Article

Prayer for New Paradigms

Author: Shelley Taylor
Date: 17.08.2010
Category: Globalization, Partnership, Ethnicity

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We find ourselves today in need of new paradigms for responding to globalisation. From time to time I glimpse something of God’s big picture, see the grand view, catch the vision of the multi-ethnic worship in Revelation 7, but mostly I don’t think that I’m operating from this paradigm. [There are some great discussions about seeking new global paradigms in: ‘The Changing Paradigm of Missions’, by Eldon Porter, 08.07.2010 and in ‘GLOBAL GOSPEL, GLOBAL ERA: Christian discipleship and mission in the age of Globalization’ by Os Guinness and David Wells, 13.07.2010.]

The challenges are huge – how can we stretch our small brains to hold this huge moving picture of countries and cultures influencing each other, the fully interconnected nature of our environment and the rapid pace of change the world is experiencing? How can we have an awareness and understanding of all cultures, languages, their respective histories and philosophies and comprehend the dynamics of their interactions and interplay with each other?

Yet God is in this and wants us to participate in it too. He has given us this grand story leading to the fullness of God being revealed and experienced, the healing and sanctification of the nations and of the diverse nations worshipping God in unity. God has been consistently leading His people towards this expansive picture, dropping hints right through the Bible. Christopher J. H. Wright discusses how the nations are a significant and an integral part of God’s mission in the world – as seen in:

the call of Abraham (in Genesis 12:3, that “all nations will be blessed through you”)
the emphasis on the ingathering of the nations in the Old Testament
the continued attention to the nations in New Testament mission
the early church’s inclusion of the Gentiles
Paul’s emphasis on the faith of Abraham, as in Galatians 3:6-9; 29
the affirmation of the nations as part of God’s diversity of creation (Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 17:26)
the glorious depiction of the diversity of the nations coming into God’s presence (Revelation 7:9; 21:24-26) [i]

Furthermore God chooses to use culture, as Charles H. Kraft’s argues:

"God is not bound by culture. On the contrary God is absolute and infinite. Yet he has freely chosen to employ human culture and at major points to limit himself to the capacities of culture in his interactions with people. On occasion he freely chooses to transcend cultural, spatial, and temporal limitations in events that we term “miracles”. But frequently even in miracles he operates largely in terms of cultural factors rather than counter to them. Any limitation of God is only that which he imposes upon himself – he chooses to use culture; he is not bound by it in the same way human beings are."[ii]

In addition, God chooses to work with humans in mission, and have humans work together in community for mission. He leads us to be vitally interactive and relational in our approach to furthering the Kingdom.

So it seems it is time for us all to take a step up, to not just glimpse God’s big picture occasionally, but to truly grasp it and take hold of it, bringing it deep into the core of our thinking and integrating it across the spectrum of our words and actions. We need new paradigms, new ways of understanding and responding to our complex world, we need new updated globalised brains. We should not be discouraged and we should not be fearful. It is an exciting time with opportunities for enormous learning. With God’s help we can rise to the challenge.

Some practical ways of thinking occur to me…

1. We might consider culture in a similar way to how we consider people – remembering that each person and each culture have godly aspects and ungodly aspects, and (in Jesus) all are on a journey towards sanctification. Each is unique and special, with purpose and gifting from God that will bless the church.

2. We need a paradigm of equal partnerships between cultures – while some cultures are robust in some areas, they are weak in others, and while some cultures may not have much to offer in some areas, they are strong in other spheres. Each and every culture has great value and richness to offer, while each is also flawed and in need of purification.

3. While it is likely to be impossible to have an excellent knowledge and grasp of all cultures, languages and their respective histories, we could go at least some way towards it. Even the smallest steps in reaching out beyond our culture will enrich us enormously. The more we can work with and exchange ideas with Christians from other cultures the better - whether we are primarily missionaries, pastors or theologians. Some predict that it is likely to be the informal, personal connections among Christians throughout the world that will most advance global exchange.[iii] Therefore, we might ask ourselves:

In what ways can we personally (and in our churches and mission activities) develop greater cultural awareness? (For example through relationships, exchange and dialogue with others)
What opportunities do we have for relationships with Christians from different cultures? (For example via: people we already know, travel, mission, internet, forums, conferences…)
Are there ways that we can start to build intercultural relationships that will support our work and help us to reflect on and develop our thinking in the future?

4. We need a paradigm of being vitally active learners and to humbly accept our situation of not having the full and complete picture relevant to our task of operating in a global context. Given our limitations we need to seek assistance and partner with others to enable us to develop a broader perspective and understanding.

5. We need interaction, exchange, cooperation and coordination on a scale we haven’t previously imagined. The scale and concept of this Lausanne Congress begins to move in this direction. Yet the need is greater than cooperation among evangelical Christians. We need to become advocates for effective global interaction, exchange, cooperation and coordination across governments and all social, economic, and environmental sectors if we are to reduce the impact of global warming and its associated spin offs of natural disasters, human suffering, poverty and the likelihood of increased conflict among nations.

Keywords: paradigm, globalisation, culture

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: Reply Flag 0 Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Mariusbrand (0)
South Africa

Community farms: (Kibbutz)

4 land & wealth redistribution, to evangelise the community: To train, educate, work, live and have a base from where to launch missionaries into the community. A community farm is where the Christians in the community corporately owns the property. Our corporate finances provide cost of the farm, infrastructure & accommodation for those working on farms. Investors, invest directly in the crops to secure food and jobs for the people. Thousands of jobs will be created where people could be evangelise, reconciled, unity restored and worldviews changed to a Biblical one. Farms will act as a place of employment, a basic income, a missionary training School, an orphanage and launching pad to send trained missionaries. Here Christ Jesus will be a way of living where the community will see what we preach!

Three legs: (Operating separately)

1.   Accommodation and employers Lodges/Hostels on farms with infrastructure:

2.   Education, “Skills” development, Discipleship training & orphanages.

3.   Agricultural projects – investment arm. (Project financing). Outside investors.

      Full scale business to create a holistic cosmos to the missionary to have the infrastructure needed to live and operate in without lack or limitations.

Shammah Foundation: Marius Brand: Cell 082 9210 275, e-mail - mariba@zsd.co.za. www.koevoet4christ.co.za

18.10.2010

: Reply Flag 0 Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Alex_Araujo (4)
United States

Shelley, thank you for contributing to this important topic. Your reference to paradigms makes me think a little deeper about what it means.

I am not sure what you mean by paradigm, and it helps me to state what I mean by the term: a paradigm is the controling concept that shapes and influences what else I think about a specific thing, relationship or condition. A paradigm is my way of understanding and organizing what I know and experience of life in a way that makes internal sense to me. It may be mistaken in relation to external reality, but I don’t know that because I have found it internally consistent.

An example from the past:

Paradigm: The earth is flat - people who held to this paradigm were very cautious when sailing away from land. According to their paradigm there must be an edge to the earth and if one got too close to it the boat might fall off with unknown but dramatic implications; under this paradigm people did not imagine sailing around the world.

That cautious behavior was thoroughly consistent internally, even though it was flawed in relation to external reality.

Once that paradigm was changed, all subordinate thought and idea changed as well, some immediately, others over time. And those who could not change their paradigm resisted, criticized and at times violently opposed those who changed.

At creation, God gave us his paradigm for making sense of life in relationship to him and to the created order. Acording to this paradigm, belief in and relationship with God is the controling concept for making sense of everything else. I believe that is a flawless paradigm, the only flawless one. However, that is not the only paradigm.

The serpent introduced another paradigm, one in which God was not central in the way Adam and Eve had understood. IN the new paradigm, there was other input, the serpent’s own, that proposed to make sense of things. And it clearly was different from the one God had introduced.

Ever since the fall, we have been trying to make sense of life and reality apart from the centrality of the true God. Our world cultures represent many versions of that new paradigm. Therefore, they are inherently flawed, even though we can find some correct elements in them. The key for me is that human cultures are fundamentally flawed because they start from a flawed paradigm.

When God called Abram, he called him back to the divine paradigm, and initiated with him a living demonstration of life under that paradigm.

Later, Jesus calls us to return to the divine paradigm, that is, to rearrange our entire understanding of life in the world to align with the centrality of God as creator and Lord.

In missions today there is a lot of talk about culture, and more recently about paradigms. But I am not sure we have discussed sufficiently what we mean by each of those terms. This leads to confusion and misunderstanding. For instance, it is possible that you understand both terms differently from what I just described. If so, our conversation will be at cross-purposes, unless I know your definition and am willing to adopt it at least temporarily in order to have a profitable conversation with you.

This is a long comment, but I hope it helps the overall conversation.

Blessings.

Alex Araujo

25.08.2010

: Reply Flag 0 Thumbs Up Thumbs Down PalmerHolt (1)
United States

Thanks for your open approach to this issue and your call to prayer. These issues are so much more complex than anyone can understand and only by God’s grace can we navigate them and serve Him intentionally as we reach out globally.

17.08.2010

: Reply Flag 0 Thumbs Up Thumbs Down SergioLyra (7)
Brazil

Dear Shelley,

I appreciated you article, particularly because you foresee the huge necessity of koinonia in global environment, and specially our need to pray. I realize that will be necessary to go back to the bible, as you pointed, and from the scripture look for acceptable standards. Once the bible truths are over any culture, some question still remains: Is it possible to establish paradigms for global koinonia? Is there a model that permeates all cultures? My position is that you already gave the answer when you sad: “We might consider culture in a similar way to how we consider people – remembering that each person and each culture have godly aspects and ungodly aspects, and (in Jesus) all are on a journey towards sanctification. Each is unique and special, with purpose and gifting from God that will bless the church.”

Thank you for your concerning, you make me think about it.

17.08.2010