As the paradigms continue to shift like the plates of the earth’s crust, more new ways of thinking and, thus, more new ideas are continuously and relentlessly crashing against the old established norms. Our political environment, worldwide, is a perfect example of this fact. Another example can be found in the church, where the understanding of the role of Sundays is to be (if it is not already) the next point of contention.

It is common knowledge that the accepted norm for previous generations concerning Sundays was that stores and business of all sorts were closed, and the church was open for business. The norm for the average family and/or individual was to be in church on Sunday. The norm for society was congregational, thus the church is where people congregated. Membership of the church, therefore, was calculated according to the Sunday Services attendance and the offering plates were piled high on this accepted, congregational day, norm.

For better or for worse (a conversation to be had at another time), this social mindset is no longer the accepted norm. Many stores and businesses are open for business on Sundays, thus, many folks work on Sundays, and many churches are closed for business because their business model no longer works. A bigger issue here, though, is that the congregational mindset is no longer the social norm. Concerning the church, many do not trust the institution and regard the establishment as corrupt (as can be seen, also, in the political environment). Not rejecting God, but rejecting the established institution, many in society are rejecting public, congregational worship and turning to smaller groups for spiritual enlightenment.

Thus, the organized church, if it is to survive (and I believe it is), must find ways to return to its roots – i.e., the primitive church of the first three centuries of Christian history. A time is coming when it will not be able to count membership only by Sunday Services attendance, but will have to take into account (as obvious as it sounds) the other six days of the week as well. It is going to have to think of new ways to pay its bills, pay for its missions, and pay for its ministries besides counting the coins in the offering plates.

Let me make this clear, the old church paradigm (which is not being replaced, but built upon by God) is an unsustainable system that is shuttering under its own weight. The new paradigm is streamlined for mobility. It is not erecting church buildings (and thus filling church pews), but making disciples for Jesus Christ (who, therewith, become the church wherever and whenever it is found). It is about building communities (not congregations) where the community is the church and the building is the place where things are offered within (not to or for) the community to meet the needs of the community. The new paradigm is calling forth a vision of identity and not a ministry for identification; it is calling out seven days a week, everywhere at anytime within everyone. Perhaps Sunday will be a common day, but it will not be the only day.

A “leader,” according to the old paradigm, can be defined as “the guardian of the institution.” By “institution” I mean, “a system of power and provision for those within itself.” Therefore, “a leader is one who exercises power over and controls provisions for those within the institution.” A common mistake for many is in thinking that, because the system has failed and leaders have come to resemble the power hungry busy-body lords of serfdom, we should rebel against the system (which is still old paradigm thinking). To understand the new paradigm, and transform (rather than rebel against) the broken system, we must necessarily redefine “the leader” and that over which he/she is “guardian.”

According to the new paradigm, the “leader” is “the guardian of the vision.” Since the leader is no longer guardian of the institution, he/she is no longer that which exercises power over and controls provision for anyone (including his/herself). The leader is called and equipped to be an agent of the vision which, therewith, is also an agent of change to the system. It is in the vision, not the institution, that one finds power and provision. The leader (simply) casts the vision. The vision is rooted in and is sent out from the mind of God.

For example: The church leader is no longer the guardian of the Christian Religion (not to be confused with the Faith of Christ, which would be the vision). He/she is, in the new paradigm, the guardian of the vision. The church leader, therefore, has no power to exercise over and no provision to control for the people in his/her care. The church leader has been called and equipped by God to cast the vision of God, which alone is the power and provision for the people as well as the leader. This necessitates “sola fida” (faith alone). Likewise, the “job” of the leader, then, is to cast the vision so that people can catch the vision. The leader is not the moral/ethical police; he/she does not tell people how to live, and he/she is not the source of power by which all provisions flow. The church leader casts the vision of God. The people catch the vision of God and know Jesus for themselves. They live according to the vision of God in Christ, who is the true source of power for all provision. In this sense, the leader casts the vision and the people enact and walk-out the vision as a way of life. To over-simplify: The church leader casts the vision and the people do the work of the vision. The leader is not responsible for the work, but casting the vision. If he/she does not cast the vision, then he/she is responsible for the people’s ineffectiveness.

God provides for God’s vision. If God has called the vision casters (visionary leaders) then God has also called the vision carriers (detail people to do the work). The leader is not the fund-raiser. He/she is the vision caster and God provides for God’s vision. And, thus, the Church does not make disciples for itself, but of Christ. God provides for God’s vision. The leader casts the vision; the people catch and follow the vision (not the leader), and God adds to the church as many as are being rescued – the transformed system.

I really like maps. I like the maps in the back of many Bibles (especially the ones outlining the journeys of the Apostle Paul). I have a pair of maps hanging on my wall, written in Latin, depicting the ancient world. When I was trucking, it was with the aid of maps that I could find just about anywhere I had to go (and sometimes exactly where I was!). The church has always used maps, as it were, to discover where it was and where it needed to go. But despite the use the church today finds itself in a place that is not on its favorite map. In fact, we find ourselves “…off the map. Here, there be monsters.”

Maps are a result of the work of surveyors and explorers. We, the users of maps, simply travel where others have already been, and usually in ways that others have deemed best. The map that the church has been reading for the past 1500+ years is worn out. Not only that but it no longer portrays, accurately, the landscape for the journey on which it now finds itself. Like the ancient maps written in Latin on my wall, they do not show the world as we now know it is. Meanwhile, the church inches farther and further; lost, with no means to locate it-self or where it is going. Regardless of how one turns the map, eschewing its markings, the actual landscape is unrecognizable and, apparently, unchartered.

Certainly the Apostle Paul had a map as he toured the landscapes of Asia Minor and Europe. Yet, at the same time he was pioneering the design of another map. The map he was drawing was a map for the spreading of the gospel, guided by the compass of the Holy Spirit. When one looks at the map in the back of many Bibles of Paul’s journeys one can see a map of the landscape, but also one sees the passage of the Good News across that landscape. We don’t look at the map of Paul’s journeys for the landscape, but the movement of the message he carried across it.

Understand, I do not think that the church finds itself in the wrong place. I think that the church is studying the wrong map. Our trusty map of Christendom has taken us as far as it was designed to take us. Our compass has taken us off the map. He has removed us to another place in need of another map; off of which we refuse to blow the dust, to unroll, and to gaze upon. This map, after all, is nearly 2,000 years old. It contains only a path less traveled (and not tread upon in 1500+ years). The original surveyor and explorer of this map was Jesus Christ. The pioneers who first utilized this map were the apostles, and the primitive and early church. This map has the landscape of the world as we now know it, and lacks only the continued charting of movement – the movement of the message of the Good News to the uncharted monsters. According to the compass we are precisely where we’re supposed to be. We simply need the right map to tell us where exactly we are.