Vitality Improvement Program
We are happy to announce that five Episcopal Dioceses will be participating in our Vitality Improvement Program for Small Congregations.
The FaithX Project is happy to announce that five Episcopal Dioceses have been chosen to participate in our three-year Vitality Improvement Program for Small Congregations (V.I.P) along with 7-10 of their small congregations (average Sunday attendance of between 30-50 people). The selected diocese are: Arizona, Maryland, Mississippi, Northern California, and Pennsylvania.
Made possible by a generous grant from Trinity Wall Street Philanthropies*, the Vitality Improvement Program is bringing data-grounded vitality, sustainability, neighborhood assessment tools, and practices to those who most need them but can least afford them: small congregations. The program includes assessment, training, consulting, and consulting.
Over the next three years we will train the leadership of participating dioceses to use tools such as our Congregational Vitality Assessment – Judicatory Dashboard and Neighborhood Insights Reports to triage their congregations, identify those small congregations that could most benefit from the three-year program, and establish a vitality and sustainability baseline for measuring their progress. We will also work with dioceses and their congregations to create communities of practice, within which clergy and lay leaders of participating congregations can celebrate success, learn from failures, generate creative ideas, and provide mutual support.
Another exciting thing the grant is making possible is the development of the first-of-its-kind research-based Judicatory Vitality Assessment tool, with which participating dioceses can assess and improve their own vitality and sustainability.
While applications are no longer being accepted for the 2022–2025 cohort, we have high hopes that this will be the first of many, and are already in discussions worth Trinity Wall Street about funding future cohorts. We also hope to offer this program in the future in other denominations with funds from other sources.
Help Us Expand VIP (Donations Accepted)
The VIP Small Congregation Vitality Program will relies not only on grant-funds from Trinity Wall Street but also from discounts offered by FaithX, financial gifts from other faith-based organizations, and individual donors who want to help us help small congregations find new ways to “live long and prosper” for decades to come. Individuals or organizations who wish to donate toward the work of the V.I.P.
Organizations wishing to become major financial or in-kind partners in the V.I.P. program may inquire directly.