Hello friends–I welcome back Heidi Indahl, who has been writing out faith formation articles. This is the fifth installment of a series, and you are encouraged to explore all the others here! Heidi, thank you for your ongoing work and genius in this ministry of the parish!—Susan Windley-Daoust

You’ve heard me talking about this for several months now, but what exactly is Designed for Discipleship ™ ?  Designed for Discipleship is a new way of thinking about organizing and presenting parish-based faith formation that starts with the simple, but sometimes challenging, assumption that God desires the success of our efforts and has designed our hearts and minds to work in unity for that end. It is a research driven instructional design model built on brain-based models of learning, specifically designed for faith formation and religious education. 

The process was developed by me and my husband Tim, who holds a PhD in Educational Psychology, with input from many others who are working boots-on-the-ground in parishes.  Over the last 3-4 years we have been listening to priests, parish staff, and catechists repeat similar frustrations about the effectiveness of their faith formation programs.  Over and over again we heard, “It just isn’t working anymore,” and “We want to do something different!” 

In this post- Covid, apostolic age many parishes are looking for new options and that was the impetus for applying our extensive education training and experience into the faith formation context.  Designed for Discipleship is particularly well received in rural schools and parishes with limited resources and are often disproportionately affected by dwindling attendance and rising parishioner age. 

Designed for Discipleship is not a curriculum, but rather a way of designing and preparing a comprehensive, developmentally appropriate faith formation program around a unified focus–making disciples.  While this process can involve a change in curriculum, for most of the parishes we work with it simply means adjusting the way they use existing materials, providing additional training for catechists or parents, reorganizing program structure, or creating new opportunities to encounter Jesus in the sacraments and life of service.  The approach can be applied to both parish and school-based programming.

In the 2024-2025 school year so far, we have brought the principles of Designed for Discipleship into dozens of parishes and schools across Southern and Central Minnesota through diocesan sponsored workshops, parish-based training for parents and catechists, curriculum consults and individual mentoring.  We are collaborating with faculty at Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota to bring Designed for Discipleship to undergraduate students through their brand new Catholic Education Major. That doesn’t even count those (like you!) who have been reached through our friends at the Mark 5:19 Project!

We would love to talk to you about how these global principles of faith formation might work for your local community. Please email inquiries to co********@*****************ay.com and we will contact you to set up a free initial phone or video call to discuss your situation in more depth.  We are now scheduling events for the 2025-2026 school year, with limited availability for the spring and summer of 2025.  

Four Key Principles of Designed for Discipleship

Begin With The End in Mind.
Quality faith formation is built on the principle that God designed our hearts and minds to work in synchrony in the mature life of authentically Catholic discipleship. 

Comprehensive Program Evaluation and Integration.
Faith formation across a lifetime requires one vision based on available human and physical resources, coherent across ministries rather than a series of disconnected programs. 

Quality Educational Methods.
Effective faith formation requires a prepared catechist and developmentally appropriate educational methods which change as a person grows. 

Evangelically Focused.
Faith formation exists for the purpose of supporting individual discipleship, particularly through lifelong service to others, mission and vocation. 

Blessings on your call to form and teach young, old, and in-between sons and daughters of the Father!