Stop Church As Usual

 

MARIA MALLORY WHITE is the Coexecutive Editor of The African American Pulpit.

Many have repeated the words so often.  “Insanity: doing the same thing over and overagain and expecting different results.” And yet, when it comes to ministry, doing it the way we've always doneit all too often becomes our modus operandi. 

But how do we keep ourselves from the customary, comfortablecycle of continuous, compulsions to craziness? How does the church break out of we've-always-done-it-like-thismode?  In a word:  Evaluation.

Evaluation is the antidote to the insanity, monotony andlethargy of church business as usual. Evaluation, a deliberate analysis of goals, outcomes and effectiveness,is a powerful productivity tool for pastors, ministry organizers and/orcongregations intent on growth and progress. Rather than simply doing things the same way, evaluation challenges usto assess what we've done, compare it to what we intended to do and makeadjustments that will lead to greater effectiveness in the future.

The best evaluations are intentional.  The truth is, we're constantly assessing whatgoes on around the church.  On any givenSunday, ministers and congregants are scrutinizing the worship and work at thechurch:  “Did you see all those emptypews?  Attendance was way offtoday.”  “The choir was off thechain.”  “The service was entirely toolong.”  “Pastor sho' did preach!”  We're always opining about the happenings andgoings on at and in our churches.  Foroptimum benefit, however, evaluations deliberately should be included in theplanning and execution of the work of ministry. They should not be based on off-hand comments or treated as anafterthought.

Making a commitment toformal evaluation doesn't have to mean adopting an elaborate new drain onalready over-taxed time, energy and resources. Asking strategic questions on the front end will set the foundation forinformative evaluation on the back end. What is it that this ministry, outreach program, special event orbuilding project is meant to accomplish or contribute to the work ofministry?  A clearly defined objective iscrucial and so are time-lines. Take time to establish baseline objectives andexpectations specific to the work at hand. Go deeper than labels, superficialities and clichés.  Just as we need job descriptions to determinethe scope and responsibilities of our contributions, our efforts in ministryneed to be expressly delineated so everyone is on the same page in knowing whatwe hope to accomplish--and the evidence or fruit of successfully fulfilling thegoal of this effort.