The Disciple Maker Index

THE DISCIPLE MAKER INDEX

PUBLICITY TEMPLATES

Before December15, 2017:

Website Homepage Post
Website Post
Staff Memo
Announcement at Mass
Bulletin Announcement
Letter to Parishioners for Insert in the Bulletin
Listing of Publicity Ideas from a 2015 Parish

When the Survey is Live:

Website Homepage Post
Website Post
Announcement at Mass
Bulletin Announcement

After Receiving Your Results

Website Homepage Post
Website Post
Bulletin Insert with Summary of Findings
Homily/Bulletin Letter Sharing Survey Findings

Before DECEMBER 15, 2017

Website Homepage Post: Pre-Survey

TITLE: [insert parish]will be participating in an international parish survey! Please Read

[INSERT PARISH]will be participating in an international parish survey about discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute! We need your help – please click here to learn more

Website Post: Pre-Survey

TITLE: [insert parish]will be participating in an international parish survey! Please Read

[INSERT PARISH] will be participating in an international parish survey about discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute! We need your help – please click here to learn more

Please help us participate by completing a 10-15 minute survey online. The survey can be accessed at INSERT DATES OF SURVEYand will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on our parish’s efforts to help you grow. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

We are trying to get the highest response rate possible. This information will be invaluable to [INSERT PASTOR NAME] and our various ministries as we plan for the future and strive to be the best disciples we can be. We will receive the results this spring/summer at which time we will share what we have learned with the entire parish.

If you don’t use the computer - there will be opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy by contacting [INSERT PARISH STAFF CONTACT] at [INSERT PARISH PHONE #].

Thank you for helping with this important project!

Staff Memo: Pre-Survey

As pastor of (parish name), my primary responsibility is to help you grow as Disciples of Jesus and to equip you to go and make disciples of others. I am excited to share with you that our parish is going to participate in aninternational parish surveyconducted by Catholic Leadership Institute. This study involves participating in a survey to identify how we are growing spiritually as individuals and the ways in which our parish community supports that growth.

Through participating in this pilot, we hope to:

Allow parishioners to reflect on their spiritual growth and discipleship

Identify the ways in which the parish effectively supports that growth
Look at opportunities to support that growth more in the future
Create goals and action plans to achieve that growth

The web-based survey will be accessible online in and in paper form from (INSERT SURVEY DATES). If you have an opportunity, please stress the importance of responding to this survey to your ministry members. Our goal is a 100% response rate to ensure that we hear all voices.

The data collection, analysis, and reporting will be handled by an independent third party, Measuring Success, a firm that has worked in the non-profit world for 10 years to develop tools to assist non-profits to measure effectiveness. Measuring Success will conduct the survey itself and handle all of your survey responses confidentially. Our parish will receive an aggregate report of the results and will not have access to individual survey responses. The survey is strictly for the purpose of helping us understand what ministry members are attracted to, and continue to grow in our community; data will not be used to assess staff performance. We simply want to understand how ministry members assess their own spiritual growth.

Soon, parishioners will receive a communication from us inviting them to participate in the survey. If parishioners ask you about the survey, please:

Remind them about the dates the survey will be live (INSERT DATES).
Encourage them to respond as soon they can.We want a 100% response rate.
Assure them that the parish leadership will receive a summary report of the aggregate data and that no one at our parish will have access to individual survey responses.

This survey offers us a unique and important opportunity to learn about issues of importance to families in a confidential and professional way.

We very much appreciate your enthusiastic support for this survey and thank you in advance for the encouragement that you will provide our parishioners when we solicit their opinions. Meanwhile, if you have any questions or ideas about good ways to boost the response rate, please feel free to approach me directly.

Thank you for your support,

Pastor, Parish Name

Announcement at Mass (preferably made by the Pastor): Pre-Survey

I am very excited that our parish will be participating in an international parish surveyabout discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute. The Catholic Leadership Institute is an international apostolate that does leadership training and development.

But I need your help.

The study requires as many parishioners as possible completing a 10-15 minute survey online. The survey will only be available from INSERT DATESand will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on what our parish is doing to help you grow. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

We are trying to get the highest response rate possible. This information will be invaluable to me, the staff, and our many volunteers as we seek ways to best support everyone in their discipleship journey. There is information in the bulletin.

I look forward to sharing the findings this spring/summer when we get the results.

Thank you for helping with this important project!

Bulletin Announcement: Pre-Survey

TITLE: [insert parish]will be participating in an international parish survey! Please Read

[INSERT PARISH]will be participating in an international parish survey about discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute!

Please help us participate by completing a 10-15 minute survey online. The survey can be accessed online at or in paper form at the parish. The survey will only be available from INSERT DATESand will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on our parish’s efforts help you grow in your faith. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

If you don’t use the internet–

There will be opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy by contacting [INSERT PARISH STAFF CONTACT] at [INSERT PARISH PHONE #].

Thank you for helping with this important project!

Letter to Parishioners for Insert in the Bulletin: Pre-Survey

Dear NAME,

As pastor of (parish name), my primary responsibility is to help you grow as Disciples of Jesus and to equip you to go and make disciples of others. I am excited to share with you that our parish has the opportunity participate in aninternational parish survey about Discipleship through the Catholic Leadership Institute. This survey will help us identify how we are growing spiritually as individuals and the ways in which our parish community supports that growth.

Through participating in this study, we hope to:

Allow parishioners to reflect in their spiritual growth and discipleship

Identify the ways in which the parish effectively supports that growth
Look at opportunities to support that growth more in the future
Create goals and action plans to achieve that growth

The survey will be available from INSERT DATESand there are 2 ways you can participate in this survey:

Survey accessed by going to when the survey is live
Survey completed on paper(copies provided at the church exits).

I want to stress the importance of your participation. Our goal is a 100% response rate to ensure that we hear all parishioner voices. The data collection, analysis, and reporting will be handled by an independent third party, Measuring Success, a firm that has worked in the non-profit world for 10 years to develop tools to assist non-profits to measure effectiveness. Measuring Success will conduct the survey itself and handle all of your survey responses confidentially. Our parish will receive an aggregate report of the results and will not have access to individual survey responses (unless you choose to self-identify).

The data that will be collected will help me and our ministry leaders reflect on what efforts, programs, and activities are contributing to helping you grow in your faith as Catholics. It will be invaluable input into our planning process to help set priorities and allocate resources in our parish so we can be sure we are doing what we need to do to grow as disciples.

Thank you in advance for your participation in this important project. It will only be available until INSERT DATE so complete it as soon as you can!

Sincerely,

Pastor, Parish Name

Listing of Publicity

Below is a listing of ways that some of our participating parishes publicized the Disciple Maker Index survey to their parishioners:

Pre-survey:

Website announcements
Mass announcements
Bulletin announcements
Promoted on bulletin boards
Father has devoted his homilies, pastor’s column and inserted a letter into every bulletin over the past few weeks
All social media – Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Survey completion:

Ministry meetings – announcements will be made and/or laptops will be available
Parish mission – the computer lab will be open before the mission for parishioners to take the survey
Weekend Mass – laptops available
During parish office hours, we will have a station for parishioners to take the survey.

Survey access

Pastor emails everyone in his parishioner database with the link and an invitation to participate
Parish/Diocese prints the survey in their newspaper or as a bulletin insert

When the survey is live

Website Homepage Post: Survey Opens this Week

TITLE: The Disciple Maker Index Survey Opens this Week! Please Read and Help!

It’s official! The Disciple Maker Index Survey opens this week and we need your help – please click here to learn more

Website Post: Survey Opens this Week

TITLE: The Disciple Maker Index Survey is Opens this Week! Please Read and Help!

It’s official! The Disciple Maker Index Survey opens this week and we need your help!

Please help us participate by completing a 10-15 minute survey as soon as possible.

Go to
There are also opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy in the Narthex/Parish Office or by contacting [INSERT PARISH STAFF CONTACT] at [INSERT PARISH PHONE #].

The survey will only be available from INSERT DATESand will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on our parish’s efforts to help you grow. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

Thank you for helping with this important project!

Announcement at Mass (preferably made by the Pastor): Survey Opens this Week

I am very excited that the Disciple Maker Index survey officially opens this week!

The survey will only be available from INSERT DATESand will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on what efforts the parish is doing to help you grow. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

Go to to complete the survey
There are also opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy in the Narthex/Parish Office or by contacting [INSERT PARISH STAFF CONTACT]

Please take 10-15 minutes to complete this important survey which will be invaluable to [INSERT PASTOR NAME] and our various ministries as we plan for the future and strive to be the best disciples we can be.

Thank you for helping with this important project!

Bulletin Announcement: Survey Opens this Week

TITLE: The Disciple Maker Index Survey Opens this Week! Please Read and Help!

Please help us participate by completing a 10-15 minute survey as soon as possible.

Go to to complete the survey
There are also opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy in the Narthex/Parish Office or by contacting [INSERT PARISH STAFF CONTACT] at [INSERT PARISH PHONE #].

Thank you for helping with this important project!

AFTER RECEIVING YOUR RESULTS

Website Homepage Post: Post Results

TITLE: The Results are in!

Several months ago,[INSERT PARISH] participated in an international Catholic parish studyconducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute. The moment you have all been waiting for is here – the results are in! – please click here to learn more

Website Post: Post Results (update as necessary)

TITLE: The Results are in!

Several months ago,[INSERT PARISH] participated in an international parish survey about discipleship and your parish conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute. The moment you have all been waiting for is here – the results are in!

X Parishes across the country participated, with more than XX,XXX individual responses to the survey. An independent company (Measuring Success) received the confidential responses, scored the results, and tabulated the responses.

More than XXX of our adult members completed the survey – an outstanding XX% response rate! Those numbers compare favorably with the other participating parishes as well.

A small sampling of parish responses is provided below. More detailed analysis of the complete survey results will be released from time-to-time as we continue to unpack the data and discern its implications.

Disciple Maker Index Snapshot

Key Highlight 1
Key Highlight 2
Key Highlight 3

Thank you to all who took the time to participate in the Disciple Maker Index survey. It is an important piece of the puzzle to help us in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and forming Missionary Disciples.

Bulletin to Share Broad Summary of Survey Findings

TITLE: The Results are in!

More than XXX of our adult members completed the survey – an outstanding XX% response rate! Those numbers compare favorably with the other participating parishes as well.