FaithX and ECF Launch New Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool

The FaithX Project
Posted Sep 23, 2020

FaithX in partnership with the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) is pleased to announce the launch of a new Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool (CVA), available at no cost for immediate use.

Accurate and prescriptive professional analysis tools for congregational life have been around in many forms for a while, and offer congregations concrete ways to view their mission, ministry, and corporate life together. However these tools often come with high price tags that are cost prohibitive for many communities of faith to use. The leadership at FaithX saw a chance to address the need and released a prototype of the CVA tool in early 2017. Even then it was groundbreaking. No other vitality assessment tool to date is as thoroughly grounded in research and data.

Creating this tool allowed for FaithX to live more fully into its mission of “helping congregations and judicatories re-envision their future by learning to see God’s hand at work in their neighborhoods, the larger community, and the world around them by equipping leadership with tools and strategies to anticipate, identify, and effectively engage emerging missional opportunities and challenges.”

Towards the end of the CVA’s analogue beta-testing in late 2018, FaithX and ECF entered into a collaborative partnership to bring the CVA online in a digital format, where it could be made available for free to a wider audience.

The purpose of ECF is “to be a catalyst, agent and advocate for transformation, renewal and growth in the Episcopal Church in practical, innovative and spiritually grounded ways. ECF seeks to be a comprehensive and holistic resource that helps vitalize faith communities. ECF provides programs, resources and tools in the areas of visioning and planning, leadership and financial resource development.” This collaborative partnership with FaithX to bring the Congregational Vitality Assessment tool online and make it freely available touches on every reason for ECF’s existence and mission.

Donald V. Romanik, President of ECF said, “ECF is thrilled to launch this new tool in partnership with FaithX.  It will be an excellent free resource for all congregations, especially now in this changing landscape.  CVA will provide valuable insights and help church leaders discern their strengths, recognize their challenges and plan for a hopeful and confident future.”

The Congregational Vitality Assessment tool 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.

When an individual or team has completed the CVA on behalf of their congregation, the answers are scored, and the individual or team leader then receives summary scores of each of the ten vitality areas along with a sustainability score, as well as  suggestions of ways to improve in each of the areas.

It is the hope of FaithX and ECF that this collaborative project and free analysis tool will be transformative to all communities of faith who use it.

For more information, please contact:

Ken Howard
Executive Director of FaithX
ken@faithx.net

Haley Bankey
Program Director at ECF
hbankey@episcopalfoundation.org