c. 1997 Religion News Service
LOS ANGELES _ The fastest-growing Protestant churches in America often bear little resemblance to churches as they have traditionally appeared.
Their congregations may meet in shopping malls. Instead of hymns and a pipe organ, they offer guitars and folk- or rock-flavored praise music. The sermon isn’t delivered by a collared and robed academically trained theologian, but by a casually dressed man teaching from an open Bible.
As many mainline congregations continue to lose members, why are these so-called”new paradigm”churches growing so rapidly?
University of Southern California religion professor Donald E. Miller believes it’s because the churches _ contemporary in attitude and conservative in theology _ innovatively meet important human needs often neglected by mainline churches.
Miller, 51, is the author of the recently published”Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium”(University of California Press). In it, he focuses on the phenomenal growth of three new paradigm church movements: Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Christian Fellowship and Hope Chapel.
Miller said the three new paradigm churches struggle”to put together a new world view that integrates the sacred with the profane. … That’s very powerful and it’s very innovative and it’s something that most mainline churches are not doing.” Backed by a Lilly Endowment grant, Miller spent five years interviewing and surveying members and pastors of these nondenominational churches after his interest was sparked by reading several term papers describing his students’ visits to them.
Miller decided to check out the churches himself, he recalled during a recent interview. He began by attending a Monday-night youth service at the Costa Mesa Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Calif.”I was quite literally bowled over,”Miller said, as he sat in a corner booth at a suburban Los Angeles restaurant.”There were 2,200-plus kids sitting there singing praise songs and … listening to a 45-minute sermon, or teaching, as they would refer to it. Probably 50 kids walked down the aisles to the beat of this band that was playing and gave their lives to Jesus.”It was obvious that there was something going on … that was speaking to the needs that these kids had.” In his book, Miller writes that the origins of these churches can be found in part in the 1960s”Jesus people”movements, along with”baby boomer”distrust of tradition and authority. Hence, new paradigm churches purposefully lack such accouterments as stained glass, organs, pews and a robed, clerical hierarchy.
A typical new paradigm church meets in an auditorium-like setting. The service may open with 45 minutes or more of singing, usually contemporary praise songs projected on a screen, with guitar accompaniment. The sermon, or teaching, may be a verse-by-verse exposition of a Bible passage by a casually dressed pastor without a theological degree.
A typical congregation member is”someone with maybe a year or two of college, who oftentimes works with his hands, who has a couple of small children,”said Miller, the author of four previous books on subjects ranging from liberal Christianity to the plight of homeless families.
Searching for meaning in life, the congregant’s first exposure to the church may be an invitation to an event _ a softball game, a concert, or a men’s group, for example.”He likes the quality of life that he saw these people following, liked the music, and found that the pastor was someone who spoke his language,”said Miller, who directs USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. In fact, he noted, the pastor may have been in a similar place just a decade earlier.
What typically happens next is”this guy has some kind of often dramatic conversion experience. He quits cheating on his wife, quits drinking, flushes the drugs down the toilet if he’s taking them, and joins a men’s group in the church and finds a new camaraderie outside of the bar.” While the majority of mainline church members tend to be female, new paradigm churches have equal numbers of men and women, Miller said. Pastors, however, are male.
New churches in these movements are generally started by a member of an existing congregation who believes they have been called to the ministry and is mentored by the senior pastor. After a suitable period, the new pastor sets off, sometimes with other members of the same congregation and his mentor’s blessing _ but not much else _ to start a new church.
Miller writes that new paradigm churches are so attractive _ particularly to people from blue-collar backgrounds _ because they address important needs not being met anywhere else.
One is what Miller calls the”hope deficit.” Miller said the active worship style prevalent in these churches _ the singing, raising hands in praise, and, in some cases, speaking in tongues _”addresses the fundamental need for ecstasy, which consumerism does not supply. Indeed, one of the draws of new paradigm religion is that it is fun!” A liberal Episcopalian, Miller said he was impressed by the worship style he found in these theologically conservative churches.”I finally simply decided that these people are not social retrogrades, but in fact are doing some very innovative things in connecting the mind and the body in worship,”he said.
The weekly small group meetings and ministries _ which are the core of new paradigm church life _ address two additional needs, said Miller. They provide community and a sense of safety.”New paradigm churches are places where human touch is welcomed. … They are places where people can share their needs and know that someone will care for them, week after week. Such warmth is rare in American society,”Miller said.
New paradigm church members tend to anchor their social lives in the”safe haven”of their congregation. Said Miller:”People are bringing their children to the church, and participating in church-related activities because of the type of environment it represents and the shared values of those with whom one is associating.” A fourth attraction of new paradigm churches is what Miller called”life transformation.””People with big problems need strong forms of religion, which new paradigm churches represent with their biblical literalism, supernaturalism, and demanding structure,”he said.
New paradigm churches believe that supernatural events _ such as healing and visions _ are not only possible, but happen regularly.”They believe in the Holy Spirit. They affirm that there is something beyond the rational … (and) they open themselves to the possibility of an experience with the sacred, with expectation in a way that a lot of mainline church members don’t,”Miller said.”I don’t think it can be minimized that they read the Bible and they’ve found a lot of the prophets were having dreams and visions. They don’t find it odd that they shouldn’t have them also,”he added.
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Miller said that mainline churches can draw important lessons from these new paradigm innovations. As an example, he suggested alternative Friday or Saturday night services with casual dress and contemporary music.
He also recommended a”flattening”of the hierarchy. In new paradigm churches, weekly lay-led group meetings become”laboratories for leadership development,”Miller said, urging mainline groups to”trust (the laity) with leadership.” At his Episcopal church, Miller said,”staff shows up at everything. If you really trust the people, the staff is going to disappear from 90 percent of these meetings and the people are going to lead them. And I think that’s going to create a level of commitment also.” Miller also would direct theological training more toward those with pastoral talent, rather than those adept at academic studies.”I would think seriously about, when you have a staff appointment, to appoint someone from inside the congregation rather than go on some national search for someone who’s Phi Beta Kappa at the best seminary,”he said.”I’m not sure there’s that much correlation between people who are highly trained scholars and people who are good pastors.”
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