Meaningful Evaluation

Embrace meaningful evaluation as a tool for ministering more effectively.

That’s it—it’s not about personal preference or ministry turf. It’s about ministering to your church and community with well-conceived action plans. Plans made for churches and ministries can be evaluated in many different ways, both formal and informal.

Ministry & Event Evaluations

Establish a regular process for reviewing short-term ministry initiatives, ongoing programs and one-time annual events. In most cases, ministry and event evaluations will be a regular part of team meetings.

Standardize the evaluation form and consider asking volunteer leaders and ministry teams to give input on the events and ministries they lead. Ask the key leader responsible for the ministry or event to compile an evaluation summary. Then file these evaluations and reference them as needed in future ministry planning.

   Ministry & Event Evaluation (Fillable PDF)

   Ministry & Event Evaluation

Annual Evaluation

Evaluate year-round ministries with an Annual Ministry Evaluation. A church may decide to evaluate major ongoing ministries in December or May each year. Annual evaluations work best when tied directly to your strategic planning time periods—calendar year, ministry year or church year.

Note that the Ministry & Event Evaluation can be used for year-round ministries.

Annual Review

Evaluate what you’ve done against the strategic plan that your church has created. Ask the important questions:

• Did we do what we said we were going to do?
• Did the strategies we created reach our target group?
• Did we meet the numerical goals that we set?
• Did ministry effectiveness to our members improve?
• Did we accomplish our vision and stay true to our values?

If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, then provide comments and make adjustments to improve your ministry in the next planning cycle.

Resources

   “Ask the Right Questions” on Big Ideas Blog

   “4 Q&A Evaluation Strategies” on Big Ideas Blog

   “Stop, Start, Continue?” on Big Ideas Blog

   “Create a Culture of Accountability” on Big Ideas Blog