Latest / Small Town Summits / (Article) Pastoral Evaluation in the Small-Town Church by Jason McConnell
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- Ben Whittinghill: Welcome to the Small Town Summit Podcast. Today we have another reading of an article from our website. Thanks for listening. Pastoral Evaluation in the Small Town Church. Written by Jason McConnell, recorded by Michael Badger. Pastors are evaluated by their parishioners all the time. Consider the conversation of a typical American family driving home from church on Sunday morning. After pulling onto a two-lane country road, mom initiates a discussion by asking, What did you all think of Pastor Joe's sermon today? After a long, awkward pause, Dad finally shrugs his shoulders and says, It was fine, I guess. All the while he is secretly hoping that she doesn't ask any follow up questions as he wonders to himself was the sermon from Ephesians or Philippians? Picking up on mom's displeasure from dad's answer, their twelve year old son quickly bellows from the back seat, I thought the sermon was good, but I didn't understand most of it. Annoyed by her brother's assessment, his teenage sister rolls her eyes and chimes, That sermon wasn't complicated, it was just boring. All of Pastor Joe's sermons are boring. Frustrated by these family responses, Mom glares at Dad's muted face and mutters, Well, I thought the sermon was excellent. I especially liked when he said that husbands ought to love their wives like Christ loved the church, and that children should obey their parents in the Lord. Mom's exasperated tone causes everyone else to clam up and ride along in uncomfortable silence. Mom turns her body away and stares out the passenger window, and muses to herself, Pastor Joe seems like a very loving husband. And his kids are so respectful. As I mentioned, pastors are evaluated by their parishioners all the time. Whether it's a family assessing the sermon on the way home from church, a men's prayer group protesting the pastor's petition to pave the church parking lot, or a women's fellowship group gossiping about how the pastor could let his wife wear such a low cut blouse to the ladies' fellowship luncheon. Pastors are the subject and object of a wide variety of critiques. But for better or worse, The pastor is usually unaware of these appraisals. When pastors do receive direct feedback, it often comes through unhelpful and potentially harmful channels, a cryptic text, an accusatory email, an uncouth comment, or the infamous anonymous letter from a concerned congregant. Off handed jabs like these can shatter a pastor's confidence and even wound a pastor's soul. Too many of these unsolicited and unexpected critiques may lead to pastoral discouragement, depression, or even resignation from the ministry. There must be a better system for pastoral evaluation. Unlike other professions that mandate an annual performance evaluation, pastors seldom receive systematic or formative feedback about their ministry performance. Some larger suburban churches may have formal mechanisms of evaluating their pastoral staff. But it is extremely rare in the small town church. Since most small town churches are relationally driven, they often feel like pastoral performance evaluations are unnecessary or unhealthy. And many small town pastors often feel insecure or even threatened by the prospect of criticism. After all, aren't Christians supposed to be kind to one another? But kindness does not necessarily conflict with constructive criticism. If a pastoral evaluation is conducted and communicated in the right way, it can be a tremendous tool for pastoral growth. Proverbs chapter twenty seven seventeen incites as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. The purpose of grinding an iron tool or weapon against another piece of iron is not to destroy it, but to make it more effective. Likewise, the purpose of a formal pastoral evaluation is not to damage the pastor's psyche, but to provide honest feedback about the pastor's strengths and weaknesses, and to determine areas where the pastor may need to grow or receive assistance. A good pastoral evaluation will simultaneously shave off some ego and encourage the soul. So how can a small town church conduct a positive pastoral evaluation? It can be as simple as the church's governing board establishing an annual pastoral performance review. The evaluation may take place with the pastor present or the results can be communicated to the pastor afterward. Some basic evaluation questions include: What does the pastor do well? Where does the pastor struggle? How can the pastor improve in this area? What resources are necessary to facilitate pastoral growth in these areas? The pastor or church leadership. Could also solicit a focus group from the congregation to provide feedback about the pastor's overall performance or a specific ministry area. The focus group should constitute a broad spectrum from the church's membership. During the COVID-19 quarantine, I took the opportunity to form two focus groups to help me improve my preaching. I asked three men and three women from various age groups to watch two different sermons, one delivered with a manuscript and one delivered with no notes. And provide honest feedback about the delivery styles. I also solicited a group of ten pastoral colleagues to do the same thing. Both focus groups provided interesting and helpful insights. As a result of these critiques, I am now preaching slightly shorter and more extemporaneous sermons. And for the truly daring small town church, it may want to conduct a 360-degree pastoral evaluation. Which is a method employed by the business community to provide performance feedback from multiple constituencies. In a church context, the pastor would be evaluated by the governing board, above, other pastoral staff or ministry colleagues, beside, church members below, and a self-evaluation inside. Each constituency uses the same evaluation tool, which normally asks quantitative and qualitative questions about the various aspects of the pastor's ministry. i.e. theology, leadership, preaching, teaching, pastoral care, counseling, administration, community involvement, etc. Once all of the evaluations are collected and tabulated, the pastor and the governing church board analyze the results and identify common trends. It is always fascinating to compare and contrast the responses within and against the different constituencies. The pastor and board may even consider sharing the final results with the entire congregation. The 360-degree evaluation gives the pastor valuable feedback from a broad range of perspectives. It helps the pastor assess their strengths and weaknesses and identifies practices that may need to change. It also provides the congregation with a formal and systematic process to encourage and critique their pastor. In helpful rather than harmful ways. Since pastors are constantly evaluated by their parishioners anyway, the pastor may as well know what they are thinking. The process of iron sharpening iron implies a bit of pain, but sharp tools and pastors are worth it in the long run. Thanks for listening to this audio recording of an article from our website. You can find more articles at www.smalltown summits dot com slash articles. And you'll also find out more information there if you would like to submit an article to us for review. May the Lord bless and keep you. Until next time.