Will Mancini, Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement. John Wiley and Sons, 2009.
Referenced in:
- Congregational Culture, Church Identity
- Leadership and Organizational Culture
- Strategies for Church Renewal – Leader-Directed Vision-Casting
- Strategies for Church Renewal – Organic
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is probably one of the most helpful volumes available in helping church leaders understand, articulate, and mobilize members toward the unique vision of their congregations. In the first chapter, “Unoriginal Sin,” Mancini discusses ten (of many more) sources of uniqueness for a church. He laments that churches often neglect finding their uniqueness by “adopting programs and mind sets that worked elsewhere.” (9) This neglect results from leaders falling into one or more of six different “thinkholes” where “vibrant thinking gets sucked beneath the surface to suffocate and disappear from view.” (10) How does one get out of these thinkholes? Strategic planning? No, Mancini discusses three major weaknesses of this approach that actually obscure vision. Church growth? Not necessarily. Church growth tends toward duplication of models that worked elsewhere, thus “caging the kingdom” by forcing all churches into a few set models that rob local congregations and their communities from the distinctive impacts for which God has designed them. He also suggests four other “soul fast foods” to which church members gravitate when they experience the vision vacuum. Like fast food, these tangible manifestations of church “success” (e.g. capital campaigns, church buildings) give people the “feeling” of being healthy and nourished, but in reality are unhealthy substitutes for vision.
Mancini steps into this vacuum by providing a process for clarifying, articulating, and advancing a church’s unique vision. He first offers a sort of apologetic for vision clarity, redeeming this concept for churches that have either been discouraged or disappointed in the practices commonly associated with vision casting. Quoting such greats as Leonardo da Vinci that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” he addresses the four imperatives or mind reorientations (i.e. “repentances”) that are necessary to get on the other side of chaos and complexity. He says leaders, in order to get their hearts right for visionary work, must repent from stabbing at the future, but must love clarity, listen to and appreciate the strengths that are already there, learn how to collaborate properly, and engage the objective work of outsiders.
Once a leader has the right posture of heart toward change, the next task is to reflect upon the whole of redemptive history to grasp God’s larger vision for the kingdom, and then focus a piece of that vision for their time and place. Just as satellites that are positioned above the earth help a person pinpoint a specific location using a GPS, so the pinpoint focus of a congregation’s vision can only result from contemplating upon the infinite vantage point of God’s positioning system. From God’s angle, humanity and the world at large are in a state of brokenness between the two utopias, the Garden of Eden and the New Heavens and the New Earth, which function like bookends. Mancini suggests that God shows leaders better “immediate (or intermediate) futures” for the time in-between these two bookends, and equips the church to be “rescuers” who join God in restoring activity that hints at the grand finale to come. It is in this context (p. 72) that Mancini offers one of the most refreshing understandings of vision I have ever read. If you have ever had doubts about the role of vision in God’s economy and in church leadership, read chapter 7 of this book. His demonstration of how Nehemiah, and others, have experienced the “big compelling of God,” is powerful and inspiring.
Chapter 8 discusses the next important phase of the vision clarifying process is for the leader and the congregation to “hear the cloud of witnesses,” by reflecting upon the “legacies of vision” that surround them, whether they be living or dead. These are the heroes of faith, some of them known only to us, others to our all within our congregations, and others to the Christian world at large. Mancini says these legacies should inform the present, and he presents a series of steps to follow in articulating a “past” vision that is instructive for the current vision.
The summary to this point of chapters 1-8 should be sufficient to demonstrate the “unique” contribution Mancini makes to helping leaders mobilize themselves and their congregations to the “unique” vision they share as part of God’s larger work of reconciling the world to himself. The book contains thirteen additional chapters covering ascertaining vision, navigating the discovery process, defining the vision frame, as well as fresh new looks at concepts such as mission, values, strategies, goals and measures, visionary congregational lifestyles, articulating vision, etc. A helpful appendix at the end includes “Logos and Strategy Icon Examples,” and “Vision Path Examples,” from churches Mancini believes to be good models of the principles in his book.
A few notable quotes from Mancini:
“The starting point for vision—for thinking about our church’s future—is not deciding where we want to go or exploring what is working for other churches but understanding how we are unique.” (6)
“The increasing pace of change in the cultural whirlpool leaves leaders with two temptations that distract them from thinking clearly about their church’s identity. The first is BuzzChurch. This means to define the DNA around innovation itself. These leaders enjoy the adrenaline rush of having to do continuous cultural exegesis for ministry. The resulting vision is the need to be constantly cutting-edge. In the race to be relevant, it’s all too possible to miss the deeper essence that God wants to nurture. The irony is that this cultural whirlpool is actually an addiction to new thinking.” (13)
“Take your pick: from the boomer power pastors of suburbia to the preaching punks of “emergia” and the collared intellectuals of “liturgia,” everyone wants to be Missional. But what does it mean? Essentially it is a way of thinking that challenges the church to re-form and reforge its self-understanding (theologically, spiritually and socially) so that it can relearn how to live and proclaim the gospel in the world. Perhaps the best motto of the reorientation is the imperative to ‘be the church.’ Church is not something you do or a place you go to, but what you are.” (33)
“Unique expressions of sin, pain and brokenness ripple through our specific stories and locales. At some point, a defining moment occurs; a particular call from God collides with a concrete need in our little corner of the world. The result is an atomic energy release, filling the leader’s heart with compassion and the leader’s conscience with conviction. A new vision is forged.” (69)
“Frederick Buechner describes it as the place ‘where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.’ In this intersection, the vision is both God’s and ours, for the work of the Spirit moves us so completely that the distinction of ownership blurs in our intimacy with Jesus.” (73-74)
From the Publisher
Written by church consultant Will Mancini, an expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church’s individual DNA and unleash their congregation’s one-of-a-kind potential.
Mancini explores the pitfalls churches often fall into in their attempt to grow, such as adding more programs, using outdated forms of strategic planning, or adopting the latest conference technique. He explores a new model for vision casting and church growth that has been tested with leaders in all kinds of congregations, including mainline, evangelical, small, and large. The practices and ideas outlined in Church Unique will help leaders develop missional teams, articulate unique strategies, unpack the baggage of institutionalism, and live fully into their vision.
Whether leading a megachurch or church plant, a multisite or mainline, a ministry or parachurch, Church Unique will provide inspiration as a practical guide for leading into the future. There is a better way.
About the Author
Will Mancini, a former pastor, is the founder of Auxano, a national consulting group that works with traditional and emerging churches and ministries of all types around the country. Their mission is to navigate leaders through growth challenges with vision clarity (auxano.com).
***For additional information on this resource, including reviews, click the bookstore links. Check the reference at page top or the links below for resource guides on related topics.***
See Resource Guides on Related Areas:
- Missional Perspectives, Introduction
- Missional Church Resources, Introduction and Index
- Church Leadership and Renewal, Index to Resources
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Ministry Leadership: