Two Paradigms in

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Two Paradigms in Today's Churches
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CHURCH
LOCAL CHURCH
LOCAL CHURCH
LOCAL CHURCH
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So, today Two major paradigms of church compete
Mission
Membership
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The Mission Paradigm
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The Membership Paradigm
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Is 180 degrees off
From the authentic Mission Model of church
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Two Major Models of Church
The Great Divide
Mission
Membership
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The fatal influence of
The BENEFIT SOCIETY model
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Characteristics of Benefit Societies

• Exist to provide designated benefits to the
  members
• Owned by the members
• Self governed (democracy or representative
  (const. bylaws)
• Camaraderie

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Unsaved people are the churchs
customers---NOT the members
Members are Ministers--- some are salaried,
most are not
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Conversion must include the shift from
customer to minister
JESUS IS
LORD
SAVIOR
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JESUS ONLY AS
SAVIOR
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Warning label for Counterfeit Paradigm churches
Warning! membership in this church may be
hazardous to your spiritual safety!
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What Drives the Church?
X
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What Drives the Church?
Member Driven
Mission Driven
Meets Members Real Needs BEST
Serve the Members
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Christianity vs Religion

• Defined by peoples whims and wishes
• Modeled by culture
• Perpetuates human defects
• Deceives people about Heaven, I never knew
  you--depart!

• Defined by Jesus
• Modeled by Acts 2 church
• Defended in Epistles
• Transforms people into Christlikeness
• Prepares them for Heaven

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Jesus
Forget about yourself and serve others. (Matt
2028)
Try to keep your life--- and lose it. Give up
your life for me--- and find it. (Luke 924-25)
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Tracing
Rise
the
and
Decline
Of the Member-benefit Church Model
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In the 19th and early 20th centuries
churches creatively paralleled the
emerging American culture.
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The American Paradigm of Church
1850
1900
2000
1950
1970
1960
1980
1940
1930
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This resulted in an era of growth and
effectiveness.
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An essential strategy
Planting Churches
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Churches sprang up every- where --- like
dandelions on a green lawn in spring
--McGavran
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In the last 1/4 of the century, Christian
Churches planted 4,000 new churches -----
1,000 in one year alone!
THAT AVERAGES nearly 20 PER WEEK --- 3 PER DAY!
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Churches Planted by Denomination

• Methodist
• National Baptist
• Lutherans
• Presbyterians
• Episcopal
• Various Baptist
• Roman Catholic
• UCC
• United Brethren

• 12,000
• 12,000
• 8,000
• 6,500
• 3,000
• 28,000
• 5,800
• 4,000
• 1,800
• 1,800

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Church buildings
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Then came
The Great Depression
World War II
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The Rise of an American Paradigm of Church
1900
2000
1950
1970
1960
1980
1940
1930
1850
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The Post-War Boom
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The post-war boom of the 1950s
And a sensational era for American churches
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The Rise of an American Paradigm of Church
1850
1900
2000
1950
1970
1960
1980
1940
1930
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This model
crystalized in the 1950s
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It comes not from Scripture but
from American culture
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In the 1960s
A crack in history occurred
The world turned a corner but most of the
churches didnt
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BUT WE ARE NOW IN A NEW WORLD WHERE THE OLD
MODEL DOESNT WORK.
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The Status of American Churches
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An era of failure for
The Membership Paradigm Churches
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Like Rip VanWinkle
They SLEPT THROUGH A REVOLUTION
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Church Leader

• We are not doing very well right now but if the
  1950s ever return, well be ready for it

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The Decline of Americas Paradigm of Church
1960
1850
1900
2000
1950
1970
1980
1940
1930
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George Barna

• 5 to 40 years behind the times
• Reactive rather than proactive
• Chasing history rather than leading it
• On the cutting edge of obsolescence
• No good news

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Lyle Schaller

• Doomed to be seen as irrelevant by anyone born
  since World War II
• Designed, unintentionally in most cases, to repel
  newcomers

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And they are in a state of full speed adrift.
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Todays typical non-Christian RECEPTIVE to
Jesus
Church
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But NOT receptive to the churches they
have encountered
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Todays typical non-Christian RECEPTIVE to
Jesus
Church
Disciples
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But NOT to church members they have encountered
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A Church Must Be Authentic In
Faith
Function
Doctrine
Practice
Orthodoxy
Orthopraxy
Right answers
Right functions
(Heresy)
(Malpractice)
Modernism
Postmodernism
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A major problem with churches today is We are
heavily influenced in the way we function by
the wrong model.
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When the horse is dead ----
DISMOUNT
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Status of American churches

• An era of failure for Membership Model churches
• An era of success for
• Mission Model churches

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The Mission Paradigm
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The Emerging Paradigm Paradigm of Church
1960
1850
1900
2000
1950
1970
1980
1940
1930
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Peter Drucker
Ive finally concluded that I
ought to be giving more of myself to the
only organization in the world that changes lives
for eternity.
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Peter Drucker
Business cant do what is need to
solve the problems of the human condition.
Government wont do it.
And so, the future of America is in the hands of
its churches.
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Peter Drucker
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Characteristics shared by todays healthy churches
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• Think and act like a mission
• Communicate a sense of reality
• Clear sense of direction
• Strong Biblical convictions
• Project a positive image
• Direct approach to the Bible
• Preaching teaching Bible life focused
• Effective use of language
• Daring

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• Membership means ministry
• Leaders equip and mobilize them
• Joy, enthusiasm, praise
• Meaningful, focused prayer
• Worship style is current
• Warm, inclusive, magnetic
• Outward oriented
• Transparent
• Evangelism is spontaneous AND intentional

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• Creative---fresh, meaningful, adaptable
• Standard is EXCELLENCE
• Biblically sound, culturally relevant
• Men model their faith
• Simple structures
• Plan with intelligent faith
• High standards for membership
• Even higher standards for leaders

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A Comparison of the Paradigms
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An Addendum
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A converging of Philosophies that produced
the cultural revolution
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