How do you evaluate church ministries?

Evaluate church ministries by asking three questions: Is it fulfilling its purpose? Is it worth the cost in volunteers, budget, and pastoral time? Does it have active leadership? Then categorize each ministry as keep and invest, keep and improve, keep and monitor, or stop.

How often should a church evaluate its ministries?

Church ministries should be evaluated annually. An annual review prevents ministries from continuing on inertia long after they have stopped being effective, and ensures that limited resources are being used in the most fruitful ways.

How do you stop a church ministry?

Stop a church ministry with grace and gratitude for what it accomplished, a clear explanation of why the decision was made, and a plan for how the needs it was meeting will be addressed from here. Do not let the difficulty of stopping something keep you from making the right decision.

How to Evaluate Your Church Ministries: A Practical Guide for Small Churches

For a practical guide to starting and sustaining a women’s ministry, see our women’s ministry guide for small churches.

Key insight quote goes here.

By Brent Lacy

Most small churches have ministries that nobody would start today.

They exist because they have always existed. Because someone started them 20 years ago and it would hurt their feelings to stop. Because the church is afraid of change. Because nobody has asked the hard question: is this still worth doing?

Ministry evaluation is not about being harsh or dismissive of the past. It is about being honest about the present and intentional about the future. Here is how to do it well.

Annual

is the right frequency for ministry evaluation

3 questions

are enough to evaluate any ministry

80/20

rule: 80% of impact comes from 20% of ministries

Why Ministry Evaluation Matters

A small church has limited resources: limited volunteers, limited budget, limited pastoral time. Every ministry you run consumes some of those resources. A ministry that is not producing fruit is consuming resources that could go to something that is.

Ministry evaluation is stewardship. It is asking: are we using what God has given us in the most effective way possible?

The Three Questions

Every ministry in your church should be able to answer these three questions.

1. Is it fulfilling its purpose?

What was this ministry designed to do? Is it doing that? A children’s ministry that is not reaching children, a small group that is not building community, a missions committee that is not supporting missions, these are ministries that are not fulfilling their purpose.

2. Is it worth the cost?

What does this ministry cost in volunteer hours, budget, and pastoral attention? Is the fruit it produces worth that cost? A ministry that consumes significant resources and produces minimal fruit is a poor investment.

3. Does it have leadership?

Every ministry needs a leader. A ministry without a leader is a ministry that is running on inertia. If you cannot identify a person who is responsible for this ministry and who is actively leading it, the ministry is effectively leaderless.

The Evaluation Process

Step 1: List every ministry.

Write down every program, event, and ongoing ministry your church runs. Include everything: Sunday school, small groups, VBS, women’s ministry, men’s ministry, missions committee, food pantry, youth group, choir, and anything else. Most small churches are surprised by how long the list is.

Step 2: Evaluate each one.

For each ministry, answer the three questions above. Be honest. This is not the time for sentimentality.

Step 3: Categorize.

Place each ministry in one of four categories:

Keep and invest. This ministry is fulfilling its purpose, worth the cost, and has strong leadership. Invest more in it.
Keep and improve. This ministry has potential but needs changes. Identify what needs to change and make a plan.
Keep and monitor. This ministry is marginal. Give it one more year with specific goals. If it does not improve, stop it.
Stop. This ministry is not fulfilling its purpose, is not worth the cost, or has no leadership. Stop it.

Warning: Stopping a ministry is hard. People have emotional attachments to programs they have been part of for years. Do it with grace, with gratitude for what the ministry accomplished in its time, and with a clear explanation of why the decision was made. Do not let the difficulty of stopping something keep you from making the right decision.

Starting New Ministries

Ministry evaluation is not just about stopping things. It is also about identifying gaps. After you have evaluated your current ministries, ask: what needs in our congregation and community are not being met? What ministry could we start that would address those needs?

Practical Tip: Before starting any new ministry, identify the leader first. A ministry without a leader should not be started. A ministry with a passionate, capable leader can start with minimal resources and grow from there.

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