Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement

by Will Mancini, Max Lucado (Foreword)

Written by church consultant Will Mancini expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church's individual DNA and unleash their congregation's one-of-a-kind potential.

Genres: Leadership, Church, Christian, Christianity, Ecclesiology, Nonfiction, Church Ministry

304 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2008

Reviews

[David S S. Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rethinking Church

This book is a little dated but still relevant. I think it’s helpful to any church or ministry leader (or someone who someday hopes to start or lead a ministry) to see what the unique calling God has for you, the people and communities around you and the unique needs and opportunities you are equipped or passionate about.

Don’t be a cookie cutter church, be true to your calling and be unique in your expression of that call.

[Josh Loomis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mancini’s insistence that churches have unique visions is both challenging and encouraging. The amount of charts and graphics within the book can provide a solid framework for any church to understand God’s unique purpose for their community. As a church planter I could not recommend this book enough for any church who struggles to know exactly what they’re about.

[jacob van sickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways this book is a run-of-the-mill church growth and strategic planning book with all the usual strengths and weaknesses. Two things however make Church Unique stand out - the Kingdom Concept and the Vision Frame. The Kingdom Concept is a way for churches to assess context, team and focus in a strategic way. The Vision Frame is a way to connect the mission, measures, strategy and values to the overall vision of the church. These are normal leadership principles but Mancini takes it to another level of clarity. Below are my notes:

——-

Introduction

- “If the primary focus, or paradigm for effectiveness, is trying to enhance your limitations, you will end up worse than when you started.” (Xxii)
- Silver bullet ministry models are not contextualized and specific to individual churches (xxiv)
- THESIS “So what does Church Unique promise? It presents ideas of how to discern your ‘corporate grace’ and surrounding micro culture, as well as how to synthesize these into your unique Vision Pathway.” (Xxvi)

Part 1 - Recasting Vision

Chapter 1 - Unoriginal sin: Neglecting Uniqueness
- Sermon fodder - Pumpkin growing to pit a jar analogy (3)
- Definition of culture - Culture is the combined effect of the interacting values, thoughts, attitudes and actions that define the life of your church.” (7)
- Another definition “unspoken rules about how things get done”
- Buzzchurch vs stuckchurch (13-14)
- Conference maze (14)
- Thinkhole summary (16)

Chapter 2 - The Fall of Strategic Planning: Obscuring the Essence
- Definition of Strategic Planning - “the process of determining the overall direction of the organization and then breaking down that broader direction into objectives that are divided into smaller, more measurable actions steps and goals.” (18)
- Strategic Plan fallacies summary (26)

Chapter 3 - The iniquity of church growth: caging the kingdom
- Great historical overview of the Church Growth Movement (29-39)

Chapter 4 - Lost Congregations: How churches adapt to the vision vacuum
- A building project can become a cheap substitute for real vision (43)
- A leader’s personality can become the vision of a church (43)
- Programs can be the vision of a church (44)
- People who “know my name” can become the vision of a church (45)

Part 2 - Clarifying Vision
- Sermon fodder - Brick laying analogy

Chapter 5 - The Good News of Clarity: Why Believe in Vision Today
- The benefit of clarity - best takeaway: clarity makes…
- Uniqueness undeniable
- Direction unquestionable
- Enthusiasm transferable
- Work meaningful
- Synergy possible
- Success definable
- Focus sustainable
- Leadership credible (54)
- Great quote: “New levels bring new devils” The higher the position the more you need to fight for clarity (55)
- Stupid: Quoting Rob Bell (59)

Chapter 6 - Clarity Pre-Evangelism: Softening Your Heart for Clarity
- “Listen till you glisten” (64)
- 100-80 rule - don’t shoot for 80% getting 100% of what they want. Shoot for 100% getting 80% of what they want. This will produce true buy in.

Chapter 7 - The Alpha and Omega of Clarity: The Ultimate Source of Vision
Chapter 8 - The Hear the Clouds of Witness: Learning from Vision Legacies

Chapter 9 - Discover Your Kingdom Concept: How to Ascertain Vision
- Andrew Wyeth: “Most artists look for something fresh to paint; frankly I find that quite boring. For me it is much more exciting to find fresh meaning in something familiar.” (83)
- Sermon Fodder - Andrew Wyeth, localism and art
- Kingdom Concept = local predicament (our context), collective potential (our team), apostolic espirit (our focus)- very helpful (85)
- Great list of questions for churches (86-87) the rest of the chapter is full of good questions

Chapter 10 - Take a Closer Look: Navigating Your Discovery Process
- Examples of Kingdom Concept (103)

Part 3 - Articulating Vision

Chapter 11 - See with New Eyes: Defining Your Vision Frame
- Vision Frame (113):
- Mission (missional mandate) = a clear and concise statement that describes what the church is ultimately supposed to be doing. What are we doing?
- Values (missional motives) = Shared convictions that guide the actions and reveal the strength of the church. Why are we doing?
- Strategy (missional map) = how will the church accomplish the mission. How are we doing it?
- Measures (missional life marks) = attributes that define or reflect accomplishment. When are we successful?
- Vision Proper (missional mountaintops + milestones) = Living language that anticipates and illustrates God’s better intermediate future. Where is God taking us?
- A good vision is clear, concise, compelling, catalytic, contextual all of this is contagious (116)

Chapter 12 - Carry the Holy Orders: Mission as Missional Mandate
- Bad mission statements are too long, generic, and too technical (123)
- Examples of mission statements (125)
- Structure for mission statements (126)
- Mark Twain: “It is not what I don’t know about the Bible that bothers me; it is what I know.” (127)

Chapter 13 - Feel the common heartbeat: Values as Missional Motives
- How to write a core values (130-131)

Chapter 14 - Show me the way: Strategy as missional map
- Examples of strategies (148)
- “Growing people grow people. Consuming people consume programs” (150)

Chapter 15 - Talk the Walk: Measures as Missional Life Marks
- The mission is what you measure (152)
- Shift from measuring the ABCs (Attendance, buildings and cash) to measuring soul formation. (152-153)
- Widely Used Marks:
- The Navigator Wheel
- Willow Creeks 5 Gs
- Examples (158)

Chapter 16 - Frame the Future: Preparing for a Vision Life Style
- Vision Frame Summary (167)
- Different types of people interact with a vision differently. The Vision Frame incorporates all of them. (173)
- Process People want the strategy
- Results Oriented people want the measures
- Emotive people want an exciting vision…

Chapter 17 - Speak with New Tongues: Articulating Vision Proper
- Antoine de Saint Exupery: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” (178)
- Looking at a brochure is different from looking at a compass. The brochure is the vision. (178)
- Difference between Mission and Vision (179)
- “Have you ever been on an exhausting hike, only to be surprisingly refreshed by a breathtaking view?” The way to use vision (180)
- Personal Appeal. “You have to remind people why they would want to listen to you. Who are you to them?” (185)
- John Maxwell “Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.” (185)
- When you cast vision have immediate action ready (187)

Part Four - Advancing the Vision
- Sermon Fodder: House analogy (people’s preferences change) (195)

Chapter 18 - Wage War against the status quo: From articulation to traction
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “It may be that the day of judgement will dawn tomorrow; in that case we will gladly stop working toward a better future. But not before.” (197)
- When you repair a car it is not moving

Chapter 19 - Meet long in the upper room: The secret of attunement
- Attunement to the Vision:
- Stowaways: people who don’t know the vision and don’t want to participate
- Passenger: People who know the vision and don’t want to participate
- Crew: People who know the vision and do want to contribute
- Pirates: People who don’t know the vision but wan to contribute (211)
- “Love doesn’t consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction.” (214)

Chapter 20 - Transform the Future: Delivering Vision Daily
- Sermon Fodder: The history of the wave (215)
- Hire people based on the vision and what is needed to accomplish the vision. Great guide. (219)

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended to us by Jim Ozier, the New Church Developer in the North Texas Conference. I found Mancini's idea of a vision frame helpful in terms of getting a lot of work we had done in the past (mission, values, strategy, etc.) onto one page. Mancini also offered one side to a frame that we had not thought through clearly: marks. Marks answer the question, what kind of Christian are you trying to nurture or form? We have not done as much work around this as we would like to. Mancini promoted us to continue thinking more deeply on this matter. What marks distinguish the kind of Christian we are wanting our church to produce?

Mancini also helped provide some much need motivation to be more creative in our presentation and communication of vision. We use metaphors all the time to communicate in worship, but when it comes to vision, Mancini showed us that we were woefully inadequate in engaging the imagination. We tend to put vision out there in very bland terms without much attempt to inspire.

Mancini's book helped us put together our own vision frame that will help streamline decision making and give direction to our vision in the future. It was a unique take on vision meant to help churches find their unique kingdom mission. I'd recommend this to any church leader looking for a way to think through and conceptualize vision for his or her local unique church.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read on church leadership this decade. It has a great combination of theory and practice. Every church leader should read this book and consider whether or not his or her church has truly discovered its vision. I'm going to read this book again, at least one more time.

The basic concept of the book is that too many churches simply copy what either Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, or Bill Hybels have as their vision of what their church is about and try to apply their vision to their own church. The problem is that each person has a unique blend of giftedness and passions that will drive how they lead the church. What are stated as aspired values and vision may not be the church's actual vision and values.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. It will shape your understanding of how to establish clear vision for church leadership.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I tried to get through this extremely thoughtful book on vision & church culture I managed to read about half the book before returning it to the library - I decided I needed to get my own copy as it is NOT a "read in one sitting" kind of book. It's a fantastic reference on building vision & values unique to a particular church.

The second time through I've been absolutely drawn into Will Mancini's powerful insights into the tendency of church leaders to "photocopy vision" and stifle God's work by attempting to replicate other successes rather than simply seek the unique way that God has created a particular church to function.

Here's a link to a free resource from Will Mancini - a 50+ page visual summary of the book:
http://www.willmancini.com/2011/04/th...

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would probably find this book more helpful if I was currently working with a bigger church. Since my current church and organizations I am involved in are less than 35 people and in an inner city context, much of the book seems to be less relevant to my ministry. Nevertheless, I can see how some of his insights can be applied. Generally, it was helpful to see how someone who consults with many big churches about shifting towards being more missional thinks about churches and how to cast vision.

[Paul King · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an era when many congregations drift toward program overload or mere imitation of “successful” models, Will Mancini offers a clarion call to rediscover each church’s God‑given DNA. Church Unique is aimed at pastors, planters, and ministry teams who long for clarity of calling and sustainable movement, rather than replication of someone else’s success. Mancini, founder of Auxano (a church strategy firm), combines organizational leadership principles with biblical conviction to help churches articulate and live out their unique Kingdom contribution.

Mancini’s central argument is that clarity precedes effectiveness: churches must first discern their unique “Kingdom Concept” (the intersection of congregational gifts, local needs, and leadership passion) before crafting strategy, casting vision, and shaping culture. Without this foundational clarity, even the best programs or buildings will fail to generate lasting missional movement.

• Cultural & Ecclesial Setting: Written in response to the “megachurch syndrome” of the early 2000s, where size and seeker‑sensitive programs often overshadowed theological and missional integrity.
• Organizational Leadership Influence: Mancini adapts frameworks from business strategy (e.g., vision framing) and applies them to ecclesiology, insisting that churches borrow tactics, not DNA, from other organizations.
• Biblical Foundation: While not a verse‑by‑verse exposition, the book is rooted in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20), Acts’s portrayal of early church identity, and the prophetic call to authenticity and contextual sensitivity.

1. The Clarity Crisis – Diagnoses the epidemic of assumed or borrowed vision.
2. Vision Frame – Introduces four quadrants (Mission, Values, Strategy, Measures) surrounding a central Vision Proper.
3. Kingdom Concept – Defines the unique niche at the crossroads of local predicament, collective potential, and apostolic esprit.
4. Code of Movement – Offers principles for catalyzing culture: communication rhythms, personal modeling, and structural alignment.
5. Vision Pathway – Lays out a five‑step journey: Define Reality, Discern DNA, Design Frame, Deliver Vision, Drive Movement.

Each chapter concludes with reflection questions and practical exercises, making the book a hands‑on workbook rather than merely a theoretical treatise.

Strengths:
• Practical Frameworks: The Vision Frame and Vision Pathway offer concrete steps, checklists, and diagnostic tools that translate easily into board retreats or staff workshops.
• Missional Integrity: Mancini keeps the Great Commission front and center, reminding readers that strategy must flow from theology, not vice versa.
• Cultural Adaptability: By emphasizing local context, the book avoids the one‑size‑fits‑all trap and empowers smaller, rural, or non‑Western congregations to lean into their strengths.

Limitations:
• Organizational Jargon: At times the business‑style language (“brand promise,” “market position”) can feel foreign or overly corporate for congregational settings.
• Depth of Theological Engagement: Readers seeking robust biblical exegesis or engagement with ecclesial traditions may find the treatment of Scripture more illustrative than exegetical.
• Movement vs. Maturity Tension: While the focus on forward motion is energizing, there is less attention to the spiritual formation and discipleship rhythms that sustain long‑term health.

Church Unique succeeds brilliantly as a strategic primer for churches weary of imitation and seeking to honor their distinct calling. Mancini’s gift is helping leaders move from vague aspirations (“We want to be relevant!”) to crystallized vision (“We exist to ____ in this community by ____”). Although its organizational tone may require adaptation for more theologically oriented contexts, the core call—to discover and steward your church’s unique DNA—is both biblical and transformative.

For any ministry leader wrestling with drift, program overload, or lost identity, Church Unique offers a wise, battle‑tested roadmap to clarity, culture, and catalytic movement.

[Wesley Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was part of a recent class/cohort I participated in that was designed by the North American Mission Board. The class was called MULTIPLY, and was designed to, "develop strong, healthy leaders through a unique approach using 12 leadership competencies." The class is targeted at possible church planters and re-planters. I am currently serving as a layleader in our church, teaching the Kids Bible Time during Sunday mornings.

The class' required texts were "Church Unique" by Will Mancini, along with:

"Kingdom First: Starting Churches that Shape Movements" by Jeff Christopherson.
"It's Personal" by Brian and Amy Love
"Missional Renaissance" by Reggie McNeal

We will finish up the class tomorrow. I was in a class led by a veteran pastor, along with four other pastors.

Out of the four books in our class/cohort, "Church Unique" was the most helpful to me. It provided a solid background and reasoning to church plant/re-plant and showed me how to think deeply, wrestle over, pray over and how one would move forward with a church plant/replant. Mancini used simple and relevant examples throughout and showed me how other church plants and replants utilized his book to effectively disciple members of their church, and grow the Kingdom. A church planter needs to have vision, needs to effectively capture the culture they are in and create/develop leaders to focus on movement in the church body. His Vision Frame exercise throughout the book was enormously helpful about how to think about the plant, the ministry context and the community that a planter would be in. I finished up my Vision Frame last week and it...actually makes sense! I also liked the key points to remember throughout the text; I used my highlighter regularly. The concepts presented in this book will stay with me in ministry and if I am ever called to pastor a church, or church plant...you bet I will reference this "Church Unique" again, along with "Its Personal" and possibly "Kingdom First".

[Stan Rea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a church growth strategy book. Make no mistake, that is what it is. The book, like all church growth strategy books, wants you to believe this one is different, this one is the "right" church growth strategy therefore, it's not just a church growth strategy, it's God's plan for your church. My proof is in the bibliography. Virually all of the books are either business/strategy books or other church growth books.

The main concept of this book can be summarized as God's individual, perfect will for your church. If you are of the opinion that God has an individual plan for you that differs from any other believer then you will understand the thought process. God has an individual, perfect will for your church and it is incumbent upon the Pastor, leaders and members of the church to discover what that is and then to follow it.

The book depends on the belief, although it is never proven, that the local church, is God's preferred (perfect) way of bringing His kingdom to the world. The irony to me is that the author left a local church to start his parachurch organization.

The target audience for the church are the leaders of new-ish (less than 15 years old) that are growing and may have gone a little off course. This church may have grown quicker than expected with the resulting issues that come from unexpected growth. Or, the growth may have stalled and the leadership wants to re-think their process.

Finally I think that the process fundamentally will work. I don't believe this because I think the author's main concept is correct (God has a perfect will for your church) but because the bottom line process involves carefully reviewing all aspects of a church's ministry and examining them for effectiveness. This is almost always a good thing and should be a part of any ministry (and business or organization or person for that matter). Be warned though, the process will take time (the author suggests up to 3 years) and it will probably cost your organization members (see the discussion on the "blessed subtraction")

[Albert Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently pulled this off my shelf to guide me as a resource in moving our church plant into what I saw sequentially as the next place the Lord was calling us to enter into with Him.

Having colored it profusely with highlighter's and marginal note's while in seminary, I was quickly reminded of the prominence this book would hold through syncing together various missional ideals. Many of which have become somewhat popular today by pastor's who many times do not grasp the deeper dynamics of their origins.

This book quickly moved from being a resource to a roadmap in how to cultivate and identify the Kingdom Concept of the ministry we were leading, which included one's own leadership capacity; the gifting of those we served with, and the needs of the community that were directly proportional to gifts instilled with our group.

Believe me when I say that the previous statement alone is worth the sacrifice of time pondering you will exhaust to gain an advantage over and against the satanic devices that often create depression, apathy and the deceptive feelings of irrelevancy.

It is a treasure to read and immerse oneself in. The relevant examples are birthed from international narrative with rich orthodox origins. It is open and inviting to those who have the backbone to be the kind of "unique" presence in the earth our Heavenly Father has established us to be.

You won't be disappointed.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mission for all churches is the same. We are to bring glory to God by making disciples who make disciples; by faithfully fulfilling the Great Commission. But what does that look like to the local church? Will Mancini contends that God has given each church a unique vision for how to live out this mission. It's time to jettison the cookie cutters, time to stop looking at "successful" churches, time to roll up your sleeves in prayer and hard work to determine your own Church Unique.

Second time reading this book and while it can be a bit of a mouthful at times, Mancini is not the most concise individual, it is outstanding.

[Josh Holler · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there are several insights peppered throughout the book that are very practical, I had to fight to finish this one. The author gives too much credibility to the variety in how one can "do church" that at several points I thought, "the Bible, the ministry of Christ, the Gospel, (and so on) would be a good thing to consider at this point." Jesus has a vision for His church. We should consider that before giving credence to the numerous charts and frameworks found within this book. He has some things to say that could be useful. But I am largely underwhelmed.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe this is a helpful resource for people who are beginning to think about their church’s vision and mission, but the ecclesiology is assumed in this book. Also, the author argues that his book will allow each church to be their unique selves compared to their neighbouring church, but all the examples in the book reflect one single understanding of mission and ecclesiology. I think more work needs to be done to reflect the diversity of ecclesiology within the body of Christ through a church codification process.

[Evan Hoekzema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I definitely enjoyed this book. The main thrust of the book is a call to churches not to copy the latest model but to truly ask what their specific calling is in the midst of the larger Kingdom. What can your church do better than a thousand others? It felt like a book trying to help maximize your local expression be effective (however they define success), rather than try to make a bunch of carbon copies and look-a-likes. One I’m sure I’ll come back to!

[Mike Lovato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read on discovering God's unique vision for you church

I was thoroughly challenged and encouraged by Mancini's book. It takes all that I've previously read about mission, vision, and strategy and gives it a practical process for how to discover God's unique vision for a local church, rather than simply copying someone else's.

[Nickolas Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mancini does an excellent job of introducing the church vision casting process. He forms it in a systematic way that makes it applicable to the church of any size. It’s definitely a must read when leading change in a church. His process is not a one-size fits all and he recognizes that from the start. Overall, an excellent work for the church vision development process.

[J. A. Littler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mancini offers a clear challenge for pastors and church leaders to have a unique vision and active focus in reaching their communities. His insights are not always practicable or doctrine-driven (for confessional churches), but they are nonetheless helping in inspiring the pastor to communicate the church's vision well in a very "noisy" 21st-century America.

[Rocky Woolery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intriguing. I must say that the definition of vision that Mancini gives is much more convincing than other books I've read. I look forward to implementing the ideas and concepts in this book. I think this is a must read for anyone in church leadership.

[Rand Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vision and mission are not my thing. I thought Mancini could have distilled the vision frame into maybe 50 pages. for the vision implementer in me, the last section was pretty good...which is a good kick off to Mancini's follow-up book, God Dreams. More my cup of tea.

[Bob Ayres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Mancini is a top-level writer communicating essential insights for church growth based on the uniqueness of its setting, membership, and leadership. One of the best books on this topic I've read. Highly recommended for church leadership.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

100 pages to get started, but once it starts, the book has some good content.

However, Mancini critiques traditional mission, vision, and values statements along with strategic planning, but then proposes a barely-adapted version of the same systems himself, but with capitalized titles.

[Lea Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great attention to detail

Church Unique is a blend of the motivational and practical advice churches need to discover their DNA. I found Church Unique to be a thorough and thought-provoking read.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear and simple process for every church to identify and create their God-given vision!

[Philmont · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

When thinking about the vision of your church it can be a daunting task. This book walks you through it step by step.

[Wassenario · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thoughts for those interested/involved in church leadership. Almost too much to comprehend. I was drinking out of the firehose!

[Ruben Floreal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a great book packed with practical insights for church planters, pastors and lay leaders. It is definitely a great resource.

[Jayce O'Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems more based in concept than practice. Some good ideas but comments on good practices seemed biased.

[Mark Satterfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook style read.

[Danny Theurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful and helpful book. Be sure you read this AFTER you read Mancini’s Future Church book. This book is a crazy clear “how” to the issues that Future Church reveals.