Most churches take time to evaluate their ministries, acknowledges Christian researcher George Barna. The problem, he said, is that they’re evaluating the wrong things.
Churches regularly measure such areas as attendance, budget, programs and facilities, Barna said.
“We count all kinds of stuff,” he noted. “The issue is those are inappropriate measures. They do not reflect transformation. They reflect quantity but they don’t reflect quality.”
By contrast, he added, “What Jesus looked at was people’s hearts.”
Research indicated only 9 percent of church leaders say their churches have measures that are “effective in helping them figure out how they’re doing in ministry,” Barna said. Up to a third of Protestant churches have no specific ministry goals each year, he added.
Emphasizing that spiritual accountability is biblical, Barna said church leaders must be willing to be vulnerable in order to gain useful information about their churches’ spiritual condition.
“We’ve got to be a lot more tuned in to how well we’re doing,” he urged. “You can make it up as you go along as a Christian, but chances are you aren’t going to get very deep in your relationship with Christ.”
Though “accountability is a taboo subject” in many churches, Barna said clearly defining ministry goals is essential to success. He added that standards for effective evaluation begin with the Bible.
Other standards include national norms- how other churches are doing- as well as local church records and current goals, he said.
Key questions to pose, Barna added, are: “Compared to where the church has been in the past, are we making progress?” and “Are we committed to doing what we said we would do?”
Once a church decides to pursue qualitative evaluation, Barna said leaders should “identify the non-negotiable outcomes that must be achieved for your ministry to be successful.” Other steps include developing reliable measures, keeping the process simple and helping members understand why and how the evaluation process is relevant.
“Some churches gather interesting information but not useful information,” Barna said.
(ABP)
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