>One hat I wear is supoporting “ministry review” – very different from “appraisal” which appraises past perfromance. Ministry review is so future orientated that they’ve decided to put a capital D between the words Ministry and Review to emphasise that it is a developmental tool. I came across this quote when reading the excitingly tilted “Ministry Development Review: Interim Guidance” from the United Church of America (as opposed I suppose to the other churches of America which aren’t united). Here’s the quote:
Evaluation is natural to the human experience.
Evaluation is one of God’s ways of bringing the history of the past into dialogue with the hope for the future.
Without confession of sin there is no reconciliation;
without the counting of blessings there is no thanksgiving;
without the acknowledgement of accomplishments there is no celebration;
without awareness of potential there is no hope; without hope there is no desire for growth;
without desire for growth the past will dwarf the future.
Grits and Grains 
>Many thanks for this perspective. A lot of the considerable mountain of guff I've seen on this subject has been all about techniques and short-term aims. This quote restores a bit of sanity, anyway, and a bigger picture.I hope that in the new dispensation there will be enough of a feedback loop for the human beings involved to say if what's done with them doesn't help these bigger considerations around their ministry.That's something I'll wanting to try and ensure round here, anyway.
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