Will Mancini

Jeff Harris of Grace Point Church in San Antonio provides a six-minute overview to their leadership community of their Kingdom Concept and refined mission.

This is what it’s about: a clear  simple mission with the substance of serious reflection behind it. Right after I watched this video, I dreamed of a day when pastors at conferences don’t announce or asked how many attenders they have at their church, but rather, they ask, “What is your Kingdom Concept?” 

Jeff is one of Auxano’s navigators. As a full-time pastor he takes one church at a time through Church Unique’s vision pathway. Jeff is one of the most passionate and strategic missional leaders I know.

As I put the polishing touches on some of the Church Unique Vision Kit stuff, I am a reviewing 4 reasons why simple design equals vibrant growth. I think of these reasons as a two-sided coin. One side is the benefit to the individual, the other is the benefit to the organization, and in particular the staff and leaders who guide it. Each statement shows the benefits to me and us respectively.

A simple ministry design or “strategy” at your church means:

#1 Fewer choices for me, and simpler structure for us. Why do we think that people want more options today? They want the best, right options and don’t have time to waste. Why do we allow our ministry nuts and bolts, including communication to be so cluttered? 

#2 A clearer pathway for me and real synergy for us. Wouldn’t you like more people engaged in your church? You think you have communicated the “how” to them, but the fact it is, it is still more fuzzy for them than you realize. What would happen if the staff had a really clear game plan that redefined how they can work together?

#3 Better quality for me and focused energy for us. Would you like to immediately and dramatically increase the quality of your best ministry environments? How would people respond if you did?

#4 More life for me and less activity for us. Are your best people at your church just flat at tired? Are you? Why do we insist at having more stuff, when Jesus really isn’t calling us to run programs? Is it possible that less ministry activity really could mean more abundant life and more healthy followers of Christ? 

If these ideas peak your interest, let me know by leaving a short comment and I will post more on this section or e-mail this portion from Church Unique to you. Thanks!

When I was on staff at Clear Creek Community Church, we brought in some consultants who eventually “dropped the ball” with regard to our expectations. In the midst of dealing with the problem and the disconnect on deliverables  they did an excellent job listening and re-calibrating expectations with us. What I learned that day as a solution to a problem I have embedded proactively and preemptively into most of my own consulting with Auxano.  I call it the “Expectations Exercise.” It’s incredibly simple and profound.

Here’s how it works. Usually in a collaborative environment, there are people with different levels of exposure to me and why we are in the room. In addition, people always have varying opinions. So I never start a long-term relationship without requiring every person around the table to state their expectations- their hopes, their dreams, their fears- for our journey together. (I give them an out if they honestly have no expectations.) I will listen, and then summarize their thoughts on the whiteboard. I then keep these ideas before us during the process. The exercise accomplishes three things:

1) It gives me huge insight into their perspective as we begin together.

2) It provides content to stokes the flames of “why we are here” in the middle of a longer engagement when people might loose perspective.

3) It clarifies the scorecard and allows me to mark progress and celebrate wins through the consulting engagement.

Use this exercise and you’ll be glad you did.

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!

Before engaging this post, please know that I want you to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus for the Glory of God.  The challenge is simply a matter of how. Here is the Tribes quote I would like you to consider:

Almost all growth that’s available to you exists when you aren’t like “most people” and when you work hard to appeal to folks who aren’t “most people.”

We often talk about the downside of trying to be “all things to all people” through an organizational approach to ministry that leaves us “nothing to anybody.”

Seth Godin introduces another way of looking at the same tension, by using the phrase “most people.” In a nutshell he shares that tribes have dramatic results when stop trying to reach “most people” and can focus on their strength, their niche and their unique vision.  

Even strategic church leaders can slip into a subtle desperation of wanting to reach “most people” and miss the opportunity to leverage their strengths to reach more people. Again we run into the dynamic, counter-intuitive principle that focus expands. 

Its that simple- do you want to reach “most people” or more people? 

• How are the people in the community God has given you to reach not like “most people?”
• How are you and your team not like “most people?”
• How does your ________________ limit you from reaching “most people?”  Insert in blank: Church building (or lack of), programs, worship style, denomination, etc.
• Look at the ministry of Jesus.  Was he always trying to reach “most people?”
• Consider the four Gospels. Why are there four? Was each one written to “most people?”
• How would you summarize the people you are best at reaching with five words? 

Note: Some of these question are not easy and may lead to very robust conversations. Engage the dialogue and work through to clarity.