Learn More Our Purpose
Purpose

What is Our Mission?

We exist to call all people to be passionately committed followers of Jesus Christ.

How do we accomplish Our Mission?

Our Four "B's"

Because we want to call people to passionate commitment to Jesus, we invite them to Believe in God, Belong to His Body, Be Trained in Truth, and Be Strong in a life of Worship and Ministry.

Believe in Christ

Evangelism → Believe the Unbelievable
The blind can see and the lost are found
It is our prayer that those who connect with us will be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and understanding.” (Col 1:9) According to Scripture, only those who come to faith in Jesus Christ can discern God’s will revealed by His Word the Bible. That is why calling people to faith in Christ is our first priority. Our commitment is to show those who are far from God and those that are seeking, how they can have peace with God (Eph. 2:17).

We understand that faith in Christ is a very personal thing, but the Bible teaches that it is not a private thing. Once a person has come to faith in Christ they are to identify themselves with Him through baptism, identify with his people through communion and tell others about the new life that they have found in Christ.

Belong to His Body

Community→Autonomy found in dependence
The weak are strong and the poor possess
We unashamedly call believers to a “life worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work.” (Col 1:10). Scripture is clear that a “worthy” life is a connected life – one that is active in relationships with other believers and energetically involved in the spiritual development of those around them. (John 17:16-23). God has given each believer spiritual gifts (Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12) that we are to use to build up, encourage and strengthen others.

Life change happens best in the context of relationships and by submitting to the accountability and edification of other believers, we are moved toward holiness and we are a catalyst for change in the lives of others. It is our commitment to be a church that is made up of small intimate groups that meet regularly to share life with each other, support and care for each other, sharpen one another and learn from one another. Jesus said, “Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples,” and that is why Community is central to our existence as a body of faith.

You will not hear us talk about “membership” at Paradox, rather we will stress “partnership” because we believe that it is a more accurate term to describe the kind of commitment to each other that the Bible expects of those that want to identify with a local church. According the Scriptures, it is God’s expectation that those in the church will contribute their time, resources and energy as an act of obedience and worship to Him and an act of love to the others in the church.

Be Trained in Truth

Discipleship→ Die to Live
The wise are fools, and the naïve are brilliant
A life of full devotion is not a stagnant life and that is why we are committed as a church to “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). While the world is constantly changing, the Word of God offers timeless, unchanging truth and authoritative instruction for everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  We believe that it is vital to the health and the growth of the church that we teach the Bible in such a way as to maintain its original meaning while bringing application to a modern audience. It is our goal to provide Bible teaching that is scripturally accurate and culturally relevant so that everyone in the body is able to learn and grow. While we will strive to help mature Christians grow we will also be careful to explain Biblical terms for those who may be unfamiliar with God’s Word. We will creatively adapt to our culture while holding fast to God’s enduring truth (1 Cor. 9:19-23).

Be Strong in Worship & Ministry

Worship → The Humble are Exalted
It is our passion that every person who becomes part of the family at Paradox will be “strengthened with all power” so that they can “joyfully give thanks to the Father.” We have been created by God to worship Him. Worship is not a part of your life, it is your life. Bringing enjoyment to God and living for his pleasure, should be the first priority of every believer’s life.  It is what we were created to do. We believe that worship through a life of prayer, praise, growth, giving, and service is normal for growing believers. Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, and pleasure of God. Scripture says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NIV).

While the "fullness of joy is found in the presence of God" (PS 16:11), in man's separation from God, he does not choose to worship God. Ever since Adam and Eve's choice in the Garden, men have chosen to seek their own pleasure in their quest for happiness instead of realizing that true joy and complete happiness is found in a life of worship. Worship is an act of humility and submission. It is a recognition that life is meaningless apart from the Giver of Life and it is a choice to align ourselves with God's purposes for our life. But it is in this act of humble submission that we find life. Scriptures tell us that if we will humble ourselves before God, that he will lift us up (James 4:6-10, 1 Peter 5:5-6).

Ministry → The Greatest is the Least
Because “true religion,” according to James, is to assist those who are in need, God expects us as His followers to give of ourselves by offering our time and resources to reach out to others. Being strong in ministry is taking the things that we have learned from the Scripture and teaching it to “faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2).  That is why Paradox is committed to evangelization (the sharing of the good news of the gospel to those who are far from God), social responsibility (the serving of others within our sphere of influence so that they may see our sacrificial actions and be drawn to a relationship with God - Matt 5:16), and mobilization (the development of godly, trained leaders who can reproduce the church’s work around the world).

We are committed to a missional strategy of “doing church.” In other words, we believe that it is not enough to plant a church.  We are committed to planting a church that plants more churches. Jesus instructed his followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19) and we believe the most effective way to do that is to train, test and send leaders to plant self-perpetuating, contextually relevant churches that, like us, are teaching, training, evangelizing, and investing in others for the sake of Christ.

Download the Paradox Partnership Covenant