By The Rev. Ken Howard
In early 2025, FaithX will be launching Vitality Improvement Program 2.0, a 18-month program designed to help cohorts of congregations deploy data-grounded discernment to improve both their vitality and sustainability.
One might say that VIP 2.0 is a “leaner and meaner” version of the vitality improvement processes developed and tested in a proof-of-concept project funded in large part by a generous leadership grant from Trinity Wall Street Philanthropies.
A key element of VIP 2.0 is vision-guided rapid experimentation.
As one of the judicatory leaders described it, the idea is for congregations to “dream big, start small, and experiment quickly.”
Dreaming Big means clarifying and sharing widely your congregation’s vision (what God is calling you to be) and its mission (what God is calling you to do). The idea is to have a motivational “North Star” (a vision) toward which everyone in the congregation can strive, and a starting concept of the kinds of strategies that might help the congregation get there.
Starting Small means deciding on a first step, a simple strategy for the congregation to implement in a specific neighborhood for a limited period of time. The idea that it can be a starting point that is just big enough to “move the needle” if it succeeds and small enough that if it fails, it doesn’t “bring down the house.”
Experimenting Quickly means Applying a strategy and Assessing the results. If it fails, Toss it and try something else. And if succeeds, Tweak it – that is Adapt it by expanding its scope – or as if often case, building on the parts of the strategy that worked well, and making adjustments to that part that didn’t work as well as expected. Then Apply the adapted strategy again.
I once joked that while entrepreneurial types call this quick experimentation process “Rapid Protoyping” I liked to call it “Rapid Iterative Prototyping” or RIP, because it is a good idea to let bad ideas die as quickly as possible.
Kidding aside, the tool we use to plan and track this process is called a 90-Day MicroStrategy. Here is a 90-Day MicroStrategy worksheet:
Click here for instructions on how to create one
Learn more about VIP 2.0 here. For questions or more information, contact us here.
