I am reading a really good book right now called Church Unique by Will Mancini. The premise of the book is that many of our struggles in the church over the past decades have been the result of trying to be someone else. Each church is unique, it is a particular and impossible to replicate group of people with their own experiences, in their own context. This makes each church unlike any other church around them. Churches that discover, understand and use their uniqueness to craft their mission are more likely to make significant impact for the kingdom.
Yet as leaders in the church we consistently try to make our churches look like other churches, especially ones that we consider successful. We mimic their programs, their worship, and their mission. But, if we are to be missional churches, engaged in the Missio Dei in our particular context, we have to celebrate and embrace our uniqueness to be effective.
I love this idea and think that Mancini is really on to something. Church replication is something I have never understood. Really good leaders seem to understand that success can not be predicated on past victories, looking like someone else, or importing a mission and strategy from someone in a very different context. Our churches have unique cultures, unique voices, unique pasts, and unique parts in the mission of God.
So what is your church like? What is unique about your church and the mission that it is engaged in?
Being 4 months on the job here at DCC I am just starting to understand our uniqueness. Part of our uniqueness is the faithfulness that has sustained this church. Statistically there is no reason for this church to still exist. Most church plants/restarts fail within 3-5 years. Almost all church plants/restarts whose pastor was removed by the denomination from leadership, undergo a church split and then a reunification and an identity crisis fail. As a matter of fact there aren’t statistics for church plants that do that because what ones can survive that?
Well DCC has survived and God has a beautiful future ahead for us. It is that perseverance and commitment that uniquely will craft our kindgom impact here in Chesterton. So what makes your church unique and how does that uniqueness impact your mission in your community?
February 19, 2009 at 11:36 am
You know the unique characteristics of my church, so I won’t mention them here. I would like to echo what you say about your church there. From the first time I heard about your church, I had hope because of the faithfulness of its people. I read Ephesians yesterday and the phrase from Missions 07 came to me again, “Rooted and established in love”. I am excited to see what God does in Duneland through those who are rooted and established in the love of God.
February 19, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I know the uniqueness of Christ Church but let’s go ahead and talk about it.
I found Christ Church unique for a couple of reasons. First, Christ Church has an ability to engage with and minister to the intellectual and professional elite of Chapel Hill. This is such difficult soil to grow a harvest but God has used Christ Church to do so. This is wonderfully unique.
Second, Christ Church is a teaching church that raises up and trains leaders. There is no more powerful testament to God’s work there than the leaders that continue to be raised up, trained and sent out into ministry.