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:
- 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.)
- What do you think our ministry is all about?
- 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)
- Name as many of our student leaders as you can, and their role in the ministry
- Name as many staff people as you can (including the college minister!)
- Write down as many topics or truths from this semester’s messages as you remember
- What’s the reason behind our ministry’s name?
- (If you’re at a church) What’s the name of our pastor? (or anything else they should know about the church)
- How does someone become a leader in our ministry?
- 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!