Evaluating Your Start of School Events.....2 Questions to Ask

I have done and participated in a ton of start of school events in my 40 plus years in college ministry.  As Interim College Minister at my church this year, I am doing several and I am attending events done by others.

Usually we do not evaluate them well because we are just blindly rushing to the next event.  Through the years I decided some events were great fun and had a big crowd.....but...in the end when I really evaluated them.....they were not worth the time, effort, and sometimes, the expense.

The most common question or point of evaluation of a college ministry start of school event is, "Did we have a good crowd?".  I stopped having some events where we had "a good crowd" but when I looked at it on a deeper level I realized, it did not benefit our ministry.  We used to have a big Luau.  It was fun and we had big crowds.  After a few years we stopped having the Luau and had our first Worship event with food afterwards.  We did what we do and we were who we were.  Most who had come to our Luau did not know who we were or what and why we were. I am not in any way opposed to Luau's or any type fun event if it is serving the purpose for which you are holding it.

Here are the two questions I think we must ask about our start of school events:

1.  Did it benefit the students who attended in any way?
I honestly think one of our purposes in start of school event is to benefit the students.  Survival is one of those type events with its "Survival Tips", etc.  We might say an event did not accomplish much for our ministry but it was a help and blessing to those who attended.  We are doing college ministry to help and bless college students.

2.  Did it benefit our ministry?
Honestly, about ninety percent of why we do start of school events is to inform students about our ministry and or draw them to our ministry.  So, the question is not, "Did we have a big crowd?"  or "Did everyone have a good time?".  The question is DID IT BENEFIT OUR MINISTRY?  Were students informed about what we were doing OR did the event cause them to want to connect to our ministry?

As you begin to come to "the end of the beginning", ask these two questions about your events.


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