The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

Two Missional Intelligence Tools released in January

Two exciting missional intelligence tools were released in January:

Know Your Neighborhood (KYN), an online research tool deployed by Datastory for the General Convention Office of the Episcopal Church, will provide Episcopal congregations across the U.S an interactive snapshot of key congregational and neighborhood data. It will be available at no cost through the Research and Statistics page of Episcopal Church website (read official TEC press release).

Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report (NMIR) version 1.1), developed by Datastory in collaboration with FaithX, is the next generation of an in depth, interactive, infographic report describing neighborhood demographic/lifestyle data and trends. It will be available to users who subscribe to MapDash for Faith Communities, and as part of Neighborhood Missional Assessments and other consultative services provided by FaithX (TEC’s Convention Office has negotiated discounts for NMIRs and other FaithX services accessed through the Know Your Neighborhood portal).

What’s the Difference?

Both the Know Your Neighborhood Report (accessed through the Research and Statistic portal)and the Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report (part of MapDash for Faith Communities) are valuable tools to support strategic decisions.

Know Your Neighborhood provides users with a broad understanding of their community.

The Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, when used as part of MapDash (optionally coupled with analytic and consultative services), empowers faith leaders with the ability to ask an answer questions at both a broader and deeper level.

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“Data-Grounded Discernment for Diocesan Planning & Decision-Making”

Datastory & FaithX present joint webinar on Jan 28

The Conference on Catholic Facility Management (CCFM) has invited Matt Felton, president of Datastory, and Ken Howard, executive director of FaithX, to deliver a webinar for its members on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CST.

Webinar Description:
Drawing on examples from projects in several CCFM member dioceses and others, Matt and Ken will describe how dioceses and congregations are using MapDash for Faith Communities and related tools and processes to guide strategic missional planning and enhance operational decision-making. 

The session will also include an overview of the map-based Membership directory that Datastory created for the CCFM website. 

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Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood? From Market Analytics to Missional Context Reports

This post is the last of a seven post series on MapDash Analytics

by Ken Howard

One of the many features of MapDash for Faith Communities that makes it unique among other faith-based demographic tools is an analytic report that we call a Missional Context ReportTM. MCRs were developed by FaithX as a way for faith leaders at the congregations and judicatory level to better understand the lifestyles of the people in their neighborhoods in order to better engage them. 

MCRs are one-page reports that translate market segmentation data into ten areas of key information and practical programmatic and ministry opportunities that congregations can use to better target their engagement strategies to the unique lifestyles of the dominant population segment in each of the neighborhoods that form the community they serve. These areas are:

  1. Communications and Technology
  2. Education and Formation
  3. Hospitality and Fellowship
  4. Leadership/Doership Skill Set
  5. Midweek Involvement
  6. Neighborhood Characteristics and Issues
  7. Outreach Opportunities 
  8. Stewardship and Finance
  9. Theological/Political Orientation
  10. Worship

You can find a sample MCR here

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“Grounding Discernment in Data” Article Published in Peer-Reviewed Journal

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM Journal) recently asked Ken if he would submit for review and publication a paper on FaithX’s collaborative work with Datastory to help congregations and judicatories to better understand and more effectively engage emerging missional opportunities, through the use of Datastory’s MapDashTM for Faith Communities GIS Technology and FaithX’s Strategic Missional Planning process. That paper was just published in the journal’s Fall 2019 issue as “Grounding Discernment in Data: Strategic Missional Planning Using GIS Technology and Market Segmentation Data.” Included below is the abstract of the article:

Abstract

Taking Jesus’ call to love our neighbors seriously requires engaging them in the neighborhoods where they live. However, neighborhoods are transforming demographically faster than ever before. If we can help congregations more quickly understand their neighborhoods, there is a much greater likelihood that they will grow to love them as they love themselves. The question before us is, how do we help faith communities and their leaders engage missional opportunities that are emerging from rapid population change? The goal of the FaithX Project is to make it possible for faith communities, their leaders, and the judicatories that support them to employ location intelligence and predictive analytics in order for them to discern emerging missional opportunities. FaithX then helps them to create effective missional strategies for engaging those opportunities by asking four essential questions: What is our neighborhood? Who are our neighbors? What are our neighborhood’s issues and opportunities? What are our neighborhood’s resources?

Click here to read the full article on the SHERM website

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM Journal)  is a biannual, not-for-profit, free peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest social-scientific, historiographic, and ecclesiastic research on religious institutions and their ministerial practices. SHERM is dedicated to the critical and scholarly inquiry of historical and contemporary religious phenomena, both from within particular religious traditions and across cultural boundaries, so as to inform the broader socio-historical analysis of religion and its related fields of study.

SHERM Journal is sponsored by but fully editorially independent of FaithX.

Support FaithX

FaithX is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and Ken’s faith-based consulting practice at FaithX is done under an extension of ministry from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Want to learn more about missional opportunities
in your congregation’s neighborhood?
Click here for a free Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report

Want to learn how your judicatory can identify
emerging missional opportunities within its boundaries?
Click here to schedule a free demo of MapDash for Faith Communities and Strategic Missional Planning

Broadening Our Reach – Increasing our Offerings

It’s been 12 months since Ken Howard and Matt Felton, respective founders of FaithX and Datastory, appeared at the exposition hall at the Austin Convention Center in Texas to launch Datastory’s new MapDash for Faith CommunitiesTM strategic missional planning platform along with FaithX’s Strategic Missional Consulting initiative. 

Much has happened in the last year with both FaithX’s missional consulting services and Datastory’s platform. And we’d like to bring you up to date on all the progress we have made in such a relatively short time.

[Read more…]