The Mission behind Paradox Church: Seeing God Everywhere

“In (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that (God) lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight (God) has made known to us the mystery of (their) will, according to (their) good pleasure that (God) set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in (Christ), things in heaven and things on earth.”

—The Apostle Paul, Ephesians 1:7-10, NRSVUE

A few years ago, I drove around Redlands on a mundane Tuesday afternoon. As the sights of the city whirred by my windshield, a church sign caught my attention. In bold typeface the sign proclaimed, “COME MEET THE SPIRIT THIS SUNDAY: 10:00 am!”

At first glance, this sign appears to profess a gigantic kind of faith. This congregation believed they knew where God will be, when God will be there, and what God will be doing at that location and time. Their unwavering conviction inspired them to invite all of Redlands to make plans to drive to their church campus in a few days’ time and experience the presence of God for themselves.

But on second glance, the sign actually testifies to a minuscule kind of faith. For if we need to make plans to meet the Spirit on Sunday at 10:00 am, then does that mean we cannot meet the Spirit here, on Tuesday at 3:00 pm? And what about the 115 hours that exist between Sunday and now? Is our almighty Creator unable meet in those hours?

Of course not. For a God that only exists for 1/168th of all of the hours in the week cannot be God at all. For if Christians believe in the omnipresence of God, then we...

...trust God is as close to us on Tuesday at 3:00 pm as God will be on Sunday at 10:00 am.

...trust God will be just as present in our work spaces as God is in our religious spaces.

...trust God is as near to us on the sofa as we watch Netflix as God is near to us in a church pew.

...trust God laughs with us at dinner parties as much as God grieves with with us at funerals.

...trust God can be found in our sufferings as much as God can be found in our blessings.

When we started Paradox, we asked ourselves, What is the purpose of showing up every week and participating in a church? As we discussed an answer to this question, we frequently returned to Paul’s words in Ephesians. Here, Paul serves as a witness to the omnipresence of God when he describes God’s plan for Their relationship with humanity, “...as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in (Christ), things in heaven and things on earth.”

And by all things, Paul means all things.

As the Founding Board¹ of our church discussed this pressing question, some of us read Richard Rohr’s book, The Universal Christ. Inspired by Paul (and many several other authors in the Bible), Rohr wrote, “A mature Christian sees Christ in everything and everyone else. That is a definition that will never fail you, always demand more of you, and give you no reasons to fight, exclude, or reject anyone².”

This is exactly the church we wanted to be: A community that led each other to trust in the omnipresence of God, rather than a church with exclusive access to God. And rather than merely observing God, we wanted God’s presence to inspire us to act, to do our best to bring about more love into the world.

After some discussion, some back and forth, and some prayer, the Founding Board selected the mission statement, “To See and Embrace Jesus Christ in all”; in all people, in all experiences, in all the corners of scripture, in all of creation, and in all religions.

Rather than saying to the world, “Come to us and we will show you God,” our community gathers together on Saturday mornings and says, “Go out there and see how your life is saturated in the presence of God!”

And then maybe, just maybe, you and I will see and embrace the Holy in the mundane hour of 3:00 on a Tuesday afternoon.

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¹ Our founding board members were: Ken Scofield, Emily Unterseher, Mattie (Lake) Kattenhorn, Eric Peterson, Tammy Seheult, and Craig Hadley

² The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr