church could readily supply--caring volunteers, financial support and even facilities. We form partnerships not around theology but around our common concern and love for the city.

6) From fellowship to functional unity.

There is a strong case to suggest that there is really only one church in a city or community (made up of all believers) that meets in several congregations around the city. In Philippians 2:2 Paul implored, “…make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Only unity of purpose around the vision of a transformed community is strong enough to unite pastors and churches of different denominations. While solid relationships form the basis for unity, we can’t stop there. My observation in city after city is that oftentimes unity becomes an end in itself. So we see repetitive efforts to demonstrate our unity through citywide worship events, prayer vigils…and other similar events. These activities…are wonderful symbols of our unity but they rarely produce real substance. They make us feel good and sometimes result in great newspaper coverage, but the cities remain unchanged. Community transformation begins at the intersection of the needs and dream of a community, the calling and capacities of the church and the mandates and desires of God for a community.

7) From condemning the city to blessing the city and praying for it.

Jeremiah 29 begins by saying; “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem…to those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” What follows are instructions on how to live as aliens in a foreign land. Listen to his admonition: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (v.

For too long we as the church have positioned ourselves as adversaries to our communities. The monolithic church has stood from afar condemning the city and those who are trying to serve it. Maybe it is time we began blessing the city by blessing those who have given themselves to the city! Anyone can curse the city but pastors are in a unique position to really “bless” a city and her people. Each year perhaps we should honour a different group of servants—the police, firemen, schoolteachers, etc. Perhaps the next great reconciliation movement will be between the church and the community.

We not only need to bless our communities but we need to pray for them as well. We will see the church being reconciled to the community.

8) From being a minister in a congregation to being a minister in a parish.

“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it…” (Luke 19:41). A congregation is made up of people who attend a local church from a community. The minister typically feels that this congregation is his flock. They consume his time and energy. Being in a parish is different. A parish differs from a congregation in that it is a geographical scope of concern and responsibility. A congregation is a subset of a parish. So what difference does that make? Being in a parish gives one the God-given right to minister to anyone in the community, whether they are part of one’s congregation or not. Urban theologian, maybe a local pastor's office should be the local coffee shop. ( mine is the Coffee Club!!)

9) From anecdote and speculation to valid information.

Two pieces of information changed the course of Nehemiah’s life that resulted in the transformation of a community. In Nehemiah 1, Nehemiah learned that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were broken down and her people were in great distress. These two pieces of accurate information were catalytic to Nehemiah’s prayers and plans to restore a broken wall and a broken people. His burden to transform the city came from accurate information. We too need correct information about the real needs of our community as well as the resources we have to meet these needs. Do we know the demographic information of our community? Do we know the number of churches? Do we know the spiritual history of our community? In assessing community needs we need to identify the people in need (poor, disadvantaged, children, elderly, single parents, disabled, prisoners, sick, aliens, etc) along with the type of needs they have (physical, spiritual / moral, social, emotional or cognitive). Most information is readily available through local human service agencies, governments and the census bureau. We also need to identify the spiritual assets of our community—the number of faith communities and believers. Together, these two research pieces give us a picture of our “mission field” and our “mission force.” Armed with accurate information, we can determine best how to go forward.

In 1994, 21 year-old Pastor Matthew Barnett began the Los Angeles “Dream Center” by walking around his neighborhood looking for unmet needs. He saw the thousands of outcast people living on the fringes of society. Today the Dream Center—“the church that never sleeps” has adopted 50 city blocks (2,100 homes!) that it serves with 200 volunteer staff. Its Franciscan Hospital campus houses 400 people in its rehab and discipleship program and feeds more than 25,000 people a week. They have a free 24-hour medical clinic, a mobile medical unit and dozens of effective ministries that are finding needs and meeting them. Scores of churches around our country have adopted the Adopt a Block strategy as a means of touching the lives of people around them.

10) From teacher to learner

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…” (James 1:19).

It is interesting to note that for the historic African-American churches, the concept of holistic ministry is not a new concept. They have never suffered from trying to split effective evangelism from social justice or meeting the needs of those around them. It’s how they’ve always done church. A study of 2,150 black churches by C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya in their book The Black Church in the African American Experience report that nearly 70% “of black churches are involved with social service agencies and non-church programs in dealing with community problems.” The effective churches see the community as one that is full of assets more than full of problems.

Where do we go from here?

From Isaiah 65:17-25 we find the outline of seven characteristics of a healthy community from the heart of God:

Public celebration and happiness (18, 19)

Public health for children and the aged (20)

Housing for all (21)

Food for all (22)

Meaningful work (22, 23)

Family support systems (23)

Absence of violence (25) ( especially bullying so rife in schools at the moment.

This list outlines our potential marching orders. The Spirit of God is at work. There is a good chance that the next great movement of God will involve putting the church back into community where it can be the leaven, salt and light God designed the church to be. Will we join God in this transforming work? For the sake of the gospel, the church and our communities, in faith… let’s move forward!