Unique 19

Unique 19

We all love great stories. And if you are a church leader, you especially love fresh stories of our Savior-King, Jesus.

A few years ago, we began to grow weary of church success stories that were exclusively about worship attendance. Don’t get me wrong— we celebrate, as readily as anyone, the work of God that explodes with numeric fruit. But we all know that Jesus is moving in ways less visible— or should we say, less platformed— across North America.

So the Auxano team decided to create “a list for the rest of us” – the Unique 19. We want to salute the hard work of creative and faithful visionaries that may never make the “100 largest”or “fastest growing” list. We want to inspire worship of Jesus, the chief visionary and kingdom entrepreneur whose follower-leaders are taking small towns and niche communities by storm. We want to stoke vibrant imagination in every pastor and see new models emerge where photocopied strategies have kept us stuck.

We think you’ll enjoy each release of the Unique 19. Every year we will highlight 19 different, unique churches. Throughout the year we will give a peak under the hood, a few churches at a time— different sizes, distinct locales and various faith tribes. What unique vision has God given to these pastors? What bold values and emerging strategies have come to life? How are leaders redefining the scorecard of business-as-usual church?  

May these stories stretch your mind and strengthen your heart!

The Unique 19 is brought to you by the team at Auxano. We navigate leaders through growth challenges with vision clarity. Learn more about Auxano.

Click to Download Published Issues:

2013 – Issue #4 – The Cove, WordServe, LakePointe Church, Harvest Christian Fellowship

U19 Issue #4 Download

2013 – Issue #3 – St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, Renovatus, Scum of the Earth, Trinity Grace

U19 Issue #3 Download

2013 – Issue #2 – Northwest Bible Church, Mosaic Church, Redemption Church, 360 Church

U19 Issue #2 Download

2013 – Issue #1 – Meadow Heights, Revolution 216, Chapelwood UMC, Flood Church

U19_PDF_Icon

The 2013 Unique 19 Churches:

  • Chapelwood UMC, Houston, TX – A Grace-soaked culture leads to Grace-soaked lives
  • Revolution 216, Cleveland, OH – The hip hop church where misfits fit
  • Meadow Heights, MO – An unstoppable force in an improbable place
  • Flood Church, San Diego, CA – Reaching an unreached generation
  • Northwest Bible Church, Dallas, TX – Where it’s OK to not be fine
  • Mosaic Church, Little Rock, AR – Pursuing unity to create real community transformation
  • Redemption Church, Tempe, AZ – We can accomplish more together than we can apart
  • 360 Church, Sarasota, FL  – Building a courageous church with a 1-to-1 relational mindset
  • St. Andrews Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA – Redefining the Good Life
  • Renovatus, Charlotte, NC – A church of people under renovation – liars, dreamers and misfits
  • Scum of the Earth, Denver, CO – A church for the right-brained and left-out
  • Trinity Grace, New York, NY – Joining God with the renewal of the city
  • The Cove, Moorseville, NC – 1,000 Neighborhood Campuses in Race City, USA
  • WordServe, Fulshear, TX – Typical Suburb, Totally New Scorecard
  • LakePointe Church, Little Rock, AR – Making it harder to go to hell in Hot Springs
  • Harvest Christian Fellowship, Plainview, TX – After the Father’s heart amid the independence of west Texas
  • New City Church, Los Angeles, CA – Bringing together the forgotten and the fortunate across Los Angeles
  • Good Shepherd UMC, Charlotte, NC – De-weirding the Holy Spirit
  • Harvest Church, Billings, MT – Living the Way of Jesus, Out of the Way

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

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