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Seven in ten lay ministry formation programs include a formal spiritual formation component.
Percent responding "Yes"
| A formal spiritual formation component | 71% |
| A screening process to assess a candidate's spiritual readiness for the program | 53% |
| A formal spiritual formation assessment process | 28% |
A little more than half have a process for screening candidates to assess their spiritual readiness for the program and just over a quarter have a formal process for assessing spiritual formation.
Type of Program
Programs that are sponsored by seminaries or schools of theology, dioceses, and independent organizations are more likely than CPE programs or college or university programs to have a spiritual formation component. CPE programs and to a lesser degree seminary/school of theology programs are most likely to have processes for screening and assessing candidates.
Percent responding "Yes"
| Diocesan | College | Seminary | CPE | Independent | |
| A formal spiritual formation component | 77% | 57% | 87% | 50% | 70% |
| A screening process to assess a candidate's spiritual readiness for the program | 52% | 42% | 71% | 90% | 40% |
| A formal spiritual formation assessment process | 24% | 19% | 46% | 63% | 20% |
- Although CPE programs are least likely to have a formal spiritual formation component, they are most likely to have both a spiritual readiness screening process and a process for spiritual formation assessment.
- College or university programs and independent programs are less likely than the other three types of programs to have processes for screening candidates and for assessing their spiritual formation.
Programs with Formal Spiritual Formation
Programs that have a formal spiritual formation component are more likely to have both a screening process and an assessment process.
- Two-thirds of these programs (66 percent) have a process for assessing a candidate's spiritual readiness for the program.
- Nearly two-fifths (38 percent) have a process for evaluating spiritual formation.
- All CPE programs that say they have a formal spiritual formation component also say they have a have a screening process and an assessment process.
- Of seminary or school of theology programs that include a formal spiritual component, most (79 percent) screen candidates for their spiritual readiness and half (50 percent) assess the spiritual formation that takes place during the program.