Take a Moment to Evaluate . . .

Yesterday I wrote, "Reflecting is all about evaluating and if we do not evaluate the things we do, how will we know if we are "on target" or just throwing everything at the wall hoping something "sticks"? Take time this week to reflect, chew over, think over, ponder and contemplate . . . and be sure to take notes!" and Monday I said, "The Summer is over and Fall ministries are beginning so now is the perfect time to take a moment to pause, reflect, evaluate and give Thanks!" and then took time to consider pausing. Today I want to take a moment to consider what it means to "evaluate" and why we should do so, but first, let's think about what "evaluate" means. I looked on-line and found the following definition . . . "Place a value on; judge the worth of something" So, with this in mind, let's think about taking a moment to "evaluate" . . . 

• As you "evaluate" the past three months, how effective was your ministry to children and families?
• Have you taken time to get feed-back from your volunteers?
• Have you taken time to get feed-back from the parents?
• Have you taken time to get feed-back from the children in your ministry?
• Have you taken a serious look at the curriculum, resources and tools you have been using? (check my curriculum reviews and side-by-side comparisons at this link)

Evaluating is all about measuring, judging the worth of something, and like I said yesterday, "if we do not evaluate the things we do, how will we know if we are 'on target' or just throwing everything at the wall hoping something 'sticks'?" Ministry to children and families matters too much to not take the time to regularly evaluate; to regularly measure what we are doing and if it is "hitting the mark", or not.