Things That Must Be Broken PT01

Continuing with "Church Unique" by Will Mancini.

Part I = Recasting Vision

It seems that key to this part of the book is to discover what must be broken in order to move ahead.

Perhaps this section seeks to answer the question of what barriers are hindering a local congregation from fully engaging and benefiting from God's unique design and mission he has created this specific congregation to fulfill.

The First Chapter of Part 1: Unoriginal Sin

Unoriginal Sin - the sin of neglecting God-created design and uniqueness and looking for shortcuts to growth by comparing oneself to others and trying to wear their armor (like Saul encouraged David to do before facing Goliath).

"...the essence of recasting vision. The starting point for vision --- for thinking about our church's future --- is not deciding where we want to go or exploring what is working for other churches but understanding how we are unique" (6).

So the deep question; the question that will help us move forward is "How are we unique?"

To answer such a question we must understand something about the question and about ourselves.

First, as living beings we grow and develop over time. Therefore, it is entirely possible that what we were five years ago is not necessarily what we are today and likewise, what we are today may not be what we will be five years from now. Perhaps this is why we speak of this discovery and living of this unique identity as a movement.

Second, self-discovery is the pinnacle of moving forward. This is true personally and is also true corporately. As an individual who attended seminary, I attended as many classes about counseling and conflict resolution as I could. During those classes, I found that before I could lead a church in becoming healthy together; I had to first do the hard work of discovering myself and leading my self towards being healthy. Something to which I am still working on. Though in the process I have found my unique passion: "My passion is to learn, live and teach the way of Jesus in everyday life." That statement give me courage to keep going even when everything seems to be failing. That statement gives me resource for discovery and rediscovery. That statement grew out of a five year search. Will that statement always fit me? Perhaps, and yet I am willing to walk the unknown path of rediscovering and being remade as the Father sees fit.

Third, this unique identity as with any living organism has the potential for changing and adapting to new environments that come our way. It's not a once and for all solution to all of our problems but produces the framework for growth, discovery, rediscovery, resurrection and living through change.

Fourth, it's okay that we are not necessarily there yet; but are continually committed to discovering who we are and striving to be the best we can be at who God created us to be.

I hope that this adventure in self-discovery leads to resurrection life as a church together.