Faithwalking Current Reality . . . What Is Now!
Faithwalking launched as a ministry of Mission Houston in September 2007 when 19 individuals participated in a retreat in which we were creating a process that would lead to the transformation of participant’s relationship to God, to themselves, and to others in a way that resulted in an integrated missional life. In the early years, it was slow and painstaking. Between 2007 to 2015, we have:
- Developed a proven Core Curriculum of four sets of spiritual formation experiences that are being used by God to provide deep, measurable transformation in the lives of participants.
- Established coaching as the key leverage point in the process and developed a well-trained cluster of more than 100 volunteer coaches in Houston and across the country who are serving on a regular, ongoing basis.
- Grown from four retreats per year in 2008 to more than 30 per year in 2015 in Houston and a variety of places across the country.
- Expanded our work to Dallas and San Antonio, TX, Midland, MI, Denver, CO and Guatemala City, GUA.
In the summer of 2015 our Executive Team squarely acknowledged that the ministry was growing faster than our income or the infrastructure could support. Between July and November of 2015, we engaged in a discernment process. What follows is a brief report on the goals we set and what has been accomplished.
Long-term Goals
Nurture a more diverse community
Progress Made
- Increased the diversity of representation on our Executive Team.
- Clarified and refined our mission statement. It now reads: Faithwalking is a spiritual formation process where people are increasingly following the way of Jesus, experiencing ongoing transformation, and developing effective practices for missional living:
- serving the poor, the marginalized, and those in need;
- working for the common good;
- and restoring individuals, social systems, communities, and nations to God’s intended design.
- Moved from primarily offering open to the public retreats to primarily offering Faithwalking work through Faithwalking Circles. A Circle is a congregation, business or community that commits to mastering the delivery of the Faithwalking content in a three to four year period of time in their specific context. This is not a new process for us. We simply formalized it and have reduced the number of open retreats dramatically.
Develop a financial sustainability plan to empower our growth
Progress Made
- Established a fee structure that FW Circles pay over three years as the Circle is being developed.
- Received two generous gifts from two of our donors that allowed us to hire our first Director of Development.
- Developed and are beginning to implement a comprehensive Development and Communications Plan.
- Received a $100,000 matching grant from a Faithwalker. She will match dollar for dollar all new monies raise over the next two years.
Increase the number of Faithwalking Circles from 11 to 17 by 2019
When we moved to the Faithwalking Circle approach we already had eleven groups that qualified as a Circle
Progress Made
- The number of Circles has grown from 11 to 22.
- Established our four staff members as Project Managers and divided the Circles among the four for keeping the projects on track.
- Established benchmarks to track the progress that each Circle is making in each of four phases of development.
- Established a written agreement that assigns the Project Manager for Faithwalking and for the Faithwalking Circle.
Here is the current status of our Circles:
Active Circles
- Access Church, Houston, TX
- A cluster of nine congregations in Midland, MI.
- A cluster of congregations in Western Illinois.
- A ministry network in Santa Dominga, DR
- A ministry network in Guatemala City, GUA
- A ministry network in Managua, NIC
- Alamo Heights UMC, San Antonio, TX
- Baptist University of the America’s, San Antonio, TX
- New Life Christian Reformed Church, Houston, TX
- Milehigh Vineyard, Denver, CO
- St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX
- WordServe UMC, Fulshear, TX
Pending Circles
- A cluster of congregations in New York City and update New York
- Christbridge Church, Tomball, TX
- Genesis Community Church, Minneapolis, MN
- Southwest Exteriors, San Antonio, TX
- Vineyard Church, Deluth MN
- West Boulder Christian Congregation, Boulder, CO
Complete Circles
At the time we formalized our Circle process, we had four Circles that were already complete. They continue to actively function.
- A cluster of congregations in South Oak Cliff, Dallas, TX
- Calvary Community Church, Houston, TX
- Steringwood Church, Houston, TX
- The Fellowship, Katy, TX
Short-term priorities
Develop clear metrics
Will measure achievement of the learning objectives in the Core Curriculum and progress against the end game of personal transformation.
Progress Made
- Establish metrics for assessing achievement of our learning objectives in all of the Core Curriculum and have begun tracking and reporting those metrics.
- Established a way to measure progress toward our goal of personal transformation and will launch a survey to give us a baseline that will help us track future growth.
Improve the functioning of the Executive Team
Progress Made
- Enlarged the Executive Team with more diverse representation.
- Adopted the following purpose statement for the Executive Team: The Executive Team is responsible for developing a three-year and a one-year plan and for tracking and reporting progress toward our goals.
- Established a Lead Team that is responsible for implementation and execution issues and issues that are time sensitive.
Develop administrative support for our work
Progress Made
- Hired a part-time administrator.
- Recruited and trained a volunteer to oversee all of our FW 201 work.
- Developed a much higher caliber website that provides clearer information about our work and that facilitates involvement of members in an ongoing manner.
This update was prepared by the Faithwalking Executive Team
