Saturday, 07 June 2008

• Currently Listening Places Like This By Architecture in Helsinki see related

  Paradigm Changes in the Post-Modern Church*

  *written in response to the question of how we might redesign the Church to be more relevant in today's post-modern, multicultural world

  -Some Non-Linear Ideas on Themes and Suggestions-

     I believe a sometimes fatal flaw in the design and intention of the church and specific gatherings is that they advertise themselves to non-believers and the unreached as "non-traditional", unconventional, etc., while at the same time adhering to completely traditional and conventional archetypes and paradigms (or, rather, ONE paradigm: one main speaker, corporate prayer, corporate worship, non-interactive congregation, and a strongly structured meeting time/place/event order.) I'm not bashing the traditional style of "church". By all means, it's worked swimmingly for the last couple millennia.

     What we have to work to discover is what the outsider is seeing, and, most importantly, what he or she is looking for. The people we find most often inside church walls are the ones who come with the expectation of the classic (pastor, music, prayer, etc.) church set-up, regardless of the presentation style. The people not coming in are (including, but not limited to) the ones who are either disinterested in, feel a disconnect to, or who have trouble finding relevance in the Church.

     I feel the fatal mistake in the Non-Traditional Church's mission to be such is that they present themselves as a fresh, new product, when, in fact, all they have done is presented fresh, new packaging on the same-old, same-old.

     If we wish to be a New Church, and to break loose of the classic structures and stale paradigms, we have to rebuild ourselves and present ourselves as a new product. The masses aren't always as blind as we think.

  -hypothetical-

     Imagine that we, as a church, didn't limit our meetings to the church walls. What if we met on a cafe patio? What if there were no preaching? Completely interactive dialogue (with some guided discussion). We keep things nice and open, inviting others to sit and join the conversation. Folks can come and go as they please.

     My dream would be to make religion and faith an integral part to everyone's lives. I feel the best way to accomplish this would be to make it more accessible to outsiders without making them afraid of imposing changes or compromise to their everyday lives. Besides, how many non-Christians know how easy it really is?

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• Hi everyone! I'm just getting started on Revelife... Drop me a comment if you've got some ideas on what to do first - or just to say, "Hi!" :-)

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