Paradigms and Culture

If you have been following me for long, you know that I firmly believe 2 things. 1. That all truth is God's truth. and 2. That corporate culture is alive and present in every organization - not just companies - but any organization such as a volunteer group or a church. Over the years, I have studied carefully these patterns of how a company or organization evolves and how its culture determines its success or failure in the cause.

For the next couple of weeks, I am going to share some insight I have gathered while being involved with a church plant in Fort Worth over the last year. While it (like everything) has been a study in culture for me, it has also shaken some of my paradigms and belief systems in regards to church in America and I want to share some of those thoughts with you.

I will call this my "Paradigm Shifts" series. It is a lists of beliefs that I had held for many years that I have had to shift or alter in my year of study. The interesting thing about these paradigms is the way they have influenced my life and shaped my spiritual journey. Now, I am not going to turn this blog into a sermon, there are plenty of those available.

But for many of you reading, you do so because you enjoy the variety of content and they way it challenges you to look at your own lives everyday to see corporate culture in action. I have come to realize that the "culture" of the churches I grew up in have shaped my beliefs (as they should.) And that I never challenged these thoughts - just accepted them because the culture told me to.  (A typical corporate culture story, no?)

What is most fascinating about this journey is that I trusted the "culture" of the church to set my values and beliefs rather than studying and searching on my own. I trusted the leaders of the church that what they were saying and teaching was correct. In short, I was an "employee" of the church, not a member of a spiritual formation. I was a consumer, not a builder. I did what I was told and never asked why. (sound familiar?) The culture of the church does not reward challenging the belief system - in fact, most times, it punishes it. But we have to seek answers from the one place that provides it and we have to work to understand. We cannot let others do the work for us.

If you are not a spiritual person or member of a church, then I hope you do not mind the next series. My intention, as I said earlier, is not to preach, but share. This is not about religion. It is about my shift in paradigms. I will deal with each one separately. And if I sound "preachy", then I apologize. I hope I sound humbled and convicted.

This story is about my journey as part of the leadership planting The City Church in Fort Worth, Texas.