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Strategic Missional Consulting

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Jan 02 2020

Looking Back on 2019

by Ken Howard

2019 was a good year for FaithX. It had its ups and downs – a rollercoaster ride, for sure, at times – but all-in-all, both despite and because of it all, we came through 2019 much stronger, with a clearer vision of who we are and where we are going, and with many successes to energize us. 

We’ve come a long way since we launched in December of 2016. Back then it was just me as FaithX’s executive director/principal (and only) consultant, a 4-person volunteer board of directors, and one client, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and its two newest congregations. 

Over the next two years, we would establish our affiliation with Datastory, collaborate with them to prototype, develop, beta test, and launch the next-generation demographic analysis and missional planning platform, which would become known as MapDash for Faith Communities, added about a dozen clients, two associate consultants, a blog coordinator, a volunteer research director, and publish a ground-breaking research paper entitled “The Religion Singularity.” 

In 2019 we broadened our reach even further. We expanded our work not only into more Episcopal dioceses, congregations, and organizations, but more importantly, branching out into more than five additional “denominations” (i.e., including the non-denominational movement), and have begun discussions with interfaith and non-Christian faith traditions. We launched a new peer-reviewed journal about religion and ministry. We worked with Datastory to develop and launch the new Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, and we designed the consultative Neighborhood Missional Assessment program to help congregations identify emerging missional opportunities and challenges in the neighborhoods they serve. 

And so I’d like to offer my appreciation to all of those who have joined FaithX on our experimental missional journey through the end of religion as we know it into the future of faith in whatever form God is calling it into being…

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: Congregational Sustainability Index, Congregational Vitality Index, Darren Slade, datastory, Datastory Consulting, Diocese of Georgia, Episcopal Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, faithx, FaithXperimental Blog, MapDash for Faith Communities, Mary Frances, Matt Felton, missional opportunity index, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Assessment, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, Steve Matthews, the Episcopal Church, the religion singularity, The Roman Catholic Church, Tom Brackett, Year In Review

Mar 21 2019

FaithXperimental Spotlight: Grace Cafe, Valdosta, GA

by Ken Howard

The Grace Cafe college group on the porch of Louttit Hall during the 2018 Spring Semester.

Grace Café is an innovative college outreach ministry to students at Valdosta State University (VSU), sponsored by Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta, Georgia.  

Also known as the Christ Episcopal Church College Ministry, Grace Café is a place of fellowship, prayer, and service. It is also a place at which VSU students of limited means can work in exchange for housing. The program currently has nine college students who live on the church campus and work 20 hours a week running Grace Café, helping with the Thursday Dinners, and serving in other areas of ministry at Christ Church.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, FaithXperimental Spotlight, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: Christ Episcopal Church, Christ Episcopal Church College Ministry, College Outreach Ministry, Diocese of Georgia, Episcopal Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, Georgia, Grace Cafe, Louttit Hall, strategic missional planning, Valdosta, Valdosta State University

Sep 20 2018

From the Field – Report on MapDash & Strategic Missional Planning

On September 11, the Dioceses of Georgia and Central Gulf Coast began the first of four sessions of the Mentored Missional Journey using MapDash for Faith Communities. Later in the week, this article was published in the official Diocese of Georgia e-newsletter In The Field.

 

Learning with the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast
By the Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
Episcopal Diocese of Georgia

On Tuesday, a six-person team from the Diocese of Georgia joined a team from the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast for an initial round of training in using Datastory demographic data led by the Rev. Ken Howard.

The Church Development Institute will use this robust demographic tool as part of its work with congregation teams. Additionally, the Bishop [Scott Benhase] and Canon [Frank] Logue are looking at how this data can assist congregations in their ongoing engagement with Invite-Welcome-Connect. [Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: church demographics, Dicoese of Central Gulf Coast, Diocese of Georgia, In the Field, MapDash for Faith Communities, Mentored Missional Journey, strategic missional consulting, strategic missional planning

Aug 30 2018

Dioceses of Central Gulf Coast & Georgia First Subscribers to MapDash for Faith Communities

FaithX and Datastory are happy to announce that the Dioceses of Central Gulf Coast and Georgia became the first official Episcopal dioceses to purchase subscriptions to MapDash for Faith Communities and enroll in the Mentored Missional Journey.

Datastory is now in the process of provisioning dashboards for both dioceses: uploading location and parochial report information for all of their congregations, from which they will generate diocesan-level analytic data maps, including Congregational Vitality, Congregational Sustainability, and Missional Opportunity. Their dashboards will also include congregational neighborhood data, including MissionWebs and DriveTime Analysis, as well as a map layers for a host of local neighborhood demographic, lifestyle, issue, and resources data. They will be receiving their fully-provisioned dashboards on or about August 30. [Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: A Mentored Missional Journey, datastory, Datastory Consulting, datastory for faith communities, Dicoese of Central Gulf Coast, Diocese of Georgia, MapDash for Faith Communities, strategic missional consulting

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