The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

The Data We Too Often Miss

by Mary Frances

I see you.
I see your patience in the face of abject ignorance.
I see your poise in the presence of shameless hypocrisy.
I see your brilliance in the space of those who wish to diminish you.
I see you…and that smile. I see it, all of it and the complete frustration hiding behind it, knowing full well you are more intelligent, more moral, and more faithful than any of those questioning you will ever be.
I see you, and in you I pray more young women of color see themselves too.
You are an inspiration. We see you and know history will too.

– From a Facebook post by Sapna Singh

Last week I celebrated, along with much of the country, the confirmation of soon-to-be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.  I celebrated another woman on the highest court in the land and I celebrated that the woman who had broken that particular glass ceiling is black.  All these hundreds of years of the court and now, finally, in 2022, we will have a Black woman on the Supreme Court.  

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How will the Covid Endemic Impact Your Congregation?

by Mary Frances

About once a month I gather with leaders from a group of congregations to talk about changes they can make in order to do a better job of living into their mission, vision and values.  At our next meeting we are going to talk about how to assess the effectiveness of the changes they have made.  So often, we allow major decisions to hinge on a handful of stories without ever taking the time to thoroughly evaluate what we are doing.  Now that we are moving from the Covid pandemic to the Covid endemic, this might be the time to start a thoughtful and thorough evaluation of what you are doing to live out your mission, vision and values as well as why.  

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New Paradigms: The First Year

“…here and there in the world and now and then in ourselves is a New Creation, usually hidden, but sometimes manifest, and certainly manifest in Jesus who is called the Christ.”   – Paul Tillich

Paradigm: a typical example of something or model

About a year and half ago, FaithX made this invitation to our blog readers:

“FaithX is forming a working group called New Paradigms. We envision it to be a multi-denominational group of people who are interested in exploring, naming, and experimenting into some new paradigms for living as Christians in the world today, for what the Church can become. We will gather online on a regular basis, publish articles and blogs, offer webinars, and perhaps, eventually, an online conference. If you are interested in joining us, please email us info@faithx.net.”

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Church Attendance in Decline: Announcing NMIR 1.3

by Mary Frances, Senior Consultant

Recently, Gallup announced that church membership had declined below 50% for the first time in recorded history.  In 2000, 70% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque.  And in the brief period of two decades, in 2020 that number has dropped to 47%.  This news was not lost on a client of mine who brought it up in a recent coaching session.  He shared the sentiments of many of his older churchgoers: we need to grow the church!  But what does evangelism mean in the nearly post-pandemic world of 2020?

The conversation that stemmed from that was one that I am deeply passionate about.  It’s time to stop thinking about growing the church.  Yes, I said it.  Stop worrying about growing the church.  Start thinking about the neighborhood in which the church resides.  Start thinking about the community, the people, the strengths, the weaknesses and risk factors, and the resources available to your community.  We need to think about our communities because the revitalization of the church starts with the revitalization of the community.  Usually, we think about it in reverse.  We think about revitalizing the church and then promise we will turn our attention outward once we are in better shape.  But how can a church be strong if the community itself is in decline, is struggling, and is challenging in any number of ways?  I believe that the church will be revitalized as it turns its attention outward, to be in relationship and to be a resource to the community where it lives.

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The Doctor is In!

by Mary Frances

First, let me just preface this post by saying very clearly and emphatically that this is NOT a political post.  Second, let me lay out a scenario that may feel quite familiar to you.  You are on a Zoom meeting with your congregational leadership team (council, vestry, whatever you call them).  The topic is going back to in-person gatherings – worship, meetings, Sunday School, choir, etc.  Half your team is pushing for the doors to be wide open.  The other half is expressing more caution, a desire to wait a bit longer.  You feel caught in the middle.

It’s not hard to feel caught these days.  Information and misinformation is flying everywhere and changing on a daily basis.  Last week, Tucker Carlson declared that we should shame people for wearing masks in public and if you see a child wearing a mask in a store, you should call the police to report child abuse (yes, this is true, you can look it up).  Then the next day, the CDC said it would be okay for vaccinated people to gather outdoors without masks with social distancing.  The people in your congregation are, most likely, watching one side of this or other but probably not both.  Now your pro-gathering crew is pushing harder.  Now your cautious group is vacillating.  “What if we have gatherings only for vaccinated people?,” they ask.  You go back to your opening devotion about loving your neighbor and welcoming all.  How on earth do you navigate this maze of craziness that you couldn’t have even imagined just over a year ago?  This is definitely NOT anything you were taught in seminary. 

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