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An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind

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Just when you think you understand what the church should be and the place church has in society you meet Erwin McManus-an original, who follows no one's mold but is certainly charting a new path that others will want to follow. He has profound insight into the big picture of the patterns of church and culture and how we can best influence the world around us. His church is comprised of people from 50 nations in the heart of East Los Angeles. He believes that "institutions preserve culture, while movements create culture.... There is a radical difference between leading one person to faith and leading a people to faith. The former produces a follower of Jesus Christ; the latter produces a movement of Jesus Christ. A genuine movement is a leadership culture." "It is more important to change what people care about than to change what they believe! You can believe without caring, but you can't care without believing." "If you're not willing to create problems, you're not willing to lead. Leaders create problems by changing expectations."

Erwin's church, Mosaic, has creatively expressed their purposes through the use of five elemental metaphors: Evangelism is the Mission represented by Wind; Fellowship is Water; Service is Wood, Worship is Fire and Discipleship is Earth. Talk about "branding" concepts...every time we feel the wind we think of our mission! Every time we work in the yard we think of the four soils!

Just as anything must be built from three basic shapes (circles, rectangles and triangles) and with three basic colors (yellow, blue and red) so everything in the church can be built from the basic spiritual elements of faith, hope and love. All they do is through the creative expression of the blending of these elements.

Erwin does not believe in a "step by step" growth process but truly believes that even the youngest believers can be involved in ministering to others. He uses arts, music, drama etc to communicate his message in a variety of church settings, from traditional to a nightclub setting. This is a definite "must read" if you want to get a glimpse of what the church may look like in this century.

As soon as I knew that Erwin's first book was available I ordered it. Erwin McManus leads a church in Los Angeles that is unlike any church I have ever encountered. This book goes through much of the foundational patterns of the church, Mosaic, and Erwin's personal vision for church in the 21st Century. The work begins with some of the things that have gone wrong with church in the modern era. The author mentions that church is treated as an organization instead of a living organism. He argues that church must be treated as a living organism to awaken an apostolic ethos, which unleashed the movement of God. I can say with great certainty that not too many churches are thinking this way. Every church that I involved myself with, whether as a volunteer, or paid ministry professional, treated church as a business for God. Business systems are fine for the business world, but what the author argues for is that church be treated as a living organism, a species, that must adapt and change to remain culturally relevant. He argues that when church is a living organism, its members will reproduce new believers, small groups will reproduce communities of faith, and the church will unleash the apostolic movement of God.
The author next moves us towards how the church has become stagnant. He rails us to not be stuck in a safe theology, rather for us to move towards engaging what Christ envisioned as a dangerous faith. One of the more interesting pieces of this work is when the author notes that the only storm that can sink a church is the storm that rages from within. From my own experience, joining a church after it had split over a small issue, this rings completely true and close to home. How many times have churches split over issues ranging from what color the carpet will be to what to do with the missions' budget for the following year. It seems to me that God is looking down upon us and grabbing his hair in frustration.
This book became even more important to me personally in wake of the recent tragedies in New York City and Washington, D.C. The author informs us that Globalization and a mass urbanization is taking place all around us whether we like it or not, and churches need to do something to handle this new change, risk extinction. Time and time again I see churches near the city whose neighborhoods have changed, and they have done nothing about it. The so-called transitional communities, change, and become ethnically diverse, and the original church members move to the newer suburbs, and there is no shift in what the church looks like. The new people in the neighborhood have no place to attend worship; they simply are not going to attend a church where they are not represented in leadership. The author commands us to change, to be a living organism as a church, to move past being purpose driven, and being alive. Many church models over the past two decades focus on get the new people in, train them up, and send them out. This model was fine in a more ethnically stagnant climate which we dwelt in during the modern era. What the author commands us to do is to move back to the past, so we can see the future.
Other authors, such as Robert Webber, and Leonard Sweet echo what Erwin calls us to do, have a radical new vision for church in the postmodern era. To emulate the apostles and how 12 men and their followers changed the face of the world. The author challenges us to find, or to ourselves be catalytic leaders who are not afraid to move fast and move others quickly with us. While not everyone will be a catalytic movement leader, when the church or body of believers finds a catalytic movement leader, let us not snuff them out. To many times churches that refuse to change, whose feet are stuck in spiritual cement, refuse to identify, and then develop leaders who will awaken the church from the slumber of decline. This needs to change. While this author's work definitely does not provide a ten step plan to improve your church, he does more. Erwin McManus calls us to reexamine everything about how we do church. If we hope to survive and thrive in an era where Islam in the fastest growing religion in the United States, we all should take heed to what Erwin is saying to us in the important work.

If you've never read a church renewal book, this is an OK place to start. If you cut to the core though, it's like most change management books...identify what's wrong, establish a super-ordinate goal, address problems objectively, then zero base and check everything you do against that goal. If you're looking for a Biblical basis for what a church should be, despite lots of Bible quotes, this isn't it. McManus believes a church should be overwhelmingly engaged in sacrifical service and obedience to Christ, but addresses those concepts without specifics.

An Unstoppable Force is a loosely structured, passionate, anecdotal critique of and challenge to institutional churches. It is loaded with stories, accusations, admonitions, unusual metaphors and strong assertions. Some are intuitively appealing and convicting, others might be offensive or inaccurate; nothing is substantiated in any rigorous way. McManus may be the champion modern writer of pithy, quotable one-liner wisdomettes.

McManus makes it clear An Unstoppable Force isn't a handbook or methodology, though the ninth chapter offer conceptual change management advice; it's his perspectives on The Church and a story of his experience and Mosaic, an eclectic, independent ministry in Los Angeles where he is Lead Pastor and spiritual environmentalist. Based upon both the book and website, Mosaic apparently has no edifice, holding services in public buildings. It is a congregation that emphasizes diversity and active service for Jesus Christ, while rejecting - for lack of a better thought, stodgy traditions. Oddly though, neither Mosaic's nor McManus Christology is revealed in the book, or on the website. Jesus Christ is frequently mentioned, obedience to Christ as Lord is encouraged but despite many Bible verses quoted, the only characteristic of the Jesus Christ of McManus or Mosaic that is unequivocal is inclusiveness.

In his criticism of mainline churches McManus comes across as vigorous, confident and passionate. In describing his own ministry and Mosaic, he is sometimes perplexed, insecure, frustrated. He briefly aludes to two occasions where the congregation grew then divisively split with large factions departing. The dividing issues and events are not revealed.

The last chapter of the book should be a published sermon, reprinted and distributed independent of the rest of the book. McManus does an eloquent job of describing the Ten Commandments as a minimum standard, not an objective, and portrays grace in an inspiring context.

You have to work at this book to extract the substance; it's hidden in a lot of rhetoric.

If you're looking for something better suppported and more prescriptive for church growth and renewal consider Lyle Shaller's books.

It seems, from time to time, God raises up visionaries to nudge the church toward His divine directives. The book of Revelations carries letters to the churches reminding them, correcting them, and showing them that even at that early age the church had the potential to stray a bit from the path we are to follow. And throughout our history, there have been others to bring this message to His bride.
Erwin Mcmanus is one of those messengers. He speaks with clarity on the issues that many of us have been wrestling with for some time. To quote the great theologian Morpheus, "you know something is wrong, like a splinter in your mind". (paraphrased)
As I read this book, I cried aloud many times, "Yes!" when I would read another statement laying bare the topic of the generally handicapped state many of our churches is in. Not in the pointless fashion of criticism but with direct counterpoints to many of the tired and stale positions the church has taken on the topics relating to, in all reality, the foundational reasons the church exists. My wife must have thought me crazy during these outbursts.

If you have forgotten your first love-READ THIS BOOK

If you are walking the "narrow path" and would like a trail map-READ THIS BOOK

If you feel your walk is becoming more of a trudge-READ THIS BOOK

If you are involved in ministry in any way. Pastor, teacher, prophet, elder, greeter, parking lot attendant. I beseech you, PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.

This is not a "here's how to fill up those empty seats in your church" book. What this is, is a picture of the heart of the church, laid bare.
I rarely recommend books to folks because I believe all truth is available in the Holy Bible, and we are pushed constantly to spend our money on an endless train of Christiana. Or to send our money to others so that they can do God's work for us. I have no issue whatsoever with any ministry doing valid Christian work. My point is we are ALL called to do the stuff. As the late John Wimber said, "everybody get's to play".
With that said, I do recommend this book wholeheartedly for anyone desiring to pursue a closer walk with Thee.

Erwin McManus, one of the great communicators and visionaries of the contemporary church, has created a work that will encourage the heart and inspire the soul of any reader. This is not a "how-to" book. You will not find any sure-fire methods for church growth. What you will find is a challenge to lead your church into new territory and a call for the church to become the movement that God intended her to be. Whether your congregation consists of 30 or 3,000, you will be blessed by the story of Mosaic, and you'll be excited at the thought of God moving in such a mighty way in your community of faith. Take the book, find a comfortable chair, get your highlighter ready, and be prepared to hear a fresh word from God through the words of a true visionary.

This is a book that needs to be read by anyone that wants to see the church become all that God has always intended it to be. We need to be out there in the world to allow out light to shine!!! We need to understand the culture so we can influence and mold it. We cannot reach out to people when we do not even understand who they are. As a Pastor of a new church that is what most would label "postmodern" I can relate 100% to what Erwin says.

In his new book, Erwin McManus shows why he is considered to be a visionary for the church. He has a unique way of getting to the heart of the matter regarding our relationship with Christ and how we do church. This book is a visionary one because it is founded on the principles of God's Word which is the ultimate visionary book. That is why it makes such an impact. McManus clarifies and points out aspects of what God's church has the potential to be through Christ. His gift is that he has a great way of demonstrating the obvious; principles that we ocassionally may miss. This book will make you a better pastor, youth leader, Sunday School teacher, and Christian. Highly recommended.

Loaded with many fresh, new perspectives on churches and pastoring, McManus brings many forgotten aspects of what the church is to the fore.

My favorite is the "pastor as spiritual environmentalist" where he talks about the work of pastoring being like farming. It's all about the soil around the plant, not actually making the plant grow itself.

Many other great insights in this book. It's great if you're currently out of a church or are rethinking the roles of pastors and churches in the world today.

I must admit, it has taken me three years to pick up this book. I have heard Erwin speak numerously on church and leadership. However, this is a must read for anyone who has a passion for the local church. Erwin masterfully weaves a vision for the church that may restore it to the influential cultural epicenter it once was.
McMannus is not interested in style or look. Instead he spends all 224 pages discussing the power and importance of a unstoppable ethos that church leaders should create in their churches.

I am a pastor at CedarCreek Church, www.aroundthecreek.com. I am twenty-four and this will be a staple in my leadership library.

Others here have described this book as a refreshing and new perspective. That's a good description. I confess this book took me a while to read and digest. I've read a lot of books on church leadership, but this one was not the average leadership book. McManus' communication style is not one I am used to and he did not use traditional terminology. This is not a bad thing, but was part of why it took me a little longer to read. He really knows how to tell a good story and how to put principles into pictures. On the other hand, McManus is somewhat light when it comes to drawing his principles from actual exegesis or theology. This is a great book for leaders in the church who do not want to do business as usual, but are feeling a stiring to take some courageous steps of faith.