Question

1. Compare and contrast New Paradigm and Seeker Churches. Make sure you discuss similarities and differences.

Answer 1

Paradigm:

New paradigm is a revolutionary new concept, idea, or way of doing things that replaces the old beliefs or ways of doing things. This may stem from a political or economic event, a new finding in academia, new technology or innovation, a new business or business leader, or another important occurrence. New paradigm ideas or concepts are so revolutionary that many people believe it will change how we think and act going forward.

New paradigm draws its roots from the idea of a paradigm shift in science, in which technology or new findings completely change the way people think about or interact with a subject.

Importance of Paradigm:

• A new paradigm is a new way of thinking or doing things that replaces the old.
• New paradigms in the stock world can mean great profit potential as investors pile into revolutionary new ideas.
• Investors in new paradigm ideas should tread cautiously as prices can become too inflated based on hype. When reality sets in, the real value of the company or companies may be significantly lower than its peak stock price.

Seeker Churches:

The seeker Curches label is associated with some megachurches in the United States where Christian messages are often imparted by means of elaborate creative elements emphasizing secular popular culture, such as popular music styles.

A seeker church designs its programs and services to attract its target audience of Unchurched Harry. a midcareer, suburban professional male who does not attend church but probably was raised in either a mainline Protestant church or in the Roman Catholic Church. By developing an innovative model for reaching unchurched baby boomers, seeker churches are growing rapidly in the United States and even internationally as they seek to re-form the practices of evangelical churches.

Paradigm Shift Process:  

  A paradigm shift does not happen easily. An intentional process of change must be well thought out to increase the chance of success for such a daring and necessary transformation. Moreover, since the institutional church has become the norm for Western churches for hundreds of years, the ecclesiology and ministry practices of the disciple-making paradigm will undoubtedly sound and feel counter-intuitive to most church leaders and members.

The paradigm shift strategy also needs to take into account the spiritual, emotive, communal, and organizational dynamics of such a major shift.

Step Process for Leading Change:

Create, Build, Form, Enlist, Enable, Generate, Sustain, Institute.

This project adopts and applies eight steps into the context of Sunrise and making it a multi-dimensional strategic process of change.

Step One: Create a Sense of Urgency with a Prayer Campaign

Step Two: Build a Guiding Coalition with the Senior Pastor, Staff, Lay-leaders, and a Trainer

Step Three: Form, Communicate, and Model a New Vision of Disciple-Making

Step Four: Enlist and Provide Training for a Pilot Group

Step Five: Enable Action by Creating Simple Tools and Removing Barriers to Multiplication

Step Six: Generate Short-Term Wins, Change Scorecard, and Share Testimonies

Contrasting different concepts of contemporary church models

1. The Attractional model

With this model, the primary goal is to try to get as many people as possible into your church building every Sunday. Hence, the goal is to gather a crowd more than to make disciples that are sent to transform the world for Christ. This “seeker sensitive” model utilizes a high percentage of their budget towards social media, marketing, lights, along with every imaginative bells and whistles that will give the church attendee a visceral experience.

2. The Branding model

This is a church that has garnered a lot of popularity perhaps through their world-famous worship music, or best-selling books the leader produces, or a prominent Christian media personality. Consequently, because of their high visibility and name recognition they have a well-known brand which enables them to attract huge crowds whenever they start church irrespective of whether or not they attempt to contextualize the gospel.

3. The Incarnational/contextual model

In this model, the church attempts to reach community by being present in the life of their city, serving their city, celebrating their city, and being in proximity to those native to the church’s context and culture. For example, if they are in a poor community they will work closely amongst the poor; if they are in an affluent community, they will be a part of the life of that community’s art, music, and entertainment and celebrate what they can celebrate with the city without compromising their identity and godly witness in Christ.

4. The Jesus Movement Model

The Jesus movement model also employs the incarnational contextual model as stated in the previous point; however, they go even further in attempting to replicate the first century New Testament church. This is due to the fact that (unlike some Incarnational churches) they utilize the five-fold ministry function in order to equip the saints for the work of accomplishing the mission of Jesus.

5. The Para-church model

By para church model, I am referring to doing ministry either as an extra local extension of the church (like a network of churches or a denomination) or a ministry entity that operates outside of—but in cooperation—with the local church.

In my estimation, many para-church ministries think that because Jesus made disciples in the Gospels without having a church, they can also make disciples without the local church being front and center. They do not understand that Jesus always had the church in mind when he was shaping His original 12 disciples and knew that they were ultimately going to continue His mission by building His church.

Comparison Of Paradigm and Seeker Church.

PARADIGM	SEEKER CHURCH
A paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something. The word paradigm comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds. ... When you change paradigms, you're changing how you think about something.	A seeker church designs its programs and services to attract its target audience of "Unchurched Harry," a midcareer, suburban professional male who does not attend church but probably was raised in either a mainline Protestant church or in the Roman Catholic Church.
Social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four key paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. The four paradigms are founded upon different assumptions about the nature of social science and the nature of society.	The "seeker sensitive" label is associated with some megachurches in the United States where Christian messages are often imparted by means of elaborate creative elements emphasizing secular popular culture, such as popular music styles.
A paradigm is a person's frame of reference. A person's paradigm is how they see the world based on all the information that they have gathered and the beliefs that they possess. If the universe is analogized to a computer processor, a paradigm is like the operating system.	According to New Church doctrine, each person must cooperate in repentance, reformation, and regeneration. ... The movement was founded on the belief that God explained the spiritual meaning of the Bible to Swedenborg to reveal the truth of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
PARADIGM	SEEKER CHURCH
A paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something. The word paradigm comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds. ... When you change paradigms, you're changing how you think about something.	A seeker church designs its programs and services to attract its target audience of "Unchurched Harry," a midcareer, suburban professional male who does not attend church but probably was raised in either a mainline Protestant church or in the Roman Catholic Church.
Social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four key paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. The four paradigms are founded upon different assumptions about the nature of social science and the nature of society.	The "seeker sensitive" label is associated with some megachurches in the United States where Christian messages are often imparted by means of elaborate creative elements emphasizing secular popular culture, such as popular music styles.
A paradigm is a person's frame of reference. A person's paradigm is how they see the world based on all the information that they have gathered and the beliefs that they possess. If the universe is analogized to a computer processor, a paradigm is like the operating system.	According to New Church doctrine, each person must cooperate in repentance, reformation, and regeneration. ... The movement was founded on the belief that God explained the spiritual meaning of the Bible to Swedenborg to reveal the truth of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.