Assessing our ministries has the potential of indicating where we’re aligning with God’s purposes, design, and mission for the Church and what needs to change. That only happens, however, if we use God’s Word as the standard of measurement in assessments.
Measuring our Alignment with God’s Purposes, Design, and Mission
Since “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), we turn to it as our source for knowing God’s purposes, design, and mission for the Church. Why would we measure His Church against worldly standards of success? — “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2)
The true God must be the One of whom there’s none greater. As such, His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours (Isa 55:9) so it doesn’t make sense to align with anything other than what He has laid out for us in His Word. Thus, we use His Word as the standard of measurement in assessments.
A Standard of Measurement in Assessments for Where We Need to Change
If we measure our alignment with God’s purposes, design, and mission against God’s Word, He’ll use that same truth to let us know where we need to change. Look at the whole of 2 Timothy 3:16-17. — “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
God wants to take us below the surface to the core of issues. He uses His Word to do that as we read in Hebrews 4:12. — “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
God reveals the change we truly need as we compare ourselves against His Word. When we accept the teaching and reproof from Scripture, the truth sets us free to become who God wants us to be (Jn. 8:32). We’re then ready to correct course and get back on track with God, the result of using His Word as the standard of measurement in assessments.
Guidance from God’s Word on How to Proceed Based on Assessment Results
As seen in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, God’s Word not only rebukes us if we err, but it also teaches, corrects, and trains us in the ways we should go so we become “thoroughly equipped for every good work”. Other verses also point to the guidance we find in Scripture for how to proceed.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. (Ps. 19:7)
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Ps. 119:104-105)
For More on These Topics:
All Posts about Assessments:
- The Right Standard for Assessments
- Using Assessment Results in Ways that Line Up
- Guard Body Life When Doing Assessments
- Great Commission: Encompassing or Complicated?
- Assessment Questions from the Great Commission
- Christ-like Standard in Assessments
- Assessing Christ-like Character
- Assessing Christ-like Conduct & Conversation
- Assessments Leading to Eternal Results?
- Involvement of the Holy Spirit in the Assessment Process
- Pulling on Spiritual Gifting in the Assessment Process
- Alignment with the Gospel in the Assessment Process
- Prayer in the Assessment Process
- Do Assessments Really Fit into God’s Character and Ways?
- Concerned with His Name in the Assessment Process?
- Use of Spiritual Weapons in the Assessment Process
- Need for Grace in the Assessment Process
- Guide the Assessment Process
- A Leader’s Roles in Assessments
- Don’t Like the Results of an Assessment?
- God’s Word as the Standard of Measurement in Assessments