As my week of November posts past continues, here’s an entry from my “A Week of Assessment” series I posted two years ago. You can find the first in that series here. But here’s a favorite:

One quick way to get a gut-check in your ministry is to ask students what they know about it. Surely there are some things you hope your best-involved students know. But how well those things have actually gotten across – from the stage, in small groups, in your emails or other messages, etc. – will be unclear unless you actually ask.

So, an assessment along those lines: What if you simply surveyed all your students next week, anonymously, and then examined the results?

Here are the sorts of things I would ask (if they apply to your ministry); adjust the wording for what you need:

  1. First, ask how long they’ve been involved in your ministry. (When you evaluate the survey, this will be important for judging the results – including discounting results from those who have only been coming in the last few weeks.)
  2. What do you think our ministry is all about?
  3. What is our ministry’s mission statement? (or ask about your ministry’s theme verse, official “pillars,” etc. – whatever you’ve officially established to guide the ministry)
  4. Name as many of our student leaders as you can, and their role in the ministry
  5. Name as many staff people as you can (including the college minister!)
  6. Write down as many topics or truths from this semester’s messages as you remember
  7. What’s the reason behind our ministry’s name?
  8. (If you’re at a church) What’s the name of our pastor? (or anything else they should know about the church)
  9. How does someone become a leader in our ministry?
  10. How does someone serve as a volunteer in our ministry?

Hopefully these 10 questions get you thinking about others; the point is to ask students to articulate the things you feel like they should know.

Like I said, this one could be a gut-check!