Jim & Carol Plueddemann
What makes an effective missionary? While most missionaries dread evaluation, church mission committees themselves aren’t sure what questions to ask—or what exactly they’re evaluating. A church’s attempts at evaluation can be sadly comical. On a home assignment from Africa, our supporting church’s missions committee members couldn’t think of anything to talk about, so they asked if we had any snake stories.
Another time, a Christian foundation director asked Jim, “How many people did you win, and how much money did it cost per soul? If we fund this project, how many people per dollar will come to Christ?”
The snake story episode reveals wasted chances to ask probing, meaningful questions about the essence of our work. Instead, the committee mired in trivial things irrelevant to assessing our effectiveness. The cost-per-soul discussion revealed crass materialism and a behavioristic mindset for what only the Holy Spirit can bring about.
So how do you evaluate missionaries?
“Vision-driven, outcome evaluation” considers everything according to the kingdom vision God has given the missionary, rather than simply judging a missionary’s work by a checklist. For example, instead of focusing on how many times the missionary showed the Jesus film, a vision-driven evaluation asks, “What difference will the film’s message make in people’s lives and, what are the next steps for those who have viewed it?”
Here are seven vision-driven development points to move missionaries to reflect, plan and be highly effective in their lives and ministries:
1) Spiritual: Are you growing in grace or stagnating in your relationship with Christ? What’s helped you grow? What’s hindered you? What needs to change? How does your missionary experience enhance or detract from your spiritual growth?
2) Family: How is your marriage? Your relationship with your children? What specific things have you done to build both? If single, how have you nurtured healthy relationships with others?
3) Mental: Are you growing in wisdom and knowledge? What have you done this last year to gain professional, language and cultural skills? What could you do specifically to continue developing your mind?
4) Physical: What have you done to maintain physical shape? Would more rest, better diet and consistent exercise help?
5) Relationship: Have you developed strong cross-cultural friendships? How are your relationships with missionaries and national co-workers? What has helped or hindered the growth of loving, trusting relationships? List ways you will prayerfully develop love and trust within your team this year.
6) Vision: What are your hopes and dreams for God to use you in others’ lives? If God were to richly bless your ministry, what difference would it make in other people and the church? What indications show that God has been using you to make an eternal difference in others’ lives?
7) Activities: How has God used your ministry to fulfill the kingdom vision? What have you done to hinder fulfilling it? What belongs on your “to-do” or “stop-doing” list?
This evaluation helped a missionary at one of our Kenya seminars. He found the root of his many frustrations with his work was the mismatch in his ministry. He was doing administrative tasks, but his real passion was to teach Bible. As a result, he moved to a Bible college to teach. Later he told us that this exercise greatly improved his ministry, personal life and marriage. Another missionary went through this process and moved from Bible teaching to the ministry of financial administration which more closely matched his gifts and passion.
For ten years we’ve traveled to 56 different countries, challenging and encouraging missionaries to evaluate their lives and ministries for the kingdom’s sake. We hope these seven habits may guide mission committees to move from snake stories to vision-driven evaluations that further the kingdom cause. We invite missionaries to prayerfully reflect on them to evaluate the past and plan for the future. Discuss your findings with a mentor and with your church missions committee.
What’s been your experience with evaluation? Let us hear from you as we seek ways to be highly effective servants for the kingdom.
