Strategic Missional Consulting
Reflecting on an Episcopal Pulse Survey
By The Rev. Ken Howard
The latest Episcopal Pulse micro-survey asked two important questions:
The results were very interesting
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Attached below is a link to a blog post by Greg Rousos, the CEO and President of the New Covenant Trust (part of the Presbyterian Foundation).
About a year ago, I got a call from Greg, who wanted to explore ways we might partner with them for the benefit of the Presbyterian Church. After months of discussions, draft service agreements, discussions, draft partnership agreements, and more discussions, in August we signed a partnership agreement. With those understandings and signatures FaithX become a preferred vendor and all Presbyterian congregations, presbyteries, and denominational bodies will receive a 5% discount on all FaithX services and resources.
When I saw his post, I asked if we could cross post it on our website, because he gave an explanation of the value of what FaithX does that is clearer than any we’ve written ourselves.
Enjoy the read!
The Rev. Ken Howard
by Steve Matthews
Senior Associate Consultant, FaithX
I was recently talking to a group of churches in an online coaching session. One church was trying to honestly consider the real impact their church was having in the community. A woman on the call from this church (let’s call her “Margie”) recalled a recent conversation she had with a bank teller while making an in-person deposit at the local branch. It just so happened that this branch was only ¼ mile from Margie’s church. Margie had been working in her yard and was wearing a t-shirt with the church’s name and logo on it. The teller asked her what an “episcopal” church was, and Margie gave her a quick response. Then the teller asked Margie, “Where is your church?,” and when Margie pointed out the church’s location, the teller answered with a chuckle and said, “I’ve driven by that church on my way to work for 10 years and never even noticed it was there.”
I wonder how many churches across the country are hidden in plain sight. It’s easy to enter and exit the doors for worship on Sunday. Perhaps people return for choir practice or for outreach ministries. Maybe some churches are still offering some outdoor worship opportunities, but are our churches known in our communities? What is our reputation for hospitality or for the work of justice? Do people see us as being a trusted neighbor and advocate for the larger community? Where do we show up as church… outside of “church” on Sunday?
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Occasionally, visitors to our website alert us to hidden gems on our own site.
Recently, a number of people were visiting our webstore and downloading free copies of our webinar, “I Can’t Breathe: Mapping Systemic Racism in Your Community.”
So we thought it would be a good idea to make more people aware of this resource by sending everyone on our mailing list a link where they could download it for free.
[Read more…]
By Steve Matthews, Senior Associate Consultant, FaithX
Four years ago, I was asked to preside at the funeral of one of my favorite aunts. She was born in East Tennessee and grew up in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. She was one of 9 children. She and her siblings and parents really cleaved to the notion of a small church as the epicenter of village life. At her funeral we sang The Church in the Wildwood. The words to the first stanza are:
There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood,
No lovelier spot in the dale;
No place is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the vale.
It’s a nice and sentimental vision. Maybe it harks back to a simpler time, or maybe it was just an idealized notion of what my family thought church “ought” to be. In any case, a lot has changed in church-land in 100 years and in our culture regarding church.
As a consultant working with redeveloping faith communities, two questions come to mind when I think about accompanying small congregations: