Your Church Was Made to Be Remarkable
The Seventh and Final Post in the "Take Seth Godin to Church" Series
In this final look at applying Seth Godin’s Tribes to the work of church, I want to talk about tribal greatness. Jesus never rebukes his disciples for wanting to be great, but rather, shows them the different way of greatness in God’s eyes. In fact, we must never forget that even our Lord appealed to greatness when recruiting his team. Do you remember Jesus persuading Peter, “Come on, I want you to spend the rest of your life fishing for men!” That’s a remarkable statement.
Why should your church be remarkable? Because Jesus is the most remarkable human being alive. And the gospel is the most remarkable message ever communicated. Your church is a unique expression of the body of Christ stewarding the gospel. That’s remarkable.
Enter Seth Godin’s insight on being remarkable. Allow your knowledge of Jesus and the gospel to collide with this Godin gold. It just might create some new insight or energy for your team. Here are my four favorite quotes on tribal greatness:
#1 “The market wants you to be remarkable.”
People today are longing for experiences that leave them changed. How do people in and around your congregation “taste and see” the fruit of transformation? How do you show them what they want to believe is possible? Remember that God has set eternity in their hearts. (Ecc. 3:11)
#2 “Whatever the status quo is, changing it gives you the opportunity to be remarkable.”
The holy discontent behind the book Church Unique, is the epidemic of photocopied vision. As churches copy one another, there is a move toward incremental improvements that make everyone increasingly generic. Everyone copies everyone else not wanting to be without the key feature or best practice or new program. Eventually this evolution of “generic improvement” gets cluttered or stuck as an “overconstructed” ministry. Why not break from the pack and do something remarkable? Free yourself to be yourself. Be original and truly creative as a steward of the gospel. What could you do to pursue “blue ocean” as the place of ocean-size opportunity where no one else is swimming.
#3 “We choose not to be remarkable because we are worried about criticism.”
Ultimately, the more remarkable an idea, a dream or a vision, the more likely fear will cripple us. Consider taking a fear audit. If you as a leader, or your church as an organization, had nothing to prove or nothing to loose, what would you dare to do to be remarkable?
#4 “Tribes that work better when they’re bigger get bigger.”
Okay, reread this quote again until it makes sense. This quote, in my opinion, is the most important observation for the church in Tribes. Why? Because the growth of mega-churches and giga-churches (more than 10,000 in attendance) leads us to many conversations about the “best” size of church. Rather than talking about the benefits of small vs. big or organic vs. organizational, what if we talked about our local redemptive movement with this idea. How does reaching the next person in our church make our church better for each person? How does ____________________ (plug in your growth or multiplication strategy) enhance the effectiveness of the whole and for each individual. What could happen if we pushed the envelope of our thinking on this? Wow!
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- Take Seth Godin to Church
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- Profound Partial Truths: Your Vision is Outdated Part 4
“The fear audit: If you as a leader, or your church as an organization, had nothing to prove or nothing to loose, what would you dare to do to be remarkable?”
Strange thing about fear…daring to do the impossible is actually the pathway to overcoming it.
Peter got out of the boat to walk on water. No fear, right? Not yet. “He was afraid” and began to sink. He had to get out of the boat to find that out. He learned a lot that day…about himself, and the perfecter of his faith.
Once Peter got his eyes fixed on Jesus, permanently, his life and ministry became a benchmark for the remarkable.
Another good post, prodding us to get out of our safe boats and out into the Class 6 Whitewater, where Christ waits to show us what is possible.
See you Friday.
Good post, Will!! And a couple of thoughts.
1. Fear Audit…great idea. And I suspect many would have a fear of a fear audit. Our fears tend to reveal our “idols” the things we most dread losing. Exposing those would be tough. Would take a good facilitator to lead this and a mature group to talk about it openly and constructively and substantively.
2. Incremental Improvements. A church must find what it is uniquely set to do. On it’s own, under God’s guidance. Having set that course, however, I think there is a strong place for actively learning how to do that Unique Thing better and better. Getting the order of these is absolutely crucial.
Blessings!