Evaluating Your Ministry To Youth

In his book The Christian Educator’s Handbook On Teaching, Robert Joseph Choun, Jr. offers the following checklist as a way of evaluating your ministry and teaching to youth. With a few minor changes, each of these questions could also be applied to both your children and adult work, too.

Do learners have strong, transparent models of the Christian faith? What changes need to take place? What staff training needs to take place?

Do teaching sessions provide active learning? Does the teaching portray leaders growing in the Christian faith? What changes need to take place? What emphasis should be given for future teacher training?

Does the teaching encourage thinking that is relational in process? Do teachers share firsthand experiences in the classroom? What changes need to take place?

Do teachers motivate learners to apply biblical truth? Does the program provide the motivation for multiplication? Do learners receive instruction on how to evangelize? Are they being motivated to spiritually multiply themselves on the campus? What changes need to take place to make this happen?

Do teachers build students so that they will lead peers to Jesus Christ? What should be done to make this happen?

Do teachers build relationships so that students can see leaders as growing Christians and disciple-makers? How can this happen?

Do the teachers build excitement about the primary responsibilities of the Christian life – developing disciples who can then become disciple-makers?

Does the environment provide for individual growth? Are learners being motivated to move toward growth and leadership? What must change to allow this to happen?

(This article appeared in the "Winter, 1996-97" issue of "The Herald.")