Diocesan Vitality Initiative
What is ECF’s Diocesan Vitality Initiative (DVI)?
A pilot program by ECF to partner with dioceses in identifying adaptive challenges and creating processes for renewal, redevelopment, and revitalization. DVI aims to give rise to a more expansive, inclusive vital future for The Episcopal Church.
DVI Goal
Create an adaptive, generative diocesan culture for resourcing local faith communities in effectively engaging God’s mission.
Distinguishing marks of DVI pilot dioceses:
- Faith that compels them to focus on the new thing God is doing
- The willingness to define a path beyond tweaks and technical fixes
to a culture of adaptability - The courage to disrupt systems that are no longer serving mission
- The tenacity to develop practices and structures that reimagine deploying human, financial, and physical assets to do the work of becoming Beloved Community
DVI Implementation
Utilize the “Four C’s” to shape the Define | Disrupt | Develop process
- Coaching – Using ICF-credentialed professionals to fuel awareness
- Context – Leveraging the unique challenges and assets of each diocese
- Collaboration – Harnessing the genius of diversity for the common good
- Cohort – Pooling wisdom and tapping others’ experiential learning
DVI Outcomes
- Imaginative re-framing of human, financial, relational,
structural, and real assets - Revitalization shaped by each diocese’s unique location, population, culture, and history
- Diocesan structures staffed by engaged lay and clergy leaders
- Life-giving engagement with surrounding neighborhoods
and communities - Faith communities that understand themselves as
the living Body of Christ
Haley Bankey