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Strategic Missional Consulting

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Dec 03 2020

Announcing our 2021 Webinars (Part 1)

Co-sponsored by Gathering of Leaders and Episcopal Church Foundation

After ending 2020 on a high note (our webinar on Covid-19 Impact and Recovery Planning sold out!), we are announcing our webinar schedule through June and our webinar topics through April.

As always, we remain open to your suggestions and requests (submit to info@faithx.net). 

Here is our webinar schedule through May 2020:

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: Uncategorized · Tagged: Capital Campaigns, Carl Johnson, collaborative ministry, Community Connections, congregational vitality assessment, COVID, COVID-19, Episcopal Church Foundation, Gathering of Leaders, leadership transitions, public health, rural perspective, structural racism, systemic racism, Webinar, webinar series

Nov 19 2020

Vitality Check

By Linda Buskirk for ECF Vital Practices


Occasionally, we like to publish posts from guest bloggers, especially when they say nice things about us. This week’s post is an article written by Linda Buskirk of Buskirk Solutions for Episcopal Church Foundation’s “Vital Practices for Congregations” blog. The free, online Congregational Vitality Assessment to which Linda refers was created by FaithX and brought online in a collaborative partnership by FaithX and ECF.


2020 has been a year of difficult “reality checks.”  Yes, it’s dangerous out there.  Yes, you should wear a mask. Yes, you need to figure out Zoom.

Now a new opportunity for a vitality check is available, designed to help focus congregational leadership and planning. 

The Congregational Vitality Assessment (CVA), is now offered at no cost thanks to a partnership between the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) and The FaithX Project.  The CVA provides congregations with an assessment of Vitality (healthiness) and Sustainability (level of people, financial, and contextual resources necessary to survive, or even thrive). The vitality section of the CVA measures ten areas of congregational functioning, such as Vision and Mission, Leadership, Lay Empowerment, Worship, Formation, and Stewardship.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Guest FaithX Friends · Tagged: Buskirk Solutions, cedar lane uuc, congregational vitality assessment, ECF Vital Practices, Episcopal Church Foundation, faithx, formation, Jack Welch, lay empowerment, leadership, Linda Buskirk, mission, stewardship, sustainability, Vision, Vital Practices Blog, vitality, worship

Oct 15 2020

Upcoming Webinars from FaithX

And an invitation to submit suggestions

It’s more than a little ironic that we are announcing our late 2020/early 2021 webinars right at the eighth month of the Coronavirus pandemic, the first month of the regular flu season, and three weeks away from a national election that is shows every sign of being a referendum on the government’s response to the Covid crisis. Sprinkle that with a pandemic-induced recession and social upheaval over systemic racism, and we’ve got ourselves a “perfect storm.”

Still, your response to our 3rd Wednesday webinars has been strong, and you’ve been asking for more, and even sending us suggestions for webinar topics you’d like us to offer, so here we are. And here is our webinar schedule through March 2020:

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: COVID-19, FaithX Blog · Tagged: congregational vitality assessment, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID19, Episcopal Church Foundation, public health expert, Webinar

Aug 13 2020

Coming Soon: Online Congregational Vitality Assessment

By the Rev. Ken Howard

In 2017, FaithX released a prototype of the Congregational Vitality Assessment: a first-of-its-kind research-based diagnostic inventory for measuring congregational vitality and sustainability. In late 2018, FaithX and the Episcopal Church Foundation entered into a collaboration to bring the CVA online in digital format, where it could be made available for free to a wider audience. That collaboration is about to reach fruition. The CVA has now emerged from beta-testing with a tentative launch date of mid-to-late September.

The Congregational Vitality Assessment 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. The assessment can be completed by a single congregational leader, a congregational leadership group, or the entire congregation.

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: Congregational Sustainability, Congregational Sustainability Index, Congregational Vitality, congregational vitality assessment, Congregational Vitality Index, diagnostic inventory, Episcopal Church Foundation, formation, lay empowerment, leadership, mission, stewardship, Vision, worship

Jan 04 2019

Engaging the New Year

By Ken Howard

At FaithX, we are looking forward to engaging 2019 and we hope you are, too!

Our plans include:

Our FaithXperimental blog will include articles on:

  • Missional Engagement. Best practices for identifying engaging missional opportunities as they arise.
  • Mission Development and Redevelopment. Strategies for redeveloping existing congregations and planting new congregations, and how to know when each is appropriate.
  • Congregational Vitality and Sustainability. Articles on how to assess the health and long-term sustainability of congregations, and what to do about it.
  • Innovative and Experimental Faith Communities. We will be continuing our “Spotlight” articles, shining a light on more innovative and experimental faith communities, strategies, and ministries. If you would like to suggest a Spotlight article on your faith community or ministry, click here.
  • Contributions by Guest Bloggers. To let us know if you would like to be an occasional FaithXperimental contributor, click here.
[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: Congregational Sustainability, Congregational Vitality, congregational vitality assessment, Doctoral Degree, ELCA, Episcopal Church Foundation, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, experimental faith communities, FaithXperimental Blog, guest bloggers, Liberty University, MapDash for Faith Communities, missio:Engage, mission development and redevelopment, Multi-Site Congregations, SHERM, SHERM Journal, Socio-Historical Study of Religion, strategic missional consulting, the Episcopal Church, The Roman Catholic Church, UMC, United Methodist Church

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