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8 Hartford Business Journal • August 5, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com 'Outside the box' Robertson says he and Fathom's advisers apply the same guidelines and routines to church clients as they do secular ones. His approach, whether a business, nonprofit or church: Identify what cli- ents want to achieve, and then, think- ing creatively "outside the box,'' plot a course to achieve them. Along the way, Fathom's clients learn which mile- stones to focus on to stay on track. Often, Robertson said, clients have all the pieces in place, or at least iden- tified, to help them break out of what may look like the right path or aim, but in reality is a rut. "We help bring out what that orga- nization stands for, … we help bring those ideas to the surface,'' he said. Fathom's work with the Asylum Hill Congregational caught the attention of a much smaller, half-century old West Hartford flock at Flagg Road United Church of Christ. "We're a church that's off the beaten path,'' said Flagg Road Pastor Mark Diters. "It's struggled that way since its start in the '60s. … We've always been a church that's a niche.'' After a seemingly healthy beginning, when the congregation peaked at between 120 and 140 members, Diters said creeping disillusionment with religion in general, and with Flagg Road's leadership in particular, eroded its headcount to the current 80 or so — mostly educators and artists. Among ideas that Robertson and Fathom brought to Flagg Road was the formation of six "action teams'' tasked with, among other things, drawing together members with like- minded interests who can stoke and focus fellow members' worship atten- dance and other church engagement. Working with Fathom, too, has ben- efitted Flagg Road's shepherd. "It has increased the energy, which has increased my ability to do more,'' Diters said. He and Thompson say other congre- gations could benefit from Fathom's guidance, although they concur not all spiritually minded will appreciate it. Just as in the private sector, fear and uncertainty about change or anything new generates as much trepidation in the pews, they say. "For churches, it's a unique process,'' Diters said of Fathom's intervention. "I think some churches might not be comfortable with it.'' Asylum Hill's Thompson says the chal- lenge for today's church is getting its message to parts of the secular commu- nity that have yet to hear and receive it. Indeed, she points to a more con- crete exemplar from the Christian church, when another "counselor'' taught and preached precepts that were viewed as radical and roiled the religious elite of His day. "The ministry of Jesus was, in His time, about as innovative and creative as one could get,'' Thompson said. "It was countercultural. He was not doing the ministry most folks were doing.'' CONGRATULATIONS! On July 18th Neal Keating received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hartford Business Journal Neal's leadership and dedication to constant improvement along with a drive for the next breakthrough inspires our employees to provide customers with solutions to their critical technical and systems challenges. We are proud to have him lead us and congratulate him on his well-deserved award. Trends in weekly church attendance Church attendance in Connecticut and the U.S. has been on a steady decline over the years. This Gallup poll shows weekly church attendance has declined at a faster rate among U.S. Catholics than among Protestants. Church attendance % Year Protestants Catholics 1955 42 75 1965-66 38 67 1975 40 54 1995-96 40 50 1983-86 43 46 2005-08 45 46 2014-17 39 45 Source: GALLUP Poll Pastor Mark Diters (center) wearing red scarf, with fellow congregants of Flagg Road United Church of Christ, West Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED >> Secular Guidance continued