Church Unique by Will Mancini is about helping a church find their particular vision (a Vision Pathway). Mancini proposes a three part process in this Vision Pathway: Discover your Kingdom Concept, Develop your Vision Frame, and Deliver your Vision Daily.
Pros:
This book was recommended for some of the features that it would offer, specifically, the Missional Motives and Missional Map portions of the Vision Frame. Filled with examples, Mancini gives some good direction on how to move forward in the murky world on vision casting. He also gives a solid critique of those who simply copy models looking for a silver bullet and identifies the sin of growth idolatry. Mancini is quite thorough and detailed throughout. Complete with a chapter on the history of the 'church growth' movement, Church Unique is well written with great charts and pertinent illustrations.
Cons:
Mancini seems to downplay the importance of doctrine in your Vision Pathway (see pp 123 & 132 for examples). At times Mancini comes across in a very black & white sort of way when it seems unwarranted or unsupported (see p 219 on hiring staff and p 201 on how soon a church can achieve the 'collaboration' stage). And this is thick reading.
While Mancini is very helpful in parts (especially for the reason I purchased it), the rest will have to simmer for a while for me to be able to make a decent verdict. With that being said, there is enough well done material to make this a worthy volume to have as a resource on church vision.
3 comments:
Thanks for your thoughtful review of the book. It is a thick read and I tell people that is a "resource" more than a "read." One of the things we are doing is creating free downloadable resources to make the content more accessible for discussion in groups - goto churchunique.com
- Will Mancini
I appreciate your willingness to help churches as well as your desire to be a "clarity evangelist." I will certainly be looking at your website for some helpful material that can be used in a discussion group. Didn't realize (until I saw your site) that you coauthored Building Leaders with Aubrey Malphurs - an excellent book!
Thanks for your thoughtful review of the book. It is a thick read and I tell people that is a "resource" more than a "read."
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Julie
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