The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

Groundbreaking Free Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool Launches Version 2.0

Germantown, MD | New York, NY – The 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. 

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Coming Soon: CVA – Judicatory Version

Coming Late June/Early July
click here to request more information
about our early adopter discount

Hard to believe it’s only been nine months since we launched Congregational Vitality Assessment (CVA 1.0) in collaboration with the Episcopal Church Foundation.

We’ve come a very long way in a very short time!
And soon we will release CVA 2.0
and launch the new CVA Judicatory Version

CVA 2.0 (the congregational version) will feature a totally redesigned user interface, based on user input, for a much enhanced user experience, including a new Spanish-language version.

What’s in the CVA Judicatory Version?
We created the CVA-JV 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 will provide 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. 

How can we access the CVA Judicatory Version?
The CVA-Judicatory Version will be made available on a subscription basis. Included in the subscription will be free annual updates reflecting new congregational vitality research and incorporating user feedback and suggestions. 

How much will it cost to subscribe?
Once released, the annual cost of a subscription to the CVA-JV will be $2,495, with a first year set-up fee of $2,500 (to cover customized programming).

Is there a discount for early adopters?
We are offering a $1,000 setup early adopter discount to judicatories that sign up for subscriptions before our late-June/early-July launch date.

Have any judicatories signed up yet?
We are happy to announce that the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma is our first early adopter. Currently, we are in discussions with several other Episcopal dioceses and ELCA synods. Watch our FaithX blog for updates.

click here to request more information
about our early adopter discount

Data-Grounded Discernment for Capital Campaign Planning

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without a vision is a nightmare.”
Soichiro Honda, Japanese engineer and industrialist

This is not another “How To” webinar on capital fundraising. There are literally hundreds of programs out there that can bring to bear the time-tested expertise necessary to address “How” to mount a capital fund drive for “What” you tell them you want to construct or renovate or buy. The only problem is that unless you ground congregation’s “What” in a “Why” related to a clear and overarching congregational vision and a deep and thorough understanding of its mission to the world around it before you start, your fundraising efforts may turn out to be an exercise in tweaking the status quo: a missed opportunity for better engaging its members and people in the neighborhoods around them.

On Wednesday, May 26 from 1:00-2:00pm ET, The FaithX Project invites you to attend a webinar entitled “Data-Grounded Discernment for Capital Campaign Planning,” offered in collaboration with the Gathering of Leaders, the Episcopal Church Foundation, and Core Capital Campaigns. This webinar will provide participants with an understanding, a process, and tools to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their congregations and the missional opportunities and challenges of their communities, and in doing so clarify their vision of what God is calling them to be and to do, and the role a capital campaign can play in in getting them there.

Click Here to Register for this Webinar
Click Here for a List of Upcoming Webinars

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:

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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…]