The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

Directional Indicators and Discernment Starters: Congregational Vitality and Sustainability Trend Indexes

By Ken Howard

(This is the fourth of eight articles on MapDash for Faith Communities Analytics)

Two of the most asked questions about analytics provided by MapDash for Faith Communities are about the Congregational Vitality Index (CVI) and the Congregational Sustainability Index (CSI). Both are powerful analytic tools if used wisely. The purpose of this article is to help MapDash users properly understand these tools, so they can interpret them appropriately and apply them effectively.

What They Are and What They Aren’t

CVI and CSI are not assessments. Assessments are direct, graded, criterion-referenced measurements that provide objective answers at a point in time. They make judgements based on facts that either inform or imply what the decision maker should do about it. Example (sailing): Is your boat currently leaking? If yes, fix the leak. If no, good to go.

CVI and CSI are indexes. Indexes are a collection of indicators that sample and describe the relative overall direction of factors that are correlated with a particular concern and may be predictive of it, but do not measure the concern directly. They describe a trend and let the user discern what the trend means and what to do about it by filtering insights through the organizations vision, mission, commitments, resources, etc. Example (sailing): If you continue to sail in the direction you have been, are you heading shoreward or toward the open sea? If you mean to sail across the ocean blue, go on with your bad self. If not, better tack toward the shore.

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July in San Diego – FaithX features at Esri International User Conference

We welcome your presence and your support

FaithX executive director Ken Howard has been invited to present on July 9 at the Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California. His 20-minute presentation is entitled “Grounding Discernment in Data: Strategic Missional Planning Using MapDash for Faith Communities.”

The presentation will describe how faith leaders from congregations and judictories from a variety of denominations and faith traditions across the U.S. are using location intelligence tools to ground strategic missional planning in data, including:

  • Identifying emerging missional opportunities and developing strategies to engage them.
  • Diagnosing the vitality and sustainability of congregations.
  • Identifying opportunities for starting new congregations, redeveloping existing congregations, and developing strategies for dealing with imperiled congregations.
  • And more…

The presentation also will describe how FaithX and Datastory engaged potential users in collaborative development of the location intelligence platform that would provide the missional toolbox for their assessment and planning efforts.

If you are attending the Esri User Conference the week of July 8, we invite you to drop in on Ken’s presentation. If you aren’t attending the conference but are in San Diego and want to grab a time to talk to Ken in person, you may contact him at ken@faithx.net.

A separate note to FaithX supporters

FaithX is picking up the cost of travel and lodging expenses necessary for Ken to attend the conference. If you feel drawn to help defray these costs with a tax-deductible contribution to FaithX, please use to “Donate Now” button below.

Support FaithX

FaithX is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and Ken’s faith-based consulting practice at FaithX is done under an extension of ministry from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Want to learn more about missional opportunities
in your congregation’s neighborhood?
Click here for a free
Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report

Want to learn how your judicatory can identify
emerging missional opportunities within its boundaries?
Click here to schedule a free demo of
MapDash for Faith Communities by Datastory
and Strategic Missional Planning by FaithX

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


Dioceses of Georgia and Central Gulf Coast begin the Mentored Missional Journey

This week’s blog post will be a little shorter than average, because Ken is away in Tallahassee much of this week guiding two dioceses – the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and the Episcopal Diocese of Central Gulf Coast – through the first of four sessions of the Mentored Missional Journey consultative program.

 

What is the Mentored Missional Journey?

A 6-month program of guided strategic missional assessment and planning designed to prepare dioceses to identify and engage emerging missional opportunities through strategic ministry development, congregational redevelopment, and new church starts using MapDash for Faith Communities. It was developed in collaboration with the Episcopal Church and shaped by input from diocesan and congregational leadership from around the U.S.

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Missional Planning for Dioceses: Where Do We Go from Here?

by Ken Howard

This the 7th and last post in a multi-part series. Click here to read the previous post.

Step 4 – Where Are Our Future Opportunities and Threats? (Investing in The New). Think of this in term of ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky’s immortal wisdom: “I don’t skate to where the puck is, I skate to where the puck is going.” In other words, it is insufficient to just know where there are people in need of ministry, to whom your churches could uniquely minister. You must also understand where you have no presence, and what you would have to do to be present there.

To do this, you would want to start by identifying all areas of your diocese which are not within 15 minutes of another congregation of your denominatiuon. These are areas where your diocese does not have a functional presence (since 70% of people will not drive more than 15 minutes to attend a congregation) and which merit more research as possible sites for new congregations, using the same three community population trends identified above to refine your search:

  • Population Growth. Growing or shrinking? (Growing is better)
  • Diversity. Increasing or decreasing? (Increasing is better)
  • Generational Balance. More balanced or less balanced? (More is better)

Example – Assessing Sites for New Church Starts Based on External Sustainability:

 

 

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