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Oct 28 2021

Redevelopment for the Rest of Us!

It wasn’t that long ago when the word “redevelopment” was associated with churches in need… maybe even in peril.  Some of these faith communities sought grants to repurpose buildings left vacuous by membership migration and/or declining interest in church overall.  Some just needed some revitalization and renewal regarding welcoming practices (guest parking, good signage, revamp the nursery for children, train friendly greeters, etc.).  Often there were mass mailings to local zip codes to inform the public about your church and your programming.  Occasionally, there might be some activity in which to invite the community. All of this is/was well-intentioned, but it was based on a false assumption: people are going to be drawn to us and come into our doors, if we do all the right things.

As you know, the culture has been shifting for a long time. In a 2020 Pew research study 65% of adults identified as Christian compared to 85% in 1990. This statistic points to the reality that, like it or not, all churches need to see themselves as perennially redeveloping churches.  Our buildings may be in great shape and our worship and programming sharp, but our spiritual infrastructure, our sense of values, mission, and vision may need a serious overhaul.  Very, very few people are going to come to us because we think they should (and certainly not enough to make up for the attrition of membership due to death and migration away from Christianity).

So what now?  What does redevelopment-for-the-rest-of-us look like in 2021? The answer is so simple… and so hard.  Take a deep breath. Here it comes. To be faithful to our mission, we must re-learn what it means to be a kind and attentive neighbor again.  We must relearn our neighborhoods.  We must know our neighbors and allow them to know us.  How can we know what it means to redevelop our churches for the sake of our neighbors if we don’t know who they are? What if the work of the Spirit and the opportunity we have been praying for, is happening outside the walls of the church, hidden in plain sight, and waiting for our “yes?”

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog · Tagged: church demographics, church revitalization, community revitalization, datastory, faith communities, faithx, MapDash for Faith Communities, neighborhood demographics, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, neighborhood outreach, Revitalization

Oct 21 2021

MapDash & FaithX Testimony – SD Synod

by Pastor Jonathan Steiner
Director for Evangelical Mission and Associate to the Bishop for Stewardship & Outreach
South Dakota Synod, ELCA

This spring we began using MapDash with FaithX as a tool for our ministry.  The South Dakota Synod is the network of roughly 200 Lutheran congregations across the state, and we have a variety of community contexts.

Using these tools has been a blessing for many of our congregations.  The first way we are using them is to help congregations have accurate information about their communities when they are searching for a pastor.  This helps them have a realistic picture of their context as they get started on that process.  We have integrated the infographic and lifestyle index reports as part of our site study.

We have also been using MapDash as a tool for congregations as part of a revitalization strategy.  When I meet with congregations, we ask them to take a couple hours to go through all the information in the reports, but then also dig into other areas of interest that they may have.  A church with a preschool will want to learn more about child care spending and school data, while a church with a feeding ministry will be much more interested in poverty statistics.

Learning about their community doesn’t immediately give the congregation a vision for their future, but it certainly helps them dream about what their call is.  I tell leaders that our call is where the needs of our neighbors meets the blessings we have on hand.  FaithX and MapDash help congregations see what is going on around them, and identify where their gifts are needed.

Finally, these tools help us understand our network of congregations more fully.  Using data about our own congregations, in addition to all the available information from MapDash, we are able to see opportunities in ministry.  Perhaps that area is strong, and we can focus on partnerships, while that area is nearly empty, and so they need to focus on a strong structure in-house.  

We are less than a year into our partnership, but we are excited to partner with FaithX for the MapDash tool.  It has been a blessing to us and our ministries.

Learn More about MapDash for Faith Communities

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Guest FaithX Friends · Tagged: Lutheran, MapDash for Faith Communities, ministry opportunities, Pastor Jonathan Steiner, Revitalization, Search Process, South Dakota Synod, strategic visioning process, testimony, visioning

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