More Intentional Disciples Needed

A new study of devout Catholics looked at their interest in discipleship and evangelization, and received interesting responses that may be used to plan ways to assist them.

DeSales Media and Vinea Research put together a 15-30 minute survey that was sent out to 22 Catholic organizations for distribution to their members. Click here to download the full report on Catholic intentional discipleship in the US.

Over 3,200 U.S. respondents who cited their faith as a significant part of their life and pray often were asked about their interest in discipleship, and about any unmet faith needs.

Nearly 3 in 4 respondents said that their Catholic faith is “the center” of their identity. Most described their faith journey as a mix of breakthrough moments and a long gradual path.  However, the study also found 1 in 5 devout Catholics are uncomfortable talking about their faith outside the circle of their closest family and friends. A hopeful sign is that overwhelmingly this category of respondents expressed a desire for more formation in the area of evangelization. Dave Plisky, DeSales Media Director of Production and Innovation said:

There is a great need for the work of forming intentional disciples within our communities. Many people simply don’t know where to turn to gain the skills necessary to talk freely about their faith in a variety of settings . Especially after the post-pandemic decrease in Mass attendance, we urgently need to get the right tools to the right people so that faith in Jesus’ Catholic Church will be reignited in those who have fallen away.

Most respondents say they pray daily and indicated that prayer and the sacraments are pivotal to living out their faith. They cited print and digital media as an integral component of this. Digital media such as websites, podcasts, and apps are quickly becoming essential tools for Catholics today, as the vast majority cited some type of digital media as a key source of ongoing formation.

But with only 16% of those surveyed saying that sharing their faith is a personal strength, it’s clear there’s a need to help form more intentional disciples . Dave Plisky explained:

The results of this study are critical for those in ministry to identify and understand the spiritual journey of intentional disciples. This study shows how we as a Church can help Catholics form deeper relationships with God and with others—to see Christ in the other. I hope our findings inspire ministries to create the most effective and needed resources to facilitate this important work.

We want these insights to allow the Church to respond to the needs of those who in turn lead others in the formation of their spiritual lives. This type of research is essential for pinpointing the needs of the faithful for those in ministry. We want these insights to allow the Church to respond to the needs of those whose faith makes it essential to share the Joy of the Gospel with others.

Other key findings include an expressed need for growth in the areas of humility, “taking up your cross,” and performing spiritual works of mercy. Participants also expressed a need for retreat opportunities, spiritual direction, and the importance of attending confession more frequently.

The National Catholic Reporter spoke with Dave Plisky about the study’s purposes and findings:

Were Catholic organizations or institutes looking to address this topic?

The study concept originated from within DeSales Media, a non-profit Catholic technology and communications ministry working in the Diocese of Brooklyn, NY.  DeSales is named for the patron saint of writers and journalists, St. Francis DeSales, which works to pioneer new and creative ways to articulate the faith in our ever-changing culture.

Through our DeSales Tech division, we serve parishes, schools, ministries, and dioceses with modern communications technology. Our aim is to help them better reach their constituents—parishioners, families, and the general Catholic community. All of this represents “business-to-business” (or, ministry-to-ministry) work, where we serve the institutional church. Those customers of ours, in turn, use the tools to effectively communicate with their audiences, sharing the faith across the digital continent, as Pope Benedict XVI called it.

But what about the rest of the faithful? If we want to reach them directly, what would be the best way to go about it? There are so many segments within this audience. You can’t trust a hunch or assume the people you seek to serve are just like you. And marketers know you never reach everyone. You have to be more specific to make an impact. So we asked ourselves the question: which audience segment would be most important to reach?

I believe that evangelization is marketing. And marketing is not a bad word referring to hawking mediocrity to the unsuspecting victims we call customers. Marketing is also not synonymous with promotion, since it also includes price, place, and most importantly product. Marketing, to use Seth Godin’s definition from his book This is Marketing, is “the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem. Marketing helps others become who they seek to become.

Plisky described a marketing principle: the marketing funnel:

It’s a conceptual tool companies use to understand how to drive customers to buy their products. Outside the funnel is everyone in the world. Some percentage of the world is a company’s prospects—prospective customers. The top layer of the funnel is called Awareness. So the first step is to make some people aware of the brand/product. Not everyone will take notice, but those who do are now prospects at the top of the funnel. Next is Consideration. In this step, the company must educate the prospects about the brand/product. Some will ignore the message, but others will listen. They move on down the funnel. Since only a percentage take the next step each time, the narrowing funnel helps illustrate that there are fewer and fewer people as they move toward the goal.

We’ve reached the Conversion stage of the funnel. Here is where the company finally asks the prospect to become a customer by purchasing the product. But it doesn’t end there. Now that there is a relationship between the customer and the brand, the hope is for repeat business. This is why we have loyalty programs. If the company is successful, some percentage of customers will become loyal customers, or even lifelong customers. But the real prize? To serve someone so well that they love the product. To the point that they go out of their way to talk about it. Think of a biker guy with the Harley Davidson logo tattooed on his arm. This is the final stage of the funnel, called Brand Advocacy. When brand advocates talk about the product (free promotion for the brand), they raise awareness and bring people further down the funnel toward conversion.

What does that sound like? It sounds a lot like missionary discipleship. In her book Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry Weddell named the stages of conversion: initial trust, spiritual curiosity, spiritual openness, spiritual seeking, and intentional discipleship. “This is the decision,” she wrote, “to ‘drop one’s nets,’ to make a conscious commitment to follow Jesus in the midst of his Church as an obedient disciple and to reorder one’s life accordingly.” And what do these people do? Well, all kinds of things, but importantly they go out on mission, fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. Which means they share their faith, bringing people into the top of the funnel and down through it—into deeper relationship with one another and with the Lord. (And yes, marketers really call it conversion, even when we’re not talking about discipleship.)

If this is true, that evangelization primarily happens when those so on fire for the Lord can’t help but share the joy of the Gospel, then this is our target audience segment. And the questions we asked ourselves are: how do we identify intentional disciples, and what are their unmet needs?

 Was the use of print and digital media for faith use a surprise…more than expected?

I was surprised by our results in this area. I expected a generational difference in respondents’ preferences for print or digital media. And, given the aging population of Catholics overall, we did receive a decent range of responses:

What was surprising was that 7% of respondents use only physical aids in living out their faith, while 6% use only digital aids. This means 87% use some combination of both physical and digital aids in living out the faith, the most popular being the Bible and podcasts, respectively:

While we may not often think of the Bible as “media,” the Bible does top the list. Also interesting is where print and digital media fell among the things that have had a meaningful impact on devout Catholics’ lives, coming in at number four.

How do the organizations involved intend to use the research?

Over 20 Catholic ministries, dioceses, and other organizations participated in order for us to reach our intended audience segment of devout Catholics. The study was extensive, and revealed clear “whitespace” in a variety of areas where there is ample room to resolve unmet needs. I’m sure each organization involved has learned from these findings, confirming or disproving assumptions with hard data, with a concentration on their particular gifts and areas of focus. We at DeSales hope that Catholic organizations far and wide will benefit from this study, see the potential in reaching this underserved segment of Catholics, and reach out. I would love to begin conversations with all kinds of organizations about how we can work together to address the many opportunities before us.

Plisky added:

I hope that the results of this study will inspire those in ministry to create the most effective and needed resources aimed at building greater participation in and spreading the Catholic faith.

The entire report has been sent out to each diocese as well as the participating organizations, and is available for free at https://desalesmedia.org/discipleship/.