Will Mancini

Last Sunday, I worshipped with a a 6-month old church called Neartown, planted in the heart of Houston.  Russel Cravens skillfully ended his message, not with a plea for church membership, but a call join as mission partners.

But this language is not the move of church planters only. Well established churches like St. Andrews in Newport Beach, California are evaluating their language. Another example is the regional force known as Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach, Florida. In a process with them two weeks ago, they passionately refused to call their folks “volunteers” out of preference for the meaning that comes with the role of “partners.”

What about your church?

Sure, we are so well entrenched in the language of church membership, you make think it’s absurd to ask. And after all, isn’t the idea of “church membership” biblical? Paul does use body imagery to boldly remind believers that,  ”so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).

Despite it’s historic use and the viable connection to make with the Scriptures, I think its time for a shift. In fact, I think most churches would benefit dramatically from flushing the terminology of “church membership.” I recommend the change for one purpose: to make the mission of Jesus for His church more  clear and concrete in the hearts of our people.

Here are five reasons to start. You help me build the list!

#1 Membership is culturally hijacked terminology by its use from country clubs to platinum cards. Partnership is a term that carries less baggage and brings new metaphors biblically.

#2 Membership may emphasize privilege to the neglect of responsibility. Partnership emphasizes both.

#3 Membership could bring deeply rooted assumptions about church in general that are no longer valid for your church. Partnership creates an opportunity to reset expectations.

#4 Membership is a static. Partnership brings a sense of both action and direction.

#5 Membership is a relatively small portal for vision-casting. Partnership opens a dynamic metaphor range for future-orientation, impact, togetherness, adventure and risk-taking.  It captures the “sentness” of a missional reorientation.

Have you made the move yet?

If so, drop me a quick note to share what language you use.

In recent Neue article entitled “Full Disciple,” Scott McKnight answers an important question that I believe every church must answer for themselves:

“What kind of disciple is your church designed to produce.”

This question is so important, that we embed it into the Vision Frame which carries five irreducible questions of clarity. Until a church answers this for themselves they are, as McKnight skillfully articulates, “aiming at nothing”

Harry Caray, the late and much loved Chicago Cubs announcer. Used to quip that on a given day the Cubs got what they aimed at: nothing. The same is often true for churches when it comes to discipleship. It might sound unduly harsh, but many churches embody a kind of discipleship they are (sadly) aiming at: nothing.

They’ve got all the right programs, and they’ve got a preacher who can preach the congregation’s socks off, and they’ve got a band that rocks the house, but the average Christian leaves a week-to-week routine of attendance to live a week-to-week routine of … going on with what they go on with.

The church runs well, the money comes in, the money goes out, but discipleship doesn’t happen unless it’s intentional and personal and concrete and developmental and adjustable. But this takes careful planning-like weeks working on a mission statement and set of outcomes, exploring how those outcomes can be achieved, working with people to achieve those outcomes at a personal level, and then assessing both the people and the outcomes to see what needs to be done next. It is far easier to gather, sing songs, preach and go home.

You get what you aim at.

So what does McKnight suggest for his definition? He urges for seven dimensions of Kingdom Holiness:

1. Kingdom Understanding: A disciple is someone caught up in Jesus’ Kingdom
2. Kingdom Dreaming: A disciple is someone who is lost in the Kingdom dream of Jesus
3. Love: A disciple is someone who loves God and loves others with everything they’ve got.
4. Justice: A disciple is someone who is radically committed to doing what Jesus teaches and working toward conditions that reflect those teachings.
5. Peace: A disciple is someone who is at peace and works toward peace
6. Wisdom: A disciple is someone who is wise and seeks wisdom
7. Church: A disciple is someone who lives out his or her calling in the context of a local church.

Has your church gone through the process yet to articulate the measure of its mission?

The Church Unique Visual Summary has been a fun little project for me and the team at Auxano Design. I hope it helps you engage the concepts of Church Unique by way of review or for the first time, if you have not yet cracked the cover.

Check out the Visual Summary  full screen version in the reader below or download the PDF for free.

Who do you know who might benefit from the Visual Summary? Thanks for taking a moment to pass it on!

Focus is a challenging practice for any leader. But for pastors and leaders in the ministry space, its particularly difficult. Why? Our general motives, inspired by the grace of God and coupled with the plentiful opportunities of  people-needs, leave us more susceptible to saying “yes” to good things that aren’t the _____________ things. (Fill in the blank: great, best, God)

So how do we stay connected to the best of the best of the best things? How do we separate the good things from the God things? To illustrate three ultimate lessons in focus, I want to draw from the field of archery.

Ultimate Lesson #1: Find the Center of the Center

There are three things you can aim at when shooting at a target. You can aim at the target, you can aim at the bulls-eye, or you can aim at a point, chosen by your eye, within in the bulls-eye. This point is called the “center of the center.” This phrase describes a physical reality of the eye’s ability to focus that requires practice and training.

TRY IT: You can easily experience this by holding a coin at arms length. Your eyes can look at the entire coin, or one point on the coin that your eye arbitrarily selects.

The significance of aiming at the center of the center is huge. With this ability, one is more likely to hit the target. You may have heard the phrase, “Aim small, miss small; aim big, miss big.”

In ministry the ability to find the center of the center, translates to knowing precisely what you are called to do. Many churches are aiming at a target like “Love God and love people” or “make disciples.” Fewer have found a more specific bulls-eye. Very few find the “center of the center” that we call the Kingdom Concept. For example, a church I recently worked with began zeroing in on a Kingdom Concept like… [glorifying God and making disciples by...] changing expectations about life through worship that collides a small world mindset with the high expectations of God’s supernatural power leading to a one-year process commitment.

You may apply the principle personally as well. Sure we use assessments like strength-finders or personality profiles. Yes we take our spiritual gifts inventories. But what about a life-long, courageous pursuit of a life defined by what only you can do on planet earth? How specifically have you defined your calling?

Ultimate Lesson #2: Beware of Hard Vision

Hard vision occurs when your eyes focus on the center of the center to the neglect of everything else. There is almost a paradox here. The goal is to focus on a single point. Yet, if you focus too hard and too long on a point your eye muscles grow tired, get stiff and loose other “data” in the field of vision. The hard vision also makes more difficult for the rest of the body, in this case the archer’s arms, to relax and synchronize with the work of the eyes. So an archer with hard vision is more likely to err or flinch as the string is gently released by the fingers.

TRY IT with the coin again. Stare at one point for a few minutes. Drill into the “center of the center” with your eyes. Focus even more. After a while you will feel the effects of hard vision.

Have you ever met a godly person who seemed too rigid or too focused on a vision? Maybe they even had great focus, but something seemed wrong about their demeanor or overall approach to life. You were probably observing someone who had hard vision. The down side to having seen the “center of the center” is that you might become too entranced by it.

How then do you avoid the downfalls of hard vision?

Ultimate Lesson #3: Embrace Soft Vision

Soft vision is the ability to see the center of the center and simultaneously see other things. What other things might you want to see? In archery, you want to see the tip of your arrow. Soft vision is the ability to align everything you have in your hand (right in front of your face) with the center of the center (at a distance) at the same time. The eyes muscles don’t get tight and rigid, but stay relaxed.

TRY IT with the coin again. While focusing on the “center of the center” of a coin at arms length, raise the pointer finger of your other hand about six inches in front of your face. Bring the tip of your pointer finger in line with “center of the center.”

How does this translate to ministry? I make two applications.

First you must align what God has given you today with your focus.

• What is “in your hands?”
• What is your current resourcing?
• Who is on your team?
• What is your current strategy or programming emphasis?

You have to start with what you have and line it up with where you want to go. Think again of the archer’s arrow and the distant target.

Second, you must subordinate your focus with your walk with Jesus today. You must have soft vision by being flexible enough to see both your God-given focus with your God-ordained daily path.

• Who is God bringing across your path?
• What is happening that you didn’t expect?
• What is God trying to show you or teach you?
• What did the Spirit emphasize from the Word today?

Make no mistake— soft vision is not soft leadership. It is ruthlessly clear vision with graciously flexible execution.

How is your focus today? How does the illustration from archery help you take a positive next step?

1. Which one of these milestones gets me personally excited the most?
2. Which one of these milestones sparked an immediate positive response from the leadership team ?
3. Which milestone could create the most energy for most of the people in our church?
4. Does the milestone give us an inspiring step of faith and risk-taking posture without sounding totally absurd?
5. What milestone will keep us engaged even after the first 3 to 6 months?
6. Which milestone can we seeing translating creatively into all of our ministry departments?
7. What milestone would provide our congregation with a deep abiding sense of accomplishment, and really get us excited to engage another milestone?