The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

MapDash™ for Faith Communities to Go “Live” at TEC Convention Expo

Work continues apace to ready MapDash™ for Faith Communities for its public debut at the Weekend Expo at the Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention.

MapDash™ for Faith Communities is an interactive, data-grounded, map-based tool for missional analysis and planning. It was developed by Datastory Consulting, in collaboration with The FaithX Project, and beta tested by diocesan and congregational leaders in five Episcopal Dioceses.

MapDash™ for Faith Communities enables dioceses to assess congregational health, identify missional opportunities, and promote collaboration among congregations. It gives congregations the capacity to better understand and engage the neighborhoods they are called to serve. And it empowers faith leaders at all levels to make better and faster decisions with objective data that augments natural intuition and wisdom.

MapDash™ for Faith Communities will be available on a subscription basis, primarily through dioceses and other judicatories. The standard bundle will include five dashboards: one Executive Dashboard and four Congregational Dashboards:

  • The Congregational Dashboards will allow congregational leaders to define their neighborhood in different ways, then select data maps that will help them understand their neighborhoods’ population characteristics, community issues, and community resources.
  • The Executive Dashboard is built on top of the Congregational platform and includes all of its features, plus important additional diagnostic features: a Congregational Health Assessment map layer and a Missional Opportunities map layer.

Our work on the Congregational Dashboard is nearly complete, with about a week left in our final beta test.

We have a little more work on the Executive Dashboard. The Congregational Health Assessment is a little over a week away from completing beta testing, while a couple of weeks remain to complete the Missional Opportunities map layer.

So if you are planning to attend the 2018 General Convention, come by, visit us, and get a demo at booth #837.

[Read more…]

FaithX Launches Peer-Reviewed Journal: Call for Board Members and Papers

After more than a year of planning, FaithX is launching a new peer-reviewed journal entitled Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM) under the leadership of its research director, Darren M. Slade, who will serve as SHERM’s General Editor. The first order of business is a call for Board Members and Papers (more information on this below). But first a little bit of background on SHERM and its purpose.

 

What is SHERM?
SHERM is a biannual, not-for-profit, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest social scientific, historiographic, and ecclesiastic research on religious institutions and their practices. SHERM is dedicated to the critical and scholarly inquiry of historical and contemporary religious phenomena, both from within particular religious traditions and across cultural boundaries, so as to inform the broader socio-historical analysis of religion and its related fields of study.

 

What is SHERM’s Purpose?
Inspired by Ken’s recently published research paper, The Religion Singularity, the purpose of SHERM is to provide a scholarly medium for specialists to publish advanced studies on religious trends, theologies, rituals, philosophies, and cultural influences in the hopes of generating enthusiasm for the academic and vocational study of religion while fostering collegiality among religious specialists. Its mission is to provide academics, professionals, and nonspecialists with critical reflections and evidence-based insights into religion and ministry.

[Read more…]

Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome – Part 7

This is the final post of a multipart series on Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome.
Click here for last week’s post.

Recovering from Ecclesiastical Autoimmunity Syndrome
By Ken Howard

For the last several weeks we have reviewed the causes and symptoms of Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome. Now we turn toward how to treat it. What follows are a collection of ideas about attitudes and practices that might help stop the downward spiral of E.A.S. and start the upward journey toward congregational and organizational health and vitality.

  1. Admit That We Have the Disease. Think of it as joining Autoimmunes Anonymous and beginning something like a 12-Step process of recovery (step one: admitting A.E.S. has taken control of your corporate life). Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome is not only an allergy to change, but also an addiction “to the way things are.” But it is worse than most other addictions, because we are born with it. Our addiction to homeostasis is part of our (sinful) human nature. Like any other addiction, the first step is admitting we have the disease. It’s also perhaps the hardest step, because since we have never not been infected, we don’t really know what “healthy” is, often mistaking the behavioral symptoms of E.A.S. as an heroic defense of “tradition.” Faith-based communities and organizations often have to get very close to death before the reality of the disease breaks through our denial, and sometimes not even then. So start by recognizing that your congregation or organization has E.A.S. and realize that you will always be in recovery. 

    [Read more…]

Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome – Part 6

Today’s post is part of a multipart series on Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome.
Click here for last week’s post.

Bishops Who Wannabe (Bishops)
By Ken Howard

Back when I was a Master of Divinity student at Virginia Theological Seminary, all ordination-bound seminarians were required to do two years of field work in one of the many and varied Episcopal congregations in the Washington, DC area. I did mine at St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill. This assignment was a blessing to me in so many ways. Among the greater of those blessings was my discovery that it was the home parish of an author and teacher I greatly respected, Verna Dozier, and perhaps the greatest blessing of all was when she consented to serve on my lay advisory committee, and eventually became a trusted mentor and a great source of hard earned wisdom.

The Sunday before I was scheduled to be ordained to the diaconate, Verna took me aside and proceeded to exact from me a solemn promise.

“Ken,” she said, “I know that you do not have a burning desire to dress in purple and wear the funny hat. But I want you to promise me that if you are ever invited to nominated to be a bishop, you will take part in the selection process.”

Of course, I asked her, “Why?”

Her answer startled me with its frankness: “Because one of the biggest problems with the Church is too many of its bishops want to be bishop.” [Read more…]

Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome – Part 5

Today’s post is part of a multipart series on Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome.
Click here for last week’s post.

The DMin-ization of the Clergy
By Ken Howard

Have you noticed that more and more clergy are getting DMins these days: going back to seminary for a part-time advanced degree program that culminates in an additional honorific before their name on the church bulletin?

While some might think this positive development, I’m not so sure that this DMin-ization of clergy is entirely a good thing. In fact, I think this proliferation of Reverend Doctors may well be another symptom of Ecclesiastical Autoimmune Syndrome.

By DMin-ization I mean the increasing numbers of ordained, working clergy pursuing DMin degrees. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any problem at all with clergy seeking DMins, IF that’s what God is calling them to do. And while I do not doubt that the vast majority of DMin-seeking clergy believe that’s the reason they are in the programm, my guess is that many (if not most) have merely convinced themselves that is what God wants them to do. [Read more…]

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