I ran across the post by Anthony Coppedge. He captures well the burning platform that drives my life calling and the message of Church Unique:
I have friends at Fellowship Church, Saddleback Church, Granger Community Church and North Point Church. They know I love and respect them, so this post isn’t about ’slamming’ them. Hardly. They’re all great churches doing great things. Love it.
Each of these churches offer conferences which give insight on the why and what of how they do things. Again, great things. Love it.
But there are more churches contacting me who have lost their own identity in the race to implement the Fellowbackgrangepoint Church model. What model is that, you say? Why it’s the mash-up of all of the best practices of each of those churches distilled into an unreproducible, unauthentic version of their own church!
Now before the flame-mails start flying… don’t be hatin’. Like I said before, those are great churches doing great things and I love it. And while we should all learn from others, taking best-practices and applying them where appropriate and applicable, trying to overlay multiple models on top of each other leads to a church without identity.
“Come visit our purpose-driven, seeker-friendly, creatively-inspired, pop-culture manic, church-in-a-kitchen. What does all that mean? Simple: we’re all things from all churches for all people. And we’re hip/casual in a Starbucks kind of way.”
What’s the vision for your church? Who are you trying to reach? How good are you in identifying with your local community? What unique attributes make your church unique? How is God moving in your church?
Those are the questions we should be asking. And, yes, we should be learning from those churches above - after all, they don’t suck. But at the end of the day, don’t create a brand of sameness. Dare to be different! Embrace your unique staff, volunteer and community attributes and celebrate the church God has called you to be!