I'm Tired of Paradigm Shifts

Twenty years ago few people heard of a "paradigm shift." For the longest time I though it was “the movement of two dimes.” But now every fad is called a paradigm shift. I suspect there have only been a half dozen true paradigm shifts since the beginning of the world in August 4004 BC. The coming of Christ was a massive paradigm shift. The Copernican Revolution was a paradigm shift. The return of Christ will be a paradigm shift. But I suspect that trends like generation X and postmodernism are merely temporary fads or variations on old and reoccurring themes. Why is it that so many so called paradigm shifts are only found among white, upper-class, college students in the Western world? I suspect that if people had invented the term they would have called mini-skirts, bell-bottom trousers and the Edsel, paradigm shifts.

I’m bothered by the use of the term paradigm shift in missions. People are saying that the sending of long-term missionaries is an old paradigm, while the newer paradigms are short-term missions, supporting nationals and church-to-church partnerships. All four models have been around since Acts chapter 2. My hunch is that while all these trends are potentially useful, the last three are techniques limited to white, wealthy Western churches. While these may be useful strategies for 5% of the Christians of the world, they certainly aren’t paradigm shifts. The paradigm that shouldn’t change, is local churches sending missionaries who, over the long term, build personal relationships, develop trust and become incarnated into the language and culture of the people to which they minister. I doubt if this paradigm will shift until the return of Christ.