Younique

My fondest hope for the election this year is that Christians stop putting their trust in the political process and start putting their hope in our singular Sovereign.

It’s clear that as much as our leaders want the power to pull this nation’s levers and push its buttons, none of them are fully competent to manage so large a feat. The late Paul Harvey reminded us from time to time that “Self government won’t work without self-discipline.” That is a biblical idea and ideal.

We cannot lead others well if we do not lead ourselves well.

For the last couple of years, Becky and I have offered a process called LifePlan from the Paterson Center (patersoncenter.com). This two-day deep dive into your past, present, and future is wonderfully clarifying. It is a great tool that I recommend highly to everyone. It empowers you to live on mission with a vision of where God is taking you in the years ahead.

One problem with this process is Becky and I can offer only a relative few opportunities each year. It is impossible for us two to significantly influence individual congregations beyond one or two leaders.

We have offered Church Unique for the last five years. Many churches and several associations have walked through this mission and vision pathway. The first time Will Mancini, author of Church Unique, led a church through the Church Unique process, the pastor stopped him in the hallway and said, “I need something like this for my personal life.”

That was twelve years ago. This month, a new life planning process called Life Younique debuts based on the principles of the Church Unique vision pathway. You can find out more information at www.lifeyounique.com. The best part about this process is church and ministry leaders can be certified to lead it in their own churches.

Leaders navigate cohorts of five to eight individuals through three twelve-week spiritual journeys. This provides participants with space to process deeply and integrate the discipleship principles of Life Younique. This is a truly transformational process. It will become a core part of our leadership development offerings in the years ahead.

What difference would it make if every year you had ten more well-discipled leaders living on mission through your church and in your community? What difference would it make for your ministry if you were seen as the primary equipper of the saints in more ways than preaching and leading Bible studies? What if you and a group of leaders spent a year growing, thinking, planning, and praying together?

What if our church members lived on mission in our schools, businesses, community organizations, and government offices? What difference could that make in our future candidate selections?

Better days ahead depend on better disciples today. Programs and preaching alone don’t make disciples. Deep-level, life-on-life processes do. Disciples eliminate poverty, slavery, and injustice. Disciples create freedom for all people. Disciples make our communities safe and life-affirming. Let’s make more on-mission disciples and fewer professional politicians.

With gratitude,
David Bowman

Respond by email to david@refocuscoach.org. I look forward to hearing from you.