Everyone who has worked in church ministry knows how frustrating that experience is. If you're in the middle of it now, you're missing one thing: a way to evaluate your program.
Maybe you've started a new youth program, pioneered your church's first soup kitchen, learned how to start a ministry or are thinking about starting a church from scratch. No matter how big or small your project is, church ministry evaluation is a crucial part of church life.
That doesn't mean it's easy. Project evaluation is a challenge in any context, especially in ministry. How do you evaluate your ministries in a prayerful way, and where do you even start?
If you haven't evaluated your church ministries yet, keep reading. This article explains everything you need to know about the importance of church ministry evaluation. Plus, you'll get copy-and-paste questions and fields to create your own church ministry evaluation form.
Table of Contents
Church ministry evaluation is an ongoing process and has four phases:
We'll dive deeper into each phase before sharing the copy-and-paste questions and fields you need to build your own church ministry evaluation form.
One question that doesn't get asked enough in churches is: what exactly do you want your ministry to accomplish?
If you don't have a plan in place before you start, your church ministry evaluation will be made all the more challenging. After all, how can you grade yourself without knowing what it was you intended to achieve?
That's why it's crucial to set goals and objectives before you even launch your ministry. It's important whether you're setting your church's overall strategic plan or simply starting a coffee hour.
When drafting your plan, consider questions like:
Start by setting broad goals and adding specific objectives. This becomes your roadmap for evaluation. If you know what you want to accomplish, you'll know what questions to ask when evaluating your ministry.
Now, put your plan into action. As your new ministry unfolds, see what works and what doesn't.
Make a mental note (or keep an evaluation file) of how the program goes. You'll use those observations in the next step.
This is when you get to the meat of the church ministry evaluation process. (If you're already at this phase, see below for a ready-to-use ministry evaluation form.)
In the evaluation phase, you'll ask ministry evaluation questions to compare your ministry results to your original plan. Look at where your ministry succeeded and where it fell short. Is there anything you would do differently if you had it to do again?
When you've finished your church ministry evaluation, there is still more to do. In the final phase, you'll go back to your original ministry plan and make the necessary changes.
This includes changing any aspect of the ministry based on how you want it to more effectively meet your goals. For instance, you might:
After you're done making a new plan, it's time to make changes to your ministry. Then, you'll continue the church ministry evaluation process all over again.
The evaluation process may seem like a lot of work, and that's because it is. It's also never really finished.
However, it can be the key to getting your church ministries off the ground. It can even take your ministries from good to great.
Below, you'll find a text template of a church ministry evaluation form. Use the free ministry evaluation questions and fields to build your own form.
One of the most important practices in church ministry evaluation is to write down your observations as you bring your project to life.
Keep referring back to your planning points and ministry evaluation questions. Make notes about how the ministry is going to help you remember what happened. When evaluation time comes, you won't have to rely on your memory to recall details about the ministry project.
Let's face it: sometimes ministries don't go as planned. It's natural to be disappointed when your ministry doesn't work out the way you had hoped. At evaluation time, emotions can run high and tempers flare.
It's your responsibility to make sure your emotions don't cause the ministry's evaluation process to be too personal. Never blame or lash out at others for a church ministry's problem.
Yes, you may need to critique someone's performance. However, if you can't contain your anger, it's better to take some time to cool down before digging into the church ministry evaluation process.
Staff evaluations are one of the hardest parts of a church ministry evaluation. That's because everyone comes to ministry with a vulnerable heart ready to serve and receiving feedback and correction is painful.
But that doesn't mean it can't be done. Staff evaluations are a crucial part of evaluating your church's ministries. If a ministry is struggling — or thriving — your staff is a part of the reason, and they deserve feedback on their performance.
Not sure where to start evaluating your staff? Begin by considering:
These questions connect staff evaluations to ministry evaluations. It's best to do both in tandem. That way you can work with staff to improve their performance at the same time as they improve their ministries.
If you're intimidated by the idea of giving your staff challenging feedback, remember that it is a Biblical practice. Throughout the New Testament, the apostles challenged one another on their ministry practices. Paul even had to call Peter out publicly when his misguided approach to ministry was driving people away from Christ (Galatians 2:11-14)!
Although we recommend taking a more gentle approach to your ministry evaluations, rest assured that giving feedback is part of healthy church culture.
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