The processes for screening potential candidates for lay ministry formation programs are most likely to include letter(s) of recommendation and a personal statement.

About eight in ten programs include letter(s) of recommendation and a personal statement as part of the screening process. Interview(s) are part of the screening process for about seven in ten programs and some sort of self-assessment is used in a little more than half.

A total of 51 respondents, about one-fourth of the lay ministry formation programs that completed the survey, indicated that their screening processes include components other than those listed above. The most common type of other screening tool is some sort of psychological testing or assessment. Other examples include a spiritual or ministerial autobiography, participation in a discernment process, and approval or endorsement by a pastor. A number of respondents listed academic requirements and previous ministerial experience as part of their screening process.

Type of Program

All CPE programs and most seminary or school of theology programs include letters of recommendation, personal statements, and interviews in their screening processes.

	Diocesan	College	Seminary	CPE	Independent
Letter(s) of recommendation	78%	88%	96%	100%	67%
A personal statement	71%	86%	100%	100%	56%
Interview(s)	67%	63%	96%	100%	75%
A self-assessment process	58%	44%	55%	80%	38%

• Programs from the first four categories are most likely to include letters of recommendation and a personal statement from candidates in their screening process, while independent programs are more likely to rely on interviews with candidates.



• Over half of all diocesan programs and seminary/school of theology programs require some sort of self-assessment process for their potential candidates.

Nearly all of the programs that have a spiritual readiness screening process include letter(s) of recommendation and personal statements as part of that process.

• Eighty-six percent of the programs include interviews as part of the screening process.



• Seventy-one percent have a self-assessment process to assess the spiritual readiness of program candidates.

Among all five program types, large percentages that have a screening process include each of the elements listed below in that process.

• All CPE and independent programs that have a screening process include letters of recommendation, personal statements, and interviews in that process.



• All seminary/school of theology programs with a screening process include personal statements and interviews in that process and most include letter(s) of recommendation.



• Self-assessment is the least commonly used of these screening methods across all five types of programs.

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