Assessment tools

[Amanda Rasner]

Have you used the Book of Faith assessment tools in your congregation? What worked well? What didn't?

[Sara Bryan]

Hi Amanda. At University Lutheran, a small group of us used the "opening the book of faith" book to study together, led by retired pastor Chuck Gavin. That started in August and the group continues to meet to study the weekly text together.

The questionaire "Where Can I Begin? Indiv assessment" was a very powerful tool for me personally. I took quite a bit of time to fill it out (I was in the car, Tom was driving...) and it triggered many memories, some wounds, some tears, and good conversation.

[Amanda Rasner]

Thanks for your prompt response, Sara.

Sara Bryan said:

Hi Amanda. At University Lutheran, a small group of us used the "opening the book of faith" book to study together, led by retired pastor Chuck Gavin. That started in August and the group continues to meet to study the weekly text together.

The questionaire "Where Can I Begin? Indiv assessment" was a very powerful tool for me personally. I took quite a bit of time to fill it out (I was in the car, Tom was driving...) and it triggered many memories, some wounds, some tears, and good conversation.

[Pastor Ken Strecker]

I took advantage of the Assessment Tool when the congregation of which I am a member. The congregation filled out the forms for individuals (a fairly good response!). The pastor and lay teachers worked on the evaluation described in Part 2. We found that 47% of the responders admitted to having very little contact with scripture! That was a surprise. The congregation is going to offer the course "Redisovering the Book of Faith" first so that these people can take part in the regular sessions when they begin.
I thought the Assessment process was time consuming even though we have a member who does this kind of thing for General Electric here and jumped at the chance of figuring out all of the information. Our congregation is relatively small and so it wasn't too involved. I think that larger congregations would find it as quite a task. I had a leader in a 1,000 member parish ask about this and I described what I experienced. He seemed more eager to get on with the program and pobably won't do the Assessment.
Ken

[Nate Porter]

What is the average length of time it takes people to do this, do you think? We're getting BoF started in February and I am trying to decide the best way to get a good sample of our congregation to take the assessment.

[Chad King]

Hi Nate - from the feedback I have seen, it depends on how you decide to use it. Most of the time, the assessment is used as a basis for a class session. It can also be part of a class session, but most of the time, leaders have said that there is so much good discussion and sharing that it is worth the investment. I have also head of other congregations that have sent them home with groups and then brought them back together for discussion, or that have distributed them to the whole congregation to be used for personal reflection before a big "launch."

Are there other comments from folks about this?

Nate Porter said:

What is the average length of time it takes people to do this, do you think? We're getting BoF started in February and I am trying to decide the best way to get a good sample of our congregation to take the assessment.

[John Welch]

Chad wrote: I have also head of other congregations that have sent them home with groups and then brought them back together for discussion, or that have distributed them to the whole congregation to be used for personal reflection before a big "launch.""

That seems a good idea. Otherwise, the assessment tool is too long and tool detailed...and I'm a computer programmer, so I'm used to detail. Most of the time, people answer about five questions, and skip the rest...that's based on filling in many "how did we do" surveys after lectures and technical courses.

[Chad King]

That's a really good observation, John - and for many, the assessment might be too long.

For many out there, depending on the locale and the people in the congregation, it might be good to review the assessment and pull out a few small pieces especially if they are looking at a take-home piece. Maybe five questions sent home the week before a message from the pulpit or a sharing opportunity in the education hour would get a higher level of participation (or at least have a chance at getting some thought and reflection)?

[Amanda Rasner]

I wish I had all of your feedback BEFORE we embarked on this journey of assessment! We've had the individual assessment out in front of people for 2 months, but we're having a tough time getting them back in, I believe largely due to the length of the assessment. If you're going to use it, I suggest really paring it down to find answers to the specific questions you have for your ministry setting.
Oh well... live and learn.

[Nate Porter]

Does anyone know if someone has created an online version of the assesment? By this, I don't mean the downloadable PDF; I mean something that can be taken like a survey on people's computers. The stack of papers is seriously intimidating even to me looking at a printed copy. The Opening the Book of Faith introduction to the assesment implies that one exists, but I can't find it anywhere.

[Nate Porter]

In response to my own question, no, there is not actually an online version. I think part of the challenge is that while it would be fairly simple to create one on any of a number of survey websites, there would be cost associated with setting it up so it could be used by multiple congregations so that each could see their own results. If I get a chance, I may look into this more.

[Nate Porter]

As an update, we did the assessment Sunday as the beginning of launching BoF in our congregation. Instead of handing out copies, I made a document that had places for tally marks on large pages with each of the list-type questions so people could go around to different tables and answer (see attached, which you may feel free to use or modify). That took about 15-20 minutes and we used the rest of the sunday school hour to discuss some of the more qualitative questions, especially about memories. I think reactions were very good on the whole, especially to the list questions. Part of the issue with discussion is just that our classes have tended to be more lecture style and people are just now beginning to get used to more interactive adult forum formats. The most important things in making it a success were keeping it un-imposing, setting aside time for it when people would already be there, and making it clear that it was neither a test or a survey, but a discussion and self-awareness tool.
BoF Individual Assesment for Groups.doc

[Chad King]

This is an excellent (and very approachable) way to use this assessment content! Thanks for sharing this with us!