Photo: Brian Guest

As we all know, many people are not satisfied with their own church experiences and the number only seems to be growing.  Those of us with the palms of our hands on the railroad track feel the vibrations of new paradigms of church approaching. (just had a flashback to the movie Stand By Me )

Wolfgang Simson talks about the steps of migrating from the old paradigm to the new one.  In his talk, he assumes that the new paradigm to which people are moving is the house church paradigm.  While I do resonate with much of the house church movement, I hesitate to assume that it will be the only new paradigm of church that will flourish in the following generations.  (NOTE: I misunderstood Wolfgang here.  Please note his response below in the comment section.) However, I do agree that we are in desperate need of new paradigms for church expressions.  Here is the diagram the Wolfgang uses to portray the steps people take in adopting a new church paradigm.

(Click on the image to go to the original article.)

Point – 2: This is where most Christians are today as this new move of God unfolds. This is the point of “happy clappy” churchianity where most people are content with where they are in their church experience. When you talk to them about the need for a new paradigm their response is basically, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Point – 1: This second point or step in apostolic migration represents people who are no longer satisfied with “happy clappy church” as they have known it. These are people who have heard from God about more authentic expressions of church. They have begun to move in their spirits, but their bodies and their money have not yet moved. They are frustrated pilgrims. Some will move to the next step, while others will not.
Point 0: This third step represents frustrated pilgrims who have finally left the old paradigm and are now “out of the system,” but they do not yet know that there is a new paradigm to move into. And there is a reason for this. God knows that it is easier to get a person “out of the system” than it is to get the old system out of the person. For this reason God engineers the wilderness as a place of to the old, a place of “religious detoxification” where God deals with our “baggage.” It is in the wilderness that God seeks to heal our hurts, wounds, bitterness, anger and other personal “baggage” left over from our journey out of the old. Not everyone “survives” the wilderness experience to emerge healthy at the next Point. Some people are unable to “let go” of the past (past wounds, hurts, betrayals, etc.) in order to embrace God’s future plans.
Point + 1: This is the stage or point at which people choose to leave the past and the wilderness behind and to “cross over the ” into the new paradigm of what God is doing. This requires both a leaving (of the old) and a cleaving (to the new). It requires us to “uncovenant” with what has gone before, and to make a new covenant with God’s new unfolding paradigm. It is often at this point that a person’s commitment or lack of commitment to the new paradigm is revealed through statements like, “You mean I must do house church exclusively?” Such a response reveals that the person hasn’t yet caught the vision of God’s new paradigm and is still trying to “straddle” both worlds (the old versus the new). It means they aren’t quite ready to emerge from the wilderness because they haven’t yet fully died to themselves and to the old.
Point + 2: Welcome to the new paradigm that God is raising up in our day. At this point you have died to yourself and the past and have embraced the new thing God is doing. Your work isn’t over. In fact, it’s just beginning.

Where are you on the continuum of migration?  Which of these 5 points do you most resonate with?