By Steve Matthews, Senior Missional Consultant, FaithX
Oh boy! It’s almost time for my yearly physical. I hate going to the doctor. I mean, he’s a nice enough fellow, but he’s trained to diagnose what’s wrong with me. It’s important to know what’s “wrong,” but it can be anxiety provoking. I don’t think I’ve ever known my doctor to advise me to capitalize on my strengths (although he did tell me once that at my present rate of weight loss, I should be at my ideal weight on by my 97th birthday). Any encouragement from my doctor tends to be offered to fend off illness, not build wellness.
What’s the institutional equivalent to a physical? Maybe it’s an audit (that’s fun too)! In Episcopal and Lutheran churches, it is often the parochial report – that yearly tedious report that reveals things like: how many people show up for worship, how many people give money, how much money the church has in the bank, how much money the church is spending, how many baptisms and confirmations occurred, how many people died or moved, etc. if you wanted to be crass you might look at this report as a balance sheet in terms of debits and credits that is completed and then reviewed by one’s church supervisors/superiors.
Parochial reports are getting better, and they can still invoke a sense of dread and sometimes fear. How might the judicatory respond to a church’s “report” if it looks to be ailing?
Ken Howard, founder and President of FaithX recognized way back in 2003 that traditional measures of health and vitality for churches were insufficient. As a priest and church planter he began developing alternative metrics of vitality. Ken was hungry to expand the palette to paint a more vivacious portrait of a congregation – one that included a much more colorful and descriptive assessment of a church’s health and sustainability. His aspirational portrait would identify strengths as well as “challenges” and encourage building on strengths.
Fast forward 21 years, and now FaithX, in partnership with the Episcopal Church Foundation, offers the Congregational Vitality Assessment, a free tool that asks 70+ questions around 13 themes of vitality and sustainability. Hundreds of churches have completed the survey, and we are now offering a new pathway for discernment and engagement called the CVA – Judicatory Platform.
Once a judicatory orders the CVA-JP, they receive a link that enables them to invite all of their churches to complete the CVA. Judicatories then accompany local churches in ways that help them work from their strengths and address their challenges. Not only is the judicatory able to see the results from individual churches, but with all churches participating, the CVA-JP points to trends in the judicatory. These results provide powerful evidence of overall health in the judicatory and can provide the impetus for transforming engagement from the judicatory to the churches, boosting confidence that the synod/diocese is “for them” while boosting the overall health of the judicatory.
In short, the CVA-JP creates the potential for a win – win where churches receive support from the judicatory and the judicatory increases its own vitality through this feedback loop. Think of this as less “yearly check-up” and more “community engagement” toward overall health.
Check out the CVA-JP here, and if you are heading to the Episcopal Church’s General Convention, come and see us in the exhibit hall or email us at info@faithx.net. Let’s get healthier together! Discounts available through June 30!
