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Feb 25 2021

Using the Pandemic to Procrastinate in Ministry

Procrastination Can Be the Death of Ministry

This post about using the pandemic as an excuse to procrastinate is written by Mary Frances, Senior Associate Consultant at the FaithX Project.

At the end of the year, I hear a common refrain from my clients: That’ll have to wait until the new year.  It’s a variation on a theme that we are all too familiar with.  I’ll start my diet right after the holidays.  I’ll start my new exercise routine in January.  I’ll deal with that problem tomorrow.  Kids love to use it as a way to procrastinate.  I’ll do my homework after this show.  I’ll do the dishes after this game.  Later, tomorrow, after…waiting.  Over the course of the last year there is a new variation on this theme:  after the pandemic.  We will deal with outreach after the pandemic.  We will get to know our community more deeply…. after the pandemic.  We will talk about stewardship, formation, new worship formats, you name it, it can all be done after the pandemic. 

After the pandemic really was an appropriate response a year ago, when everything was a mad scramble to get online and make radical changes in the blink of an eye.  Funny thing about this pandemic though, it didn’t just go away; it’s still here….and we don’t know how much longer it will be around, how much longer it will impact our ministries, how much more change it will require of us.  It’s still here.  Sure, there are vaccines, but there are also variants.  Every time we think there is light at the end of the tunnel, someone comes along to tell us the tunnel is longer than we thought. This is no time to procrastinate.

So, how much longer can we say after the pandemic without admitting it’s just a form of procrastination and avoidance?  What if, instead of after the pandemic, we started to ask: What can we do now? What is God asking of us today?  How can we connect with our members, visitors and community more deeply than ever before?  What is ONE thing we can do now that we couldn’t do before?  What is ONE thing that just can’t wait until after the pandemic?

[Read more…]

Written by Mary Frances · Categorized: Uncategorized · Tagged: coronavirus impact planning report, formation, pandemic, procrastination, stewardship

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

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

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