The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

FaithX and Datastory begin work on TEC missio:Engage! Pilot project

We are proud to announce that FaithX and Datastory were recently chosen as primary contractors for the Episcopal Church’s new missio:Engage! Initiative. Which means that Strategic Missional Consulting by FaithX and MapDash for Faith Communities by Datastory are now recommended resources for those joining the new missio:Engage! Community of Practice. Our work has has already begun on a missio:Engage! pilot project with the combined dioceses of New York and Central New York.

FaithX consultants worked with diocesan designees to collect key parochial report data, to be analysed for indicators of individual congregation vitality and sustainability, as well as for diocese-level indicators of missional opportunity. And Datastory is now in the process of analyzing this data and provisioning a diocese-specific missio map dashboard for each diocese.

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Old Ways Won’t Open New Doors

New Episcopal Initiative Seeks to Explore Paths to the Future of the Church



By The Rev. Ken Howard

As my readers know, I just returned from the Episcopal Church’s General Convention – its triennial legislative gathering – held this year in Austin, Texas.

Blessedly, this year I attended as a exhibitor, as previous experiences as an elected deputy filled me with all the excitement of watching proverbial paint dry. But while the processes of church legislation are boring to folks like me, it’s good there are people who love making the sausage, because a good deal of what they do is necessary, and occasionally, they produce something beautiful (the Nicene Creed, for example, was the product of a church convention – definite proof that miracles happen).

Nestled among this years avalanche of legislation produced by EpiscoCon (my pet name), was one such jewel: an ambitious (some might say audacious) three-year missional congregational redevelopment initiative that some have called missio:Engage. While the precise scope, shape, and reach of the project has yet to fully emerge (the church often needs time to contemplate the implications of what it has done before it can move legislative theory into programmatic reality), and the funding for the program will not come online until January 2019, from our discussions with those guiding the legislation, a few things are clear.

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A Mentored Missional Journey

 

 

As we launch MapDash for Faith Communities at the Episcopal General Convention Expo, we will also be launching an exciting new companion consultative program: A Mentored Missional Journey to the Future of Your Diocese and Its Congregations.

Developed in collaboration with the Episcopal Church and shaped by input from diocesan and congregational leadership from around the U.S., this 12-month program of mentored missional assessment and planning is designed to prepare dioceses to engage the emerging “New Americas” through strategic ministry development, congregational redevelopment, and new church starts.

The Church has entered a time of accelerating change and escalating uncertainty. Neighbor-hood transformation, which once took place over generations, now happens almost overnight, increasingly causing us to fall out of touch – and thus out of love – with the people and neighborhoods God is calling us to engage.

This program is designed to provide dioceses – and through them, their congregations – the tools they need to learn about their communities at the speed of change and to guide diocesan leadership through the challenging journey of deeply and systemically discerning and engaging the missional opportunity inherent at the intersection of faith communities, neighbor-hoods, and the Spirit of God.

In short, we help you learn to fall in love with your communities again.

 

Participating dioceses will complete the program with:

  • A broader understanding of the health of their congregations, the demographic trends in their neighborhoods, and the opportunities for missional engagement between congregations and neighborhoods
  • A deeper level of discernment about what God is already up to in their communities and neighborhoods
  • A clearer vision for what God is calling them to be and to do in response to what they have learned about their communities and how God is already at work in them
  • A pilot-tested, living strategy for engaging identified missional opportunities that have been identified in their dioceses

 

Stages of the Journey

1 – Data Gathering/Provisioning the Dashboard

Gather, consolidate and organize diocese-specific congregational and community demographics, analytics, and diagnostic data into one place, where it can be easily displayed, manipulated, and explored.

2 – Missional Opportunity Assessment

Enable diocesan leadership team to acquire a God’s-eye view of the totality of congregations and communities that make up their diocese and assess the health of its congregations and the characteristics of its communities in order to identify, explore, and engage emergent missional opportunities.

3 – Strategic Missional Planning

Facilitate the creation of a living strategy for the diocesan leadership team that addresses the opportunities identified in missional assessment.

Estimated Timeline – 12 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download an Illustrated PDF Handout about this Program

 

 

The FaithX Project, Inc. is 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a religious and charitable purpose operated as a ministry by the Rev. Ken Howard under an extension of ministry from the Episcopal Bishop of Washington.