Groundbreaking Free Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool Launches Version 2.0

Germantown, MD | New York, NYThe FaithX Project in partnership with the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) is pleased to announce the launch of version 2.0 of the Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool (CVA), available at no cost for immediate use.

After 10 years of research and implementation of a paper-based CVA tool, the digital version was built in early 2020. The Congregational Vitality Assessment tool is designed to provide a congregation with an assessment of its Vitality (how healthy it is) and its Sustainability (whether it has the people, financial, and contextual resources necessary to survive). The vitality section carries the bulk of the assessment, measuring ten areas of congregational functioning, such as Vision and Mission, Leadership, Lay Empowerment, Worship, Formation, Stewardship, and more. 

CONGREGATIONAL TOOL

Since its digital launch, more than 200 congregations from a multitude of denominations have used the CVA to assess their vitality and sustainability. Version 2.0 is the same data-grounded tool, but with a completely redesigned user interface making it more approachable and easier to use by congregational leadership, and upcoming versions will bring us a fully translated Spanish Evaluación de la Vitalidad Congregacional.

“Congregations live and die on vitality. Knowing what makes a congregation healthy, how to grow it, and how to engage the community around it is what congregations are facing every day,” says CVA creator Ken Howard of FaithX. “When looking for assessment tools, most of the tools I found were not grounded in research and the ones that had some research behind them were too expensive. So, I began doing my own research and used my own congregation to test the effectiveness of an assessment tool that others could also use.”

Donald V. Romanik, President of ECF said, “The new CVA is a comprehensive and research-based tool that will be invaluable in the hands of leaders who want to understand how to improve the health of their church. In partnership with FaithX, we are thrilled to bring this transformative tool to churches at no cost.”

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JUDICATORY/DIOCESAN VERSION

The subscription-based Judicatory Version was created in response to requests and design input from several judicatories (dioceses, synods, districts) across the U.S. that wanted to incorporate into the systemwide congregational development processes. It provides them with a judicatory-specific dashboard that will allow them to:

  • Directly coordinate the administration of the CVA to their congregations.
  • Receive anonymized diagnostic summary assessments of their congregations’ vitality and sustainability.
  • Monitor congregational vitality and sustainability on a year-to-year basis.
  • Add locally-relevant questions about congregations’ ministries, programs, and other important information.
  • Supplement the backward-looking parochial reporting data with real-time, forward-looking diagnostic data and recommendations that their congregations can use to improve their own vitality and sustainability.

Judicatories that sign up for subscriptions prior to August 31, 2021, will receive $1,000 off their setup fee.

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WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Read the FAQs here and register to attend a free webinar on Wednesday, September 15 at 1:00 PM ET. At this free webinar you will learn what makes congregations vital and sustainable and how you can use this powerful free research-based diagnostic tool to discern how healthy your congregation is and put it on the path to greater vitality and sustainability. CVA users from Epiphany Episcopal in Tempe, AZ and Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, MD will share their use of the free tool, and the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma will share how the use of the Judicatory Version is engaging all their congregations.

It is the hope of FaithX and ECF that this collaborative project and free analysis tool will be transformative to all communities of faith who use it.

For more information, please contact:
Ken Howard
Executive Director of FaithX
ken@faithx.net 

Haley Bankey
Program Director at ECF
hbankey@ecf.org