I’m constantly wondering, “How am I doing?” but I’m also afraid to know the answer. It means opening myself up to criticism, so I tend to hold back. But, if I ask that question it can also save my ministry. There are things that I don’t know and have yet to learn. While asking the question, “What do you think?” requires a whole new level of vulnerability it will help me:
Taking the same to survey and evaluate your ministry seem like a luxury, but it’s really necessary. It’ll help you get out of a rut, take your ministry up a notch and help you do what needs to be done to reach others. If you’ve never done more than an email survey, and haven’t been happy with the results, don’t fret. Here are a few best practices that have helped me collect the data I’ve needed to grow my ministry and continue to lead effectively:
Asking people, “How are we doing?” isn’t the best question to start with when trying to grow your ministry. If you want to be able to reach your goals then you need to be specific with your questions.
For example, if your goal is to grow your numbers you might want to ask parents, teens and adults, “How would you rate our presence in the community?” or you could ask newcomers, “How likely are you to come back each week?”
Don’t just ask people what their favorite part of the ministry is, or if they thought the talks were too long. Before you conduct any surveys make sure you have an idea of what information you want to get out of them.
While you can hit up more people with an email survey, the response you get from an in person evaluation is priceless. Ask a group of people whether it be:
To sit down and discuss the ministry. They’ll be focused on answering your questions and you can create a dialogue that gets lost with the email surveys.
Preferrably you want someone who has experience with gathering data and feedback. Maybe you have someone in your church who has marketing experience, has done research and development or is just really good at creating the questions.
At the same time have them conduct the evaluations, gather the data and then present it to you in a way that’s helpful. They won’t be as sensitive and shy away from asking the right questions. At the same time people will be more willing opening up to someone they aren’t afraid to offend.
While you don’t want to survey the same people over and over again, make sure you are taking them time regularly to look at where you are growing as a ministry. That means setting goals regularly, talking with people and not getting stuck in the business. I try to do them every 3-4 months.
The more you conduct these surveys the better you’ll get at using the data to improve your ministry. Don’t just go off of gut feelings or one or two people’s opinions. You know there is a lot more that goes into it, make sure you value the work by evaluating it.
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