Edison could have been happy with reading by candlelight. Henry Ford could have decided there was no better way to get around than horse driven carriages. Steve Jobs could have stopped after making the Apple II. You get the point.
Innovation is moving faster than ever before and the companies (or organizations) that aren’t regularly evaluating themselves are the ones that will end up left behind (no Christian pun intended). BASIC’s conference this past spring was our largest ever in our 30 year history. With over 850 attendees it was an amazing time together, but we still are evaluating and looking to make it even better.
It’s important to be regularly evaluating every area of our ministries in order to stay fresh, but also to make sure our vision still aligns with God’s. The campus environment can change drastically from one year to the next and so can each ministry as students come and go. The most important step to take in evaluation is to pray and ask God for fresh vision and inspiration.
There are other ways to gather feedback for evaluating your ministry as well. Just as many companies provide surveys or comment cards, you can put together a questionnaire at the end of each school year for your students. Hand it out at one of your meetings or put together one online so you can store and view the results easier. Wufoo and Google Forms are two good services for creating free surveys.
During the school year you could pay unsaved students or people who attend other campus ministries to visit your meetings and give you feedback. There are a number of different ways to get feedback and evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Keeping records over time can be really helpful too for looking back over longer periods of time or for preparing someone to take your place.
You may find that you thought your small groups were running very effectively, but students haven’t been getting much out of them. You might discover that students would like to see more social events or service projects happening.
So, I simply want to encourage you to be regularly assessing your ministry. You can’t fix what’s broken if you don’t even know it was broke to begin with.
What things have you done that have been helpful in evaluating your ministry?