Our Experiments
8501-Alexa Skill: Creating a prayer leader out of Alexa to help people pray at home.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: It worked! Look for Phase II coming soon. FINAL REPORT
8502-Apple News Prayer Feed: Make it easier for people to engage with scripture during the week, during their daily life by creating a source that can supply content into their Apple Newsfeed.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Turns out the technology is a bit more complicated than we thought and our partner in this is very busy. We are looking to launch in early 2020.
8503-Connected Congregation: Using texting for easy points of contact between the congregation and its members leading to more engagement with the church and higher attendance.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Our new technology is MUCH better. We'll try some new things during Lent. But there does seem to be a lag between the original interest from folks who sign up to them getting the texts. We're learning!
8504-Digital Collection Plate: Grow the collection plate amounts at congregations by making it as easy and fast as possible for people to give in forms other than cash.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: It did not work as we had wanted it to, but enough to move to phase 2. See 8536 below.
8505-TryTank IdeasFestival: A festival of ideas for church growth and innovation. Seeking to create a '"primordial soup" where the right elements (folks) can bump (meet) and create new ideas beyond the “adjacent possible.” (Now part of "Rooted in Jesus 2020" -- a sizable Episcopal event in January. We will be showcasing eight current innovators in the church in TED Conference-style presentations.)
This experiment is in CLOSED.
Result: Only a handful of the attendees to the Rooted in Jesus conference were into our innovation talks. But we did have some good insights from the reception (pictured below) and from the Pitch Tank. We probably won't do it the same way again. But there's got to be a way to gather innovators!
READ THE REPORT!
8506-Latino/a Ministry in a Box: Using multi-site technology to create a Spanish-speaking congregation taking small steps.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: It worked! FINAL REPORT
8507-Latino/a Music Project: Make it easier for the church to provide Spanish-language worship services by creating a music video library of the most used Spanish hymns.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Turns out that the studio we want to use in Cuba is not, and will not, be ready for a while. We are now looking at recording in the US this summer.
8508-Latino/a Phonetic App: Make it easier for non-native speakers to be able to lead Spanish-language worship services by creating an app that teaches them the phonetic way to say the prayers from the Libro de Oración Común.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. It was too expensive.
8509-Listening Project: Conversations with 100 leaders who have grown and maintained their congregational growth. Leading to the "Habits of Highly Effective Church Growers." Some will be basic, but we also hope to find surprises.
This experiment is ACTIVE.
LATEST: 30 conversations completed, a great start. And we are continuing toward 100! Contact us if you know anyone we should talk to!
8510-Spin Church: Taking the basics of a regular "Soul Cycle" group fitness class and making it full-out about Jesus and then sharing a liturgical meal after.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Did NOT work. People were interested, but did not show. FINAL REPORT
8511-Facebook Master Class: A social media expert will lead a one-day master class on how to use Facebook advertising to grow the church. The course comes with three months of subject matter coaching and accountability for the participants.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: It worked, but cheaper to outsource! FINAL REPORT
8512-Interactive Sunday: Using technology to have interactive sermons (quizzes, surveys, word clouds, etc.) leading to more engagement with the church and higher attendance.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. No partners wanted to try it.
8513-Theological Explainer Videos: Create a library of whiteboard videos that explain theological concepts in 2 minutes. The videos will be on YouTube, the 2nd largest search engine in the world.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: The final video (#5 about Baptism) is now in production. Once that's done, we'll do a marketing push to the what the world thinks of our little theological library! Want to see our first four videos? HERE they are.
8514-EpiscoPALS: To connect US high school students with Palestinian high school students with the goal of creating deep accompanying relationships among the faithful.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: On Hold.
8515-Home Sermons: Weekly 3 minute sermon videos to be used by Eucharistic ministers as they take communion to the homebound.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Ready to go. The marketing campaign is next. Check it out at Good News on the Go.
8516-Baptism Revival: Create a parish neighborhood baptism revival reaching those who have no church relationship.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We have one congregation on board but the we're working through on the timing. It's just too much work to get done by Pentecost. Stay tuned for more details.
8517-HeartEdge USA: Helping to expand the HeartEdge network in the US. Building association, learning, development, and resource of congregations on the edge.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Learn more about this project here - and contact us if you want to join!
8518-Text Abbey: Create an SMS-based community that connects seniors to each other, to younger members of the congregations, and to the community.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We had a great time on the ground with the congregation folks. There are many studies that can show us points where we can help seniors who are feeling lonely. We were looking for what the church specifically could add to this. We found out quite a bit about the members of the congregation, their daily lives, and how the church might be able to help. We have refined the experiment and are moving forward.
8519-Virtual Supply Priest: Creating a network of great Episcopal preachers who can provide recorded video sermons for congregations who do not have a Sunday clergy person and will instead offer Morning Prayer.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Lent was too soon, so we will be launching the experiment during the season of Advent 2020. We are looking for congregations without a regular preacher who may want to try this out. If it's you, contact us!
8520-Touring Gospel Choir: Organize a touring gospel choir who can go to various Episcopal communities to perform. In each community, the choir will lead a master class for local Episcopal choirs on how to best use the gospel music in our tradition.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Due to the spread of coronavirus and related issues, the tour has been postponed until further notice.
8521-Modern Christian Radio: A streaming radio station that plays contemporary music but has Christian messages in between the music.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Currently on hold.
8522-Street Bible: Produce person on the street interview videos with a re-enactment (and correction!) that make learning Bible truths fun and provide a first step on the path to discipleship.
This experiment is CLOSED.
LATEST: You might recall we announced an experiment called "Drunk Bible" based on the hit Comedy Central show, "Drunk History." After hearing back from many of you, we decided that this was not something we wanted to do. And so we pivoted, and we created "Street Bible." Along the way, we lost sight of who we wanted as our audience and, I feel, the end product shows. (You can see the unpublished videos on my own YouTube page. There's the one about Adam and Eve and the one about Noah. Tell us what you think.) Early testing showed that there's really no "there" there and, so, we ended this one.
8523-Cleaning Monks: Create a low-barrier, low-investment, and replicable model of a social enterprise that can provide jobs (as a ministry) and where profits can support the mission of the sponsoring congregation.
This experiment is in CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. No partners wanted to try it.
8524-Millennial Travel Experience: Work with an experienced tour operator to create a trip that can fill the "spiritual experience" desires of millennials.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We have it planned out. We expect to start recruiting very soon for the participants to travel with us.
8525-Evangelism Theater: Organize a small tour for a theatrical show that can be performed in a church and thus make it easy for people to invite their friends to church and have a conversation about spirituality.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We got some good responses to this one! Our show is "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)," an incredibly funny comedy by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. We will be touring the last weekend of April in New York City, Chicago, Bay Village (Ohio), and East Lansing (Michigan) before finishing up at VTS (in Alexandria, VA).
8526-The How to Try Podcast: A podcast that's a recorded conversation between an executive coach and someone who's trying new things in the church.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. No partners wanted to try it.
8527-Transformation Weekend: Similar to a self-improvement weekend but fully Christian and the goal is to transform the participants into committed followers of Jesus.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We think we have a prototype to try! Since it's similar to the Millennial Travel experience experiment, our research helped both at the same time. More on this soon.
8528-Prayer Puppets [Modern Mr. Rogers]: If Mr. Rogers were starting his show in 2019, what might it look like? How would it incorporate technology? And what if it was also a tool for Christian formation. We (cardigans in hand) aim to find out.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Moving along very nicely! This has evolved so that we are seeking to create a new online streaming video program called “Prayer Puppets.” It is aimed at 2 to 5-year-olds (preschoolers) and will offer regular episodes on an on-going basis. The three themes for the program as 1) there is a God, 2) God loves you, and, 3) you can pray to God. The episodes will utilize the learning of how to use television to teach from such programs as Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues or Dora the Explorer. What do you think?
8529-Two Podcasts: Create two podcasts to reach new audiences where they are. One, aimed at the LGBTQ community with questions and answers to their spiritual and religious questions. The second one is called "A Priest and a Singer" and it will intersperse inspirational Christian messages with cover acoustic versions of contemporary hit music.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. The podcast market is too saturated to enter.
8530-Virtual Kitchen: There is a need right now for virtual restaurants that can deliver food later in the evening. And many churches have commercially graded kitchens. This experiment will explore how the kitchens can be rented out to local entrepreneurs or used by the church itself to raise funds for mission and ministry.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Currently on hold.
8531-Social Justice Action Alerts: Develop short "mini-documentaries" that can mobilize people to take action on social justice.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We just tried one video for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (see it here) and they sent it out to half of their email list. The other half got the usual email with just words. Not only did the video email NOT give us a 12x return compared to the word email, it actually was lower! We think this might have to do with people saying "Oh, a video in my inbox, I'll watch that later." We are waiting to see if the results over more time bear this out. We will also be trying it out on social media only. And we are also going to try it for a congregation. Have an issue you want to highlight for your community? Let us know and maybe we'll partner.
8532-Regenerative Gardens: Develop a replicable design for church gardens that follows the principles of healing gardens as developed for hospitals.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. No partners wanted to try it.
8533-Young Adult Didactic Novels: Develop a series of on-demand and digital books aimed at a young adult audience that teach the life of discipleship.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We are developing the business model for this experiment with our partner.
8534-Episcopal Prayer Skill in Spanish: Taking what we have learned from our Alexa Skill experiment to develop a Spanish-language version that will be available on the Android platform.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: So, it turns out that Alexa in Spanish in the US just started last October. As such, there's not much of an audience yet. We're going to put this on hold for a while to see if Alexa in Spanish catches on.
8535-Alexa Phase 2: To grow the current skill on Alexa to be on the Google Assistant. Also, to produce it in Spanish.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Our skill doesn't even have to be enabled anymore! All anyone has to do on any Alexa machine is say "Alexa, Open Episcopal Prayer" and off it goes. This second phase is to make the prayer a bit longer than the 4 minutes currently used and to increase our marketing so more people know it's there. Working on this. More soon!
8536-Digital Collection Plate Phase 2: Taking what we learned from the first phase and developing a kiosk solution for congregations to accept digital payments.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We are actively taking names for congregations who wish to participate in this with us. Is it your congregation? Let us know!
8537-Design Research Team: Build out a team trained in design thinking to research experiment opportunities.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We have identified three members so far to be trained in design thinking to be a part of our team. As part of this effort, we will "show our work," as it were, as we develop experiments by showing the research data and the early iterations of prototypes (the back of the napkin drawings, kind of thing).
8538-Latino Ministry Launch: Taking the success of the Latino Ministry in a Box experiment (8506) and helping to launch it as an ongoing ministry.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: As you might imagine, getting many partners to enter into an agreement takes time. We are in that process now (towards the end of the process!!). We hope to have the Letter of Agreement signed soon.
8539-Administrative Hubs: To eliminate redundancy by creating administrative hubs that can do work for multiple congregations at once.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We are starting small in a diocese: bulletins. As soon as we can say more, it'll be here!
8540-Comic Con: To have a presence at the international convention to meet younger audiences where they are. Also an opportunity to do research on the same audience.
This experiment is CLOSED.
Result: Abandoned. Comic-Con didn't want us there.
8541- Growth Path: To create a path for congregations to assess where they are in order to ready themselves to implement church growth programs.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: Have a planning meeting coming up in a few months for the next steps.
8542- Spanish Missalette: To create a seasonal Spanish language missalette for use in congregations that have Spanish language services.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: We are trying to figure out the logistics (from copyrights to printing and distribution).
8543- Crossing the Threshold: How can we create a way for people to be helped/mentored into the church? This way, new people will not feel like outcasts.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8544 – YouTube Channel: To create a YouTube channel aimed at young adults that covers spirituality from the perspective of one young adult.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8545 – Mall Church: To create a pop-up store front church that can minister to workers and shoppers in a mall during a busy season.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8546 – VBS For Latino/a Ministry: To create a culturally Latino/a Vacation Bible School in English aimed at young Latinos/as.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8547 – Re-imagined Easter Vigil: To utilize the new Book of Occasional Services and elements from the catechumenate and the Primitive Church to bring together young people to re-imagine the Easter Vigil service to be a sensory experience that (re)kindles their spirituality.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8548 – English Language Latino/a Ministry: To create a culturally Latino/a Eucharistic service aimed at second+ generation Latinos/as.
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8549 - Eight Minutes Podcast
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8550 - COVID-19 Response
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8551 - Dial-a-Priest
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8552 - People of Peace on Facebook
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8553 - Crowdfunding in a Box (CFB)
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8554 - Plating by Radio
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8555 - Latino/a Stewardship
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
8556 - Church 2030
This experiment is in DEVELOPMENT.
LATEST: New and in development.
