Learn

From planning to promotion, you did everything you could to offer a great ministry event. But, people just didn’t respond, or something unexpected happened ... and not in a good way. As a leader, you are left wondering, is there anything else we should have done? It might even be tempting to make a list of people to blame.

Or ... you could just start with an autopsy.

• Start with what you know.
  What happened? Not theory, actual facts. (Remember, facts are friends!) For example, you set a goal of 200 women attending a retreat and only 25 registered. Or, you offered a free community breakfast and ran out of pancakes, which meant you turned away 50 people. Make a list of the things that went well and the things that were unexpected.
  

• Incorporate some eyewitness reports.
  Now, you’re ready for some feedback from others. Talk with your planning and/or implementation team and a few people who participated. What was their experience like? What did they hear or perceive? This is the time to listen and take notes. Resist the urge to defend your work or theories. Right now, you’re searching for common threads.
  

• Consider the major systems.
  It’s time to look at the big picture. By now, you have identified the primary problems to explore, and you’ve confirmed the details by hearing from your team and attendees. Is there a link you need to identify between the challenge you experienced and your church’s organizational systems? You may have uncovered a problem that was an oversight or accident on someone’s part. Or, perhaps you’ve discovered a weakness in your internal communications or planning processes that needs to be addressed on a larger scale.

What’s next? There are a few more questions you have to ask to make sure you can turn this experience into a learning opportunity that will benefit your ministry in the future. 

Discover these questions, and more helpful tips, in our FREE webinar, Dead Ends: Autopsy of an Event Fail.

Click below to watch our webinar on-demand.