What’s measurable in youth ministry?

This blog post from adammclane.com is something I have been talking with my student ministry team. We are try to measure different things this year. How about you what are you measuring in ministry?

What’s measurable in youth ministry?

Church attendance. (duh)
Program attendance. (double duh)
Baptism.
Renewal/reaffirmation of baptism vows.
Attend confirmation.
Complete confirmation.
Small group participation.
Program participation.
Content retention.
Content progression.
Content application.
Becoming a volunteer.
Attending volunteer training.
Volunteer hours.
Bringing friends.
Bringing a Bible.
Bringing friends with a Bible.
Going on a mission trip.
Going on a service trip.
Creating a service opportunity.
Completing a service opportunity.
Recruiting friends for a service opportunity.
Fundraising for a service opportunity.
Joining a student leadership team.
Leading a student leadership team.
Youth ministry board participation.
Church board participation.
Finding a mentor.
Being a mentor.
Volunteering outside of the youth ministry.

There are a lot of things in youth ministry which aren’t measurable. Standing alone,  these quantifiable things might not mean a lot because students can easily fake them or do them with no heart or impact on their relationship with Jesus.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t measure stuff. You mix this quantifiable stuff with qualitative stuff to help you determine an individuals growth as well as the health of your entire group.
For example, at my last ministry one of my assumptions was that a student would make the leap into adult involvement in our church if they had a place they called their own in the congregation. As a result, something I measured and moved our students towards was transitioning from high school ministry involvement to being part of an adult team. (Leading kids ministry stuff, helping on our main service team, participating in one of our mercy ministries, etc.) It was measurable and attainable and made a big difference.

Read the blog post here http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adammclane/~3/Clw-5xdlh0c/