There are five words we use to describe the story Paradigm wants to tell in Seattle. We call these our shared values: history, restoration, hope, generosity, and participation.
Paradigm’s leaders and core team are committed to living a life that is marked by these values as we pursue sustainable faith in a turbulent world.
Read a brief description of the elements below.
History
Our story has deep roots. It begins when God made a covenant with Abraham to make his descendants a blessing to the entire world. When we join in God’s healing plan today, we are continuing the Abraham story.
To be faithful story-tellers today, we need to know the chapters that came before us — the pleasant ones as well as those that disappoint us. We study the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as well as the history of Christianity over the past two thousand years, celebrating examples of faithfulness and trying to grow from the mistakes of past Christ-followers.
Only when we know our story can we truly know our current identity. By learning all we can about the history of God's people, we hope to be faithful story-tellers in our culture and context today.
Restoration
God is on a mission to turn brokenness into wholeness. Jesus the Messiah said he came to this world to make all things new, and he commissioned his followers to give their lives to continuing his renewal movement.
We need to continuously give and receive forgiveness and healing. Brokenness exists in many forms: emotional wounds, mental suffering, economic injustice, physical need, and environmental degradation. Yet we believe that God is, after all these years, still committed to a mission of bringing justice and health into the corrupt and broken areas of creation. He asks His followers to be not only the recipients but the messengers and activists of his healing plan.
Faced with individual and systemic brokenness, we refuse to let corruption prevail. We want to join God in restoring creation.
Hope
The resurrection of Jesus put death to death and is the centerpiece of Christian faith. Jesus offers each of us the possibility to have abundant life in the family of God.
Because of Jesus, hope is here.
This is not merely a future promise; it is a present reality. Hope gives us courage to be completely present here and now as we invite everyone into reconciliation with God. Our description of God’s story, through words and actions, should overflow with hope because the future is beautiful and God is inviting everyone.
Generosity
The earliest followers of Christ were known for meeting the practical needs of one another and the needy among their cities. We want to be known for the same thing. Our emphasis on giving is intricately connected with our love for community.
Within honest community, people should feel safe to share their needs — financial, emotional, mental, etc. — and the community should do all they can to help one another find wholeness as God intends.
Generosity begins with how we treat one another and extends to our neighbors, local and global. Our neighbors’ lives should be better because we are here.
Participation
God has the power to carry out His story Himself, but chooses to work through everyday people to carry out His healing plan. We refer to this dynamic partnership as synergy. God invites people to freely receive His love and join in His mission, working through them in spite of disobedience and delay.
This is critical to understanding the integrity of God and the nature of His story: things are not how they’re supposed to be; God desires something better.
The need for participation is the very reason why Paradigm exists. God asks us to be the messengers of restoration and hope, people who join the [his]story and demonstrate generosity to our world. God doesn’t do all of the work alone, but waits for obedient followers and, in His creative sovereignty, tells His story through them.