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May 11 2022

Congregation–Based Neighborhood Resource Hubs

Faith communities as catalysts,
leveraging their underused buildings and property
for the sake of their neighborhoods and their mission


It will come as no surprise to anyone that the future of congregations and their houses is uncertain. 

According to Pew Research, the number of religiously unaffiliated (those who identify as “none of the above” or “nothing in particular”) has increased dramatically. The “Nones” nearly doubled between 2007 and 2019, and are projected to be a majority of the U.S. population by 2040 (just 18 years from now). Meanwhile, every U.S. Christian denomination is shrinking in membership and attendance with the number who attend regularly (at least once per month) having already dropped below 50% of the population, and is continuing to fall, leaving a majority of worship spaces operating at less than half capacity. The inevitable impact on finances has left most congregations facing some degree of financial difficulty, leading to an estimated 3,850–7,700 worship centers closing every year, according to  The Journal of Pastoral Psychology. Where once were church buildings now stand bookstores, brew pubs and wineries, skate parks and laser tag arenas, luxury condos, and even frat houses.

At the same time, many urban and rural communities are struggling with dozens of issues like the lack of access to living wage employment, affordable housing, medical insurance, health care, and social services, according to the  Regional Indicators Dashboard Project, all of which leads to many living in substandard conditions or even becoming homeless because they can’t afford to live and work in their communities. Ironically, many of the government and nonprofit organizations that could help these people with the challenges they face also cannot afford to locate in their communities.

And, of course, Covid.

All these factors combine to create a vicious cycle with little hope for things improving for congregations and the communities they serve, right?

Not necessarily…

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: faith communities, houses of worship, neighborhood resource hubs

May 04 2022

Recent Episcopal Pulse Microsurvey Tracks Observations of Congregational Vitality Assessment Data

By The Rev. Ken Howard

As many of our readers will recall, The TryTank Experimental Library partnered The FaithX Project to manage an experiment called the Episcopal Pulse. 

Launched in January, the Episcopal Pulse experiment is designed to test the value and efficacy of real-time micro-polling of a representative sample of Episcopalians in keeping a finger on the pulse of the Episcopal denomination. And we’ve been getting interesting results on a variety of questions.

One recent microsurvey (#10) included six questions that sought respondents opinions of their congregations on six indicators of congregational vitality:

  1. The congregation has a clear vision that its members understand.
  2. The congregation empowers its lay people.
  3. The congregation is fully inclusive of the community it serves.
  4. The congregation welcomes change.
  5. The congregation deals with differences in a healthy way.
  6. The congregation nurtures the faith of its members.

How did the respondents answer?

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard

Apr 07 2022

Newly-Released Book by FaithX Executive Director

Excommunicating the Faithful:

Jewish Christianity in the Early Church

By Kenneth W. Howard

FaithX executive director Ken Howard recently published the third edition of his book, Excommunicating the Faithful: Jewish Christianity in the Early Church, edited and revised to include the most current research on the subject.

Excommunicating the Faithful is a research-based, academic book, yet very accessible to the average reader and highly relevant to our present theo-political divisions. It traces the development of Jewish Christianity from its beginnings in the earliest Christian communities through its apparent disappearance in the fourth or fifth century after they were declared heretical by the Church Fathers and excommunicated from the Church, despite the fact that they were as “orthorodox” as any Christian groups at the time and considered themselves a part of the greater church.

It is a cautionary tale that is reminiscent of a murder mystery. 

It is cautionary because it shows how cultural misunderstandings and power struggles between competing Christian communities can result in increasingly narrow and conflicting views of orthodoxy, and orthopraxis can create not only theological divisions but racial and ethnic prejudice as well. And also because it shows what a loss it was and is for the Church to forget its spiritual heritage. 

It is reminiscent of a murder mystery because the only evidence of the crime consists of fragments in the writings of the ones who were responsible for its death as a part of the Church. 

We hope our readers will find it helpful.

Read on to explore pre-publication reviews.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: Book Release, Excommunicating the Faithful, Jewish Christianity, The Early Church

Mar 23 2022

Church Redevelopment: Bloom where you are planted!

By Steve Matthews, Senior Associate Consultant for FaithX

Isn’t that a beautiful picture?  Daffodils springing forth every year give me hope.  I love their reliability and consistency (not to mention that brilliant yellow color and sweet fragrance).  In these uncertain times reliability and consistency are things that matter to many of us.  The Episcopal Church in this photo is in my hometown.   Located in the mid-Atlantic/“Bible Belt,” it has provided reliable and consistent liturgy and outreach services for over 150 years.  Its church building and liturgy and music program are beautiful and uplifting to those who attend.  They have numerous outreach ministries.

Beautiful. Reliable. Consistent.  What could go wrong?  We used to think that redeveloping a congregation was something churches in decline or danger of closing engaged, or perhaps faith communities in the midst of rapid change saw the need to redevelop.  Anxiety often drove the response to the question, “What needs to change?”  As we think about redevelopment in 2022, perhaps we should re-evaluate our approach to the future of our faith communities.   The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model is not exactly the best motivation for faithfulness as our communities around us rapidly change, and being motivated by love in our response is always better than an anxiety-based motivation.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog · Tagged: Church Redevelopment, consistency, Demographics, Reliability

Mar 08 2022

FaithX Receives Esri High Impact Award

News Release
Germantown, MD

The FaithX Project received the Esri Partner Award for High Impact on current issues around the world, at the 2022 Esri Partner Conference (EPC) held in Palm Springs, California March 5–7, 2022. This award was presented to FaithX for compelling use of Esri technology to make an impact on current issues around the world.

The FaithX Project is a faith-based nonprofit consulting, research, and resource development practice. Its mission is to help congregations survive and thrive in challenging times through data-grounded missional discernment and planning, and more effectively engaging the neighborhoods and populations they serve. This award was in response to work FaithX has done in using interactive GIS technology to displace systemic racism in Long Island in collaboration with the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and our affiliate, Datastory.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, FaithX News

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