Earlier this decade, our pastor Fr. Chris Heller discovered that the Gallup Organization, famous for the 1 % of their work that involves political polls, was beginning a Faith Practices Division that would assist churches and faith congregations worldwide to grow stronger and more healthy not by chance but by choice.

Gallup began by reminding us that for generations, pastors measured growth in three ways: attendance, collection totals and census updating. These are hard-data items. But what about the other data, things that before now could not be measured or defined: things like the unspoken expectations of parish and parishioners; whether or how well a parish is meeting the spiritual needs of its members, and even whether the parish’s leadership is developing a “top-of-mind practice” to thank and affirm its hard-working members?

In some parishes, such things are not even spoken about, whereas we have come to see these as essential for the life of the Catholic Christian community here at St. Joseph, as well as for the life of the world around us. But here’s another major difference between our past and current parish practices: in the past, when we thought that everyone could perform every ministry, we spent a good deal of time trying to fix or minimize “weaknesses” we saw in persons or in their service performance. Through humility and study, we have learned that we cannot expect someone to excel in an area in which God has not equipped someone with the talents and gifts to do so. Instead, we concentrate on people’s strengths: helping them to do what they do best, because success breeds success, even in church ministries!

The researchers at the Faith Practices Division created a survey that actually measures two kinds of responses: first, 9 items that measure a parishioner’s personal spiritual commitment to God; second, 12 items that measure his or her degree of active engagement in the philosophy, mission, and activities of the parish. Throughout these items and some demographic questions, there are four observable outcomes: life satisfaction, inviting others, serving, and giving. A similar version of these outcomes is found in the Word of God, in the Acts of the Apostles 2: 42-47.

We do this Annual Survey here at St. Joseph in the same way that people go for annual blood tests and lab work at the direction of their physicians. The test is the same year after year, but we change. And since we began taking this annual survey two years ago, we have seen personal and communal growth: more and more people become actively engaged in Christ’s work and mission here in the Parish.

After the survey has been administered, the results are tabulated and interpreted at Gallup’s office in Omaha, Nebraska. Then they are shared by a senior member of the Gallup staff with Fr. Chris and other parishioners. Together, they study the most recent results and note the comparisons and contrasts with previous surveys, and publish the results in several segments in the bulletin – and here on our website! If you have a question about this annual survey, please contact Fr. Chris at cheller@stjosephsbabylon.org. 

If you are interested in discovering your God-given strengths, you may do so even before you consider how you might put to work in one forum or another those unique strengths. Contact Jane Zollo at stewardship@stjosephsbabylon.org. We welcome your participation in the life of our Parish! 
 

So how did we do?

Click here to view the 2008 survey results.

Click here to view the 2007 survey results.