Praxis Church

It is often understood that ministry is what we do inside the church and mission is what we do outside the church. At Paradox Church we believe that ministry and mission go together. We do ministry while we are on mission for Christ.

We minister to the people on our street; we minister to other Christians in the church; we minister to the local primary school; we do ministry wherever we go. Ministry is using our God-given time, talents and treasure to bless others and glorify God. We don’t do ministry because we have to but because we get to. Jesus came to earth on mission in order to minister to us by giving his life as a ransom for many and this is our motivation for ministry. The focus of our ministry efforts happens in the context of community and is all about ministering to those inside and outside of the body of Christ.

Gospel Communities

Gospel Communities (GC’s) are the places where ministry happens throughout the week. It’s the place where the congregation of the church live out the Gospel in community.

GC’s seek to have an impact on the community around them by the way that they live in community with one another and how they interact with the community around them. They are always outward looking and seeking to be a blessing to people in their immediate geographic vicinity. GC’s are about practicing the Gospel in practical ways in everyday life. Jesus established His Kingdom on the earth and we experience aspects of that Kingdom through living in community with other believers.

Church as Scattered People

Instead of the church (as institution) facilitating ministry, the church (as scattered people) sees the needs in their community and they participate in ministry were they live, work and play. When needs are recognised in the community they see themselves as providing the answer to that need as individuals, as a family or as a Gospel Community. Centralised ministry can cause people to only see the needs that exist within the church community and not the wider community. People then avoid the responsibility of living on mission as, for and with Christ in their everyday lives. Centralised ministry facilitated by the church leadership may still happen but only where there needs to be either intentional oversight and direction by the leadership team (for example: teaching topics in GC’s, leadership training, etc) or where the need is too great for the Gospel Community group to oversee (for example: community health programs, financial advice and planning programs, redemption groups, literacy programs, etc). GC’s become the primary place where discipleship happens.

Families living out the Gospel as they share their lives together is a great witness to unbelievers and also to new believers and those who are younger (for example: a young couple gets to see a healthy marriage and family in practice)

What does this look like?

So what does this actually look like? People meeting together in homes, at the park or even a local coffee shop to share a meal together, pray for one another, be a witness to non-believers, etc.; where people are convicted of sin and have an opportunity to repent and be kept accountable in a safe and loving environment; where people intimately share their lives with each other and are able to pray with and for others and be prayed for themselves; where non-believers are invited in and get to experience Kingdom life; where Gospel Community members care for their neighbourhood through mowing lawns, volunteering in community projects, cooking meals and many other ways; people living and giving sacrificially of their time and money in serving others.

It’s not a program on top of other things in your life, it’s a weaving of the Gospel through all the rhythms of your life. We shop at the same grocery store in order to get to know the staff, immerse ourselves in the culture and have chance encounters with others in the community. We have regular BBQ’s and parties where we invite friends and neighbours over. We look for job opportunities close to where we live so that we are working and mixing with our neighbours everyday.

Instead of going to a church building to do ministry your whole life becomes ministry. A person may find themselves doing “children’s ministry” because they are a part of a play-group; as well as doing youth ministry because there are a couple of teenagers who live on their street that need math tutoring; as well as doing seniors ministry because the old couple around the corner can no longer look after their own garden; as well as doing homeless ministry because they meet someone down at the shops who needs a place to stay. This all happens in community with one another in the community.

Living with Gospel Intentionality

It’s also more than just doing life together or building relationships with non-Christians. It’s about doing it all with Gospel intentionality. It’s no good for someone to do a “random act of kindness” if there is no genuine concern or love for that person or their community. It’s not about rattling off some pre-prepared evangelistic outline to try and get someone to commit to some cause that neither you or them really understand. It’s not about ticking the religious boxes of doing your bit to help the heathens by launching bible grenades from a safe distance. It’s about getting into people’s lives, genuinely loving them, hearing and sharing in their stories; not just listening to, but actually sharing in someone else’s burdens. It’s about being intentional with the Gospel in all of your life as you be, do and tell the Gospel.

In order for this to be a reality the GC’s need to be taught and equipped to love their community. This is helped by setting up the groups in geographical areas to help the focus of the group to remain on the community around them so that all the members of the group have a shared ownership of the needs of the community. The handing over of this responsibility, which has historically been held by the leadership of a church, can be dangerous and messy because of the organic nature of the structure. Ultimately the leadership does have spiritual oversight and authority of the groups, in particular the training and appointing of GC leaders; but the ministry that the groups engage in is much more spontaneous and organic. Facilitation, training and equipping through preaching and training is therefore of great importance in order to keep the groups healthy. The role of the apostle’s, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is to equip the saints for work of ministry – Ephesians 4:11-12.

Why we are

The purpose of Paradox Church is not to be different for the sake of innovation or to separate ourselves form other churches and their practices. We don’t think that we have stumbled on to the perfect model of church or that what is being done by other churches isn’t working. Our desire is to see as many people as possible come to know Jesus Christ as their saviour and we hope and trust that setting up a church in this way will be most effective in reaching this generation, for God’s glory, our joy and the benefit of others.