Ed Stetzer discusses the mission of the church on his blog post today. It brought up the question for me again, "Does the mission of the Church (universal) always correspond one-to-one with the mission of the church (local)?" In other words, is there a way in which local fellowships may exhibit some aspects of the mission in a greater way while other local bodies focus on other aspects?

This has come up for me as I have considered the passages in scripture which talk about individuals being gifted by the Spirit in different ways and each one using their gifts for the benefit of the body. My giftings tend toward the shepherding/pastoral gifts and not evangelism. While this doesn't excuse me from sharing the gospel message, it does mean that my day to day ministry looks much different than my friends who are passionate evangelists.

Is it possible that the mission of the Church could be fulfilled with each local church retaining it's own "flavor"? What are your thoughts?