Did You Get That? Recording Outcomes in Church Ministry

Have you ever heard the words “church” and “impact evaluation” in the same conversation? I have to say, up until fairly recently, neither had I. In the last ChurchWorks Tackling Poverty Colab, we spent some time reflecting on just how much churches do in their local communities, up and down the country, every week. The list is pretty long: warm space cafes, babies and toddlers, bereavement groups, 1:1 mentoring, debt advice, foodbanks, community choirs, addiction recovery, litter picks… In an era where statutory services have less and less capacity, it’s hard to overstate how valuable the work of churches is, really.

But I think many churches would also acknowledge their desire to love and serve their communities isn’t always matched by the way they attempt to record impact over time. Some are good at noting down how many people attend their public-facing provision, but others would freely admit they aren’t. And this isn’t to mention, say, gathering quotes of people who’ve benefitted from something that’s happened within church walls, or ascertaining what other interventions a person has accessed as direct result of something they’ve attended inside the church first. Many charities are good at these sorts of things, and it shows when funding is divvied out. Could churches benefit from some of that money?

I think a big part of it is a culture change. Churches, rightly, are not looking to receive anything when they open their doors. They are loving their communities freely, because Christ first loved them first, freely and unconditionally. But it might well be that some additional partnerships could help them do that work better, or on a greater scale, if they just had some evidence to back up what they’re doing first. We are absolutely right to rejoice when we get to pray with someone, share the Good News with them, or see a person transition from a midweek offer to Alpha or a Sunday service. But perhaps we need to celebrate other things more as well, like when a person feels less lonely, loses weight, achieves sobriety, or finds a job. These things don’t come above the overtly spiritual, but if the Church is enabling these impacts too, surely it should get the credit for them?

An elephant in the room here is capacity. Many churches simply don’t have the manpower, and/or expertise, to consistently record impact over time. This becomes a frustrating circle. Because those positive influences aren’t noted, the potential for additional support, financial or otherwise, remains unrealised. But that extra resource would only make recording impact easier, not harder. Perhaps there is something in a name: a dedicated role in churches where, whoever is on duty that day, does their best to take down some agreed information, which in time could weave into something quite substantial.

The potential is huge. Many churches across the country are embracing impact recording, so they can form greater partnerships with donors, local authorities, ICBs, and charities. But what if all of these individual records of impact could be weaved into one cohesive whole? A national picture like this would help show the biggest players - central government, NHS, major charitable trusts - just how valuable the Church’s contribution is, and lead to wider systemic change. In a way, it comes down to faith: a belief that actually taking the time to note down certain things will, eventually, prove fruitful. More resourcing to help churches know where to start certainly wouldn’t go amiss, either. 

Meanwhile, the ChurchWorks team is in the process of arranging a meeting with a group of faith-based impact evaluation experts, to explore whether a feasible action plan could be made to help churches on the ground with impact recording. Does your church have a case study of how collecting evidence has led to a positive development? Get in touch! We’d love to hear more.

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