Indicators of Success

The Basic Issue

There is an old saying in Ministry circles, where a type of community development is conducted, that there are three temptations facing clergy:

• to whine (usually owing to scarce resources),
• to shine (owing to viewing oneself as the active agent) ,
• or to recline (owing to abuse of the expectation of professional initiative without close supervision).

These sorts of evaluative analyses tend to flow freely when looking at the issue of evaluation of projects programs and initiatives (or lack thereof).

Evaluation has two major forms:

1. Formative Evaluation, where evaluation is carried on in the midst of a project program or initiative, in order to adjust the operations and improve possible outcomes.
2. Summative Evaluation, where evaluation is conducted at the end of a project, program or initiative in order to assess its:
   
   •       Outputs (short term effects)
   •       Outcomes (medium term effects)
   •       Impacts (Long term effects)

My own personal view of community development work is that "if anybody sees you do something, it doesn't count". This outlook comes from two observations in Scripture:

• Paul saying that he is not the active agent in life when he notes "it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (Gal.2:20)
• Christ's admonitions in a variety of situations not to let your behavior be paraded before men for their approval, but rather before god to whom we are in relation. (Matt.6)

If empowerment is the process of helping people to take action themselves, then our role in community development should be one of operating behind the scenes. This is certainly the view of the author of Ephesians in his description of ministry as one of empowerment. Referring to Jesus, in Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul writes that the whole purpose of ministry is to build people up into an interactive body with God at the center o fit giving it a right attitude. That is a pretty high standard of success; Either that body exists or it doesn't, an either it includes all of humanity over the depth of time and the breadth of space, or it is incomplete. Either we have all made it or none of us have made it.

Off-Line Resources

On-Line Resources