We have had rapid growth at Grace Community Church. I am very thankful that God has chosen to share His grace with us for such a time as this. I am in a week of reflection (Read about that HERE) and the thought occurred to me this week: You can cover over a multitude of problems in an organization with enough growth.

For example:

• It’s more difficult to determine if people are moving from visitors to regular attendees, because we have so many new visitors coming every week.
• It’s more difficult to tell if people are connecting to groups and serving, because new people keep coming to join groups, serve, etc.
• It’s more difficult to tell if people are developing in their giving habits, because new people keep arriving that bring new offerings.

I am not saying we have problems in these areas or any area.  I am really saying I don’t know, even though every organization has room for improvement. What I am saying even more is that if there are problems they have most likely been disguised because of the tremendous growth we have experienced. One day the growth may not be as rapid as it is today, and we will need solutions to problems that are uncovered. I am more proactive than that. I would rather uncover the problems that may exist now and find solutions before the problems arise.

I am questioning if there is a need to find ways to evaluate our progress in reaching our core objective, which is ultimately the same as our vision, “to make growing followers of Jesus Christ”. We aren’t looking for just numeric growth, we are striving to produce people that are growing in their passion and walk with Christ.

I realize that any line of thinking that involves evaluation in a spiritual context is controversial at best, but evaluating now may help us continue to grow and stay healthy and enhance the future growth that we experience. I lean towards the thought that the church must be evaluating progress towards objectives, as any healthy organization should do.

For similar thoughts on evaluation in ministry, read HERE and HERE.

What are your thoughts on ministry evaluation? It’s okay to disagree with me. Just share your thoughts. I will share more of mine tomorrow.

If you think evaluating ministry is important, do you have any thoughts on what kinds of things we would measure?

Related posts:

1. Planning for Sustainment Within an Organization
2. The Value of Unstructured Growth/When Growth Outpaces Structure
3. Spiritual Growth and Maturity Survey
4. Quick Reminder About Church Growth
5. How Do You Measure Spiritual Growth?