Evaluation

I have been thinking a lot about how important evaluation and assessment should be part of any ministry. Yet how many of our ministries never give serious thought to the careful collection and analysis of data? Most churches, I suspect, would never go any further than a simple survey in obtaining such information--if they even do that--yet surveys are often not very well constructed, and reveal only some information of what might potentially be obtained. I think we need a book--and perhaps even some instructional videos--showing how ministries of many kinds can do assessment and evaluation. At one level, it involves asking whether a given lesson and activity really succeeds at what was intended (assuming that there has been thought about what is intended). At another level, one must ask if an entire area of ministry has been built on the actual needs that exist in a location and in a population, and what aspects of that ministry work well, what areas do not, and those aspects that more or less "weigh in the balance." Doesn't the Bible say quite a bit about this area? While evangelism and discipleship are universal needs, the most effective forms of these--the ways of doing evangelism and discipleship with a particular group of people--are likely to vary, depending upon culture, personalities involved, and the like.

I put together a very tentative list of topics I would like to see in a book with this topic. Wouldn't it be great to have not only a first-rate book on the topic, but also a series of videos showing people how to do all of this? Let's give this idea some thought and prayer!


Possible Outline:
1. The Scope of Ministry Evaluation
2. Biblical Roots of Evaluation and Research
3. Needs: Assessing, conceptualizing, and articulating
4. Setting Goals: Mission, Purpose, Objectives
5. Programs: Planning, Field-testing, Assessing resources
6. Orienting to the Task, Instruction, Implementing the Program
7. Formative Evaluation
8. Ongoing Education for Fine-Tuning the Process
9. Assessing Motivation, Evaluating Organizational Climate, Assessing Organizational Communication
10. Evaluating Problems that Surface/Program Problem Management & Assessment
11. Summative Evaluation
12. Adjusting the Program for Maximum Efficiency in a Humane Environment
13. Phasing in and Phasing Out Programs and Aspects of Programs

Note: much of the content of chapters 3 to 13 has been written in the book I did with Blake Neff on volunteers, but this needs expansion to other areas of ministry, updating, and elaboration.