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Feb 10 2022

MapDash: A Real Game Changer

By The Rev. Canon C. John Thompson-Quartey
Canon for Ministry Development & Congregational Vitality
Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

MapDash for Faith Communities has been a real game changer for our diocese.  Using this tool on a judicatory level has proven to be a real Godsend, because we are now able to get a deeper understanding of the needs and opportunities in the environment in which our faith communities are located, so that we may better craft a suitable intervention to help each congregation respond to real needs in their communities.  No more do we have to default to anecdotes about why congregations are failing.  With a little help from FaithX, MapDash for Faith Communities is giving us real data with which we can interpret the needs and opportunities in our communities.  

[Read more…]

Written by Mary Beth Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Ministry Development and Redevelopment, Posts by Guest FaithX Friends, Topics · Tagged: Data Driven Discernment, faithx, game-changer, Map Layers, MapDash, MapDash for Faith Communities, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report

Nov 01 2021

Data is not Destiny!

FaithX and MapDash in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland

by Mary Sulerud

Ever since my first training in using MapDash, the words spoken by the Rev. Ken Howard, FaithX founder, have echoed in my head every time I opened up my laptop and connected it to a projector to introduce the program to another congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

“Data is not destiny,” he said.

I always start with those words; then I quickly add something he also shared that day…

“It really helps to begin with dreams
that have some relationship with reality on the ground.”

I graduated from an Episcopal Seminary in the 1980’s, amid several successive ambitious national evangelism campaigns by the Episcopal Church. The prevailing truism of the time was: Attract young families with children and your congregation will be sustained and you will thrive in ministry. Our congregations learned that lesson all too well.

The trouble was that while that may have been true in another era, it was already losing ground in many places by the time I graduated in 1988. In effect, we were sending people out to find the membership equivalent of the Holy Grail. But we rarely asked congregational leaders to look at the reality of their own neighborhoods and to discern if the demographic reality of our neighborhoods was in any way related to the characteristics of the people who sat in the pews on Sunday.

What is changing in the congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is that they are employing MapDash to explore neighbors and neighborhoods. And while MapDash is an important and useful tool in a wide variety of settings, I am increasingly finding that it is most helpful to congregational leaders who are undertaking strategic planning in their congregations.

[Read more…]

Written by Mary Beth Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Guest FaithX Friends · Tagged: Data Driven Discernment, datastory, Diocese of Maryland, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, faithx, MapDash for Faith Communities, Mary Sulerud, St. John's

Apr 25 2019

Volume 1, Issue 1 Is Now Published Online!

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry

The FaithX Project, in partnership with Wipf and Stock Publishers, is proud to announce the release of our very first issue of the peer-reviewed academic journal, Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM).

You can view and download the articles by clicking here.

Table of Contents:

ISBN: 978-1-5326-8495-1

SOCIAL-SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

1) “Grenz and Franke’s Post-Foundationalism and the Religion Singularity“

By Jeshua B. Branch

2) “First Century Christian Diversity: Historical Evidence of a Social Phenomenon“

By John F. Lingelbach

INVITED POSITION PAPERS

3) “A Cultural Cognition Perspective on Religion Singularity: How Political Identity Influences Religious Affiliation“

By Kevin S. Seybold

4) “Is the Disintegration of Christianity a Problem—or Even a Surprise?“

By Jack David Eller

MINISTRY RESEARCH

5) “Conditions for the Great Religion Singularity“

By Brian D. McLaren

6) “Responses to the Religion Singularity: A Rejoinder”

By Darren M. Slade and Kenneth W. Howard

BOOK REVIEWS

7) “Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith”

By Robert D. Francis

Written by Mary Beth Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Darren Slade · Tagged: Brian McLaren, faithx, John Lingelbach, Joshua Branch, Kevin Seybold, Robert Francis, SHERM, Socio-Historical Study of Religion

Feb 14 2019

FaithX & Datastory at CEEP Conference | Feb 20-23

How can we love our neighbors if we don’t know who they are?

How do we answer the question, “Who is our neighbor?” when our neighborhoods are changing so fast that our traditional ways of learning about them can’t keep up?

How do we learn how to learn at the speed of change?

If answering these questions for your congregation is important to you and you will be at the CEEP Conference in Boston on February 20-23, drop by our booth and discover how FaithX and Datastory and are helping faith leaders engage in data-grounded discernment for the future of the Church.

Visit Us at Booth 29

We’ll give you a complimentary Missional Intelligence Report about your community. 

FaithX and Datastory help faith communities and the organizations that support them answer these questions and more with Datastory’s MapDash for Faith Communities missional intelligence program and missional strategy development consulting from FaithX.

Learn More


Written by Mary Beth Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: CEEP, CEEP Annual Conference, Data Driven Discernment, datastory for faith communities, faithx

Dec 13 2018

Just in Time for Christmas (A FaithX Free Book Deal)

In the spirit of Christmas, we are offering another FaithX book giveaway.

From December 17–21, Kindle versions of Paradoxy: Creating Christian Community Beyond Us and Them and Excommunicating the Faithful: Jewish Christianity in the Early Church will be available free by clicking on the images or links below:

Paradoxy

Excommunicating the Faithful

If you’d rather have a paperback version of Paradoxy, (shipping cost extra), click here.

We hope you enjoy them both and wish you a merry and blessed Christmas!

Written by Mary Beth Howard · Categorized: Books and Resources, FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard, Uncategorized · Tagged: Christmas, Excommunicating the Faithful, faithx, Free Book, Kindle, paradoxy

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