FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 19, 2021
Lorenzo Lebrija | TryTank Experimental Laboratory
703-461-1880 | lorenzo@trytank.org
Ken Howard | The FaithX Project
301-704-4390 or ken@faithx.net
TryTank announces partnership with FaithX to develop Episcopal Pulse:
Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Episcopal Church with regular two-minute surveys
Alexandria, VA | Germantown, MD: As part of an evolving collaborative partnership between TryTank Experimental Laboratory and The FaithX Project, TryTank today announced that it had selected FaithX as experiment manager for its Episcopal Pulse proof-of-concept experiment.
The purpose of the Episcopal Pulse experiment is to develop an ongoing vehicle to keep a finger on the pulse of the Episcopal Church through regular two-minute surveys of a representative cross-section of the ordained and lay leaders and members at the denominational, diocesan, and congregational level.
The role of FaithX in this experimental project will be to take Episcopal Pulse from concept to working prototype through a design–build–test process, with the assistance of an advisory panel and scalable test group, both of which FaithX will assemble with support from TryTank.
“We are pleased to have FaithX leading this experiment,” says the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, director of the TryTank Experimental Laboratory, “We believe that their expertise in vision-driven, data-grounded experimentation and analysis with congregations, judicatories, and denominational bodies, paired with their executive director’s 25 years ordained experience in the Episcopal Church will greatly increase the probability of success in this project.”
“FaithX is excited to be a part of this proof-of-concept experiment with TryTank,” says the Rev. Ken Howard, executive director of the FaithX Project. “We at FaithX see our primary purpose of helping congregations and the organizations that support them survive and thrive in uncertain and turbulent times through data-grounded discernment and vision-guided experimentation. Assuming this experiment is successful, we believe the prototype we create not only will be an extremely valuable tool for the Episcopal Church, but also replicable across Christian denominations and perhaps even other faith traditions.
About TryTank: TryTank Experimental Laboratory is a lab for church growth and innovation. It is a joint project between Virginia Theological Seminary and the General Theological Seminary. TryTank offers inventive approaches to the challenges facing the Episcopal Church.
About FaithX: The FaithX Project is a non-profit, faith-based consulting, research, and resource development practice. We help congregations survive and thrive in turbulent times through data-grounded discernment about their own vitality and sustainability, and opportunities and challenges in the communities they serve, coupled with vision-guided experimentation. FaithX is currently working with TryTank on its Covid-19 – Episcopal 21 survey on the future of the Episcopal Church, is doing ground-breaking work on Mapping and Mitigating Systemic Racism with the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and developing Congregational Vitality Assessment tools in partnership with the Episcopal Church Foundation, and worked with its afflilate Datastory to develop its MapDash for Faith Communities demographic analytic platform.