Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement

by Will Mancini and Max Lucado

Book Overview

Written by church consultant Will Mancini 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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787996831
• ISBN13: 9780787996833
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Church Leadership

A drop dead brilliant analysis of church leadership and prescription for how to effectively cast vision that motivates a congregation. This is a book I'm going to read with my staff and recommend to everyone I know in professional ministry. Mancini's core idea is that a vision is clarified through 5 M's: mandate, motives, map, marks, and milestones. The mandate is the answer to the question "What are we doing?" The motives are the "Why?" The map is the "How?" The marks are how success is measured. And the milestones is the vision proper of where God is taking the church. Mancini precisely and articulately names how churches suffer "mission drift" and wander from their calling, and names exactly how a leader can call a church back to its purpose. I've never seen a book on vision casting that so well combines the analytical, theological, and pragmatic. And Mancini is a good writer to boot. Plus, for the Pastors out there, his book is salted with good sermon illustrations, so the reading that goes into the study of leadership also produces helpful metaphors to illustrate direction. Whatever critics of the book there are are just going to people who want to "spiritualize" leadership and say that as long as you pray, the church will just work. I know a lot of praying churches that have had to close their doors. We don't spiritualize architecture when we need to build a bridge, and we shouldn't spiritualize leadership when we need to organize, motivate, and direct people. A casual skim through the book will give you a sense for how carefully Mancini covers the subject, and there is not a single aspect of his study on which he drops the ball.

Church Unique - On the journey to CLARITY

As a business school graduate in 1980, then as a seminary graduate in 1983, I have a solid grounding and understanding of strategic planning and the visioning process. Serving three churches for over 23 years, I practiced many of the principles I learned, and was successful at it. That was then; Church Unique is now! Will Mancini will challenge you, stretch your leadership, and ultimately instill in your heart and mind a hunger for a clearer path for effective ministry - and he delivers. I got the book as soon as it was released in 2008, and am now on my third reading and application as I consult with churches across the country. I highly recommend Church Unique for any pastor or church leader who is seeking a navigator on the uncharted waters of ministry direction.

Great Book

I have read my fair share of books on vision and direction and I have to say this one stands out from them all. It's a book that doesn't just talk about the importance of vision and direction, but actually gives very practical steps on how to go helping you and your leadership team to discover and communicate it. As a pastor, I used it recently with my leadership team and it was awesome. Excellent book, highly recommend it.

A "Must-Have" Resource!

If you are trying to lead your church to effectiveness and impact, Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement (J-B Leadership Network Series) by Will Mancini is a "must-have" resource! Like very few books of its kind, this one is not only packed with ideas, it is presented in a clear and purposeful manner with implementation in mind. Based on Mancini's work with Auxano, Church Unique provides a carefully executed, step-by-step walk through the concepts and practices that build a "vision frame." Discovering and articulating a compelling vision is at the heart, but developing the missional mandate (mission), motives (values), map (strategy) and marks (measures) are what provide the frame. Each step in the process is presented in a way that begs to be implemented. If you long for clarity and a laser focus, this is a book you will devour, mark up, and wear out. I'm frequently asked what's the best thing I'm reading. Church Unique is a book I'll be talking about for a long time.

Will Mancini's Just-Released CHURCH UNIQUE

It's rare to visit a church, read its mission statement and then conclude, "What a great match!" For that to happen, the church's vision must be clear, appealing, and most important, truly reflective of the unique culture demonstrated by the church. Back in 1992, when churches were just beginning to think about vision statements, George Barna wrote a highly popular book called Power of Vision. In it he defined vision as "a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God." I predict Will Mancini's Church Unique (2008, 271 pages) will succeed Barna's classic as the go-to book for church leadership discussions because it does even more than help you articulate a vision for your church. It goes further. It helps you "cast vision, capture culture, and create movement," as the subtitle forecasts. The book affirms that your church is "stunningly unique," and then helps you turn your church's one-of-a-kind potential into a model of ministry that leads to a redemptive movement. It understand that each church models a culture reflective of its particular values, thoughts, attitudes and actions. Using numerous specific-church examples, it walks you through the process of vision focus and alignment within the context of your church's unique culture. Mancini, a former pastor and now church consultant, also explores pitfalls that often trap churches, such as adopting the latest conference technique or following a Band-aid approach to addressing deep-set issues. CHURCH UNIQUE will benefit any type of church leader, whether megachurch or church plant, mainline or non-denominational. The book is release #25 in Leadership Network's series with Jossey-Bass. It references in several places another excellent Leadership Network book -- Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out (J-B Leadership Network Series)by Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro with Warren Bird (Jossey-Bass, 2005). Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 19 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.