The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

About Ken Howard

“I can’t breathe”: How you can impact systemic racism in the communities you serve

And how FaithX can help

By the Rev. Ken Howard

By now, most of you who follow our blog have had a chance to read the press release about the High Impact Award FaithX received for our work in mapping and mitigating systemic racism.

And while we are totally honored and excited to be recognized for the impact of our work, we would be even more excited to help more congregations and judicatories to make an impact on systemic racism in the neighborhoods they serve.

So this article is about how our approach to mapping and mitigating racism works and how we can help you employ that approach to confront systemic racism from your congregation or judicatory.

We begin by defining systemic racism

We have centered our work on a definition of systemic racism that is plain and simple:

Systemic racism is when a social system is structured in such a way that it disadvantages a particular race or ethnicity to the advantage of another

In other words:

You don’t have to be a racist to be complicit in systemic racism

[Read more…]

FaithX selected as Experiment Manager for Episcopal Pulse project

The FaithX Project is pleased to announce that we have been selected by ​TryTank Experimental Lab as Experiment Manager to develop the proof of concept for Episcopal Pulse, a project the purpose of which will be to put a proverbial “finger on the pulse” of the Episcopal Church on a regular basis through brief one- or two-question survey that respondents will be able to complete in under a minute (or maybe two if they want to give it extra thought).

The experiment, which will take place over several months, starting in July of this year and continuing into the first half of 2022, will have three major components:

  1. Selecting appropriate technology to host Episcopal Pulse polling.
  2. Recruiting an advisory committee to assist us identifying critical questions for our regular pulse polls.
  3. Implementation through pilot testing, then scaling Episcopal Pulse to full implementation.
[Read more…]

Something new in 2022!

Congregational access to missional intelligence reports now available in MapDash

By The Rev. Ken Howard

Attention judicatory leaders!

Have pandemic budget cuts forced your denominational headquarters to discontinue access to local demographic reports by your judicatory and the congregations you serve?

Have you been waiting to commit to MapDashTM for Faith Communities until your congregations could directly access neighborhood demographic reports? 

The wait is over! 

The FaithX Project is excited to announce that, starting January 1, 2022, subscriptions to MapDash for Faith Communities, our affiliate Datastory’s highly-regarded demographic/analytic platform, will include an option for your congregational leaders to access interactive infographic Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Reports directly from their own laptop, tablet, or desktop computer.

Existing and new MapDash subscribers can now add this new experience for direct congregational access.

The fee for this add-on starts at $1,495 for up to 50 congregations. Additional congregations can be added for $500 per 50 congregations. For more than 200 congregations, contact us at info@faithx.net.

Click Here if You are Ready to Order

OR
For more information about how you can get this new MapDash add-on for your judicatory and its congregations or for guidance on your best option, contact FaithX at info@faithx.net.

Congregational Vitality Assessment: ahora en español

By the Rev. Ken Howard

The FaithX Project and the Episcopal Church Foundation are happy to announce that the popular Congregational Vitality Assessment is now available in Spanish.

This has been in the works for a couple of months now, first with the questions, ratings, and prescriptive paragraphs of the survey itself and then with the entire website on which it resides. The first step was an AI translation. And because Artificial Intelligence can sometimes be artificially unintelligent with small details like colloquialisms, we sought the help of a translator to find and correct any faux pas. And as we learn more about the languages spoken by CVA users, we plan to bring more translations online. As always, the SIngle Congregation Version of the CVA remains FREE. 

[Read more…]

When the paradigm shifts, everyone goes to Zero

church-sign-no-experts

by the Rev. Ken Howard

In my discussions with congregational and diocesan leaders around the Church of late, I have noticed a shift in the conversation.

Faith leaders were already beginning to face the facts about their congregations before Covid: acknowledging that, at best, they are on a plateau and that, at worst, they are on a slow but slippery downward slope, not just in membership numbers, but also congregational vitality and engagement. This trend has been made even clearer and its pace accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Another shift is that fewer leaders are clinging to the old canard that there are “other ways to grow than in actual number,” recognizing that readiness to grow is a powerful indicator that talk of willingness to change is more than lip service.

These are healthy signs. Getting over our resistance to facing the reality of our condition is half the battle for the future of the Church.  As Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (though it may really piss you off first).

[Read more…]