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Strategic Missional Consulting

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Jan 14 2021

Thinking Strategically about Your Next Leader

By Mary Frances, FaithX Senior Consultant


This is post #2 of a 3-part series on Strategic Missional Planning

Click here to read the last post


I remember when I was interviewing for my first call.  Someone asked me how long I thought I would stay, should I receive the call.  My answer was pretty standard, “Typically a first call is in the three-to-seven-year range,” I said.  One of the committee members was crestfallen.  She said, “I thought you would be here to marry my children!”  That was 20 years ago and none of her children are married yet.

We tend to have lots of notions, romantic and other, about who our leaders should be and what we expect of them.  But what if, instead of some a set of unclarified, unspoken expectations, we entered into a call process with a clear idea of where we were headed and who we needed to take us there?

Last year I consulted with a congregation doing just that kind of work.  They were about to enter the call process; completing all the forms the judicatory sent to them.  Yet they wanted to be sure about what they put on those forms and how it would serve them in the future.  It turned out this congregation had lots of empty nesters and their child, youth and family ministries were dwindling.  And, so as we talked, they sounded like most churches in their situation.  “We want more families with kids,” they said.  And, I thought, “Doesn’t everyone?”  

[Read more…]

Written by Mary Frances · Categorized: FaithX Blog · Tagged: call process, Demographics, leadership, leadership transitions, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, strategic missional planning

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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