Evaluation
“Know well the condition of your flocks.” —Proverbs 27:23
When Jesus tells us the parable of the lost sheep, he says the shepherd left his 99 sheep to find the one that was missing. How did the shepherd know one sheep was gone? He counted them — probably more than once!
Numbers are important when it comes to catalyzing movements of disciples making disciples and churches planting churches. Without a way to measure and evaluate…
- we won’t know if what we’re doing works
- we won’t know how to course-correct
- we won’t know where we should be headed
But numbers aren’t the most important thing when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission. Relationships are. That’s why Proverbs 27:23 says, “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds.”
When a group of African leaders were asked to do a Discovery Bible Study on this passage, several insights emerged. Many of them had cherished memories of tending to their family’s herds in their youth, and from these experiences, they distilled this timeless list, offering wisdom for the care of our own spiritual flocks:
- Are they alive?
- Are they gathered together?
- Are they well fed?
- Are they healthy?
- Are they growing?
- Are they safe?
- Are they reproducing?
- Are they living long?
To answer these questions, New Generations has developed an extensive evaluation and improvement system that our 30-member Shepherding Support Team (SST) uses with our over 23,000 on-the-ground shepherding leaders around the world.
Read on to learn more — and to see why the Kingdom impact we’re seeing isn’t too good to be true.
THE POWER BEHIND THE IMPACT
Since March 2005, the Lord has catalyzed 140,619 new churches with 2,772,669 new disciples. From these churches has sprung 223 “Disciple Making Movements” (DMM), which is our main measure of success.
Currently, these movements range between 4 and 35 generations of new churches.
What’s the power behind this impact?
IT ALL STARTS WITH PRAYER & FASTING
When it comes to effective ministry, one of our leaders in Africa says it best:
“People think DMM is going to be a silver bullet to fulfill the Great Commission, but it’s not.
There’s no way you can see spiritual breakthrough with a ‘strategy’ in Gospel-resistant places where the majority religion has been for hundreds of years.
The only way breakthrough will happen is by you depending on the Holy Spirit as you pray and fast, and letting Him guide and direct you.”
This is why, every year, our Shepherding Support Team (SST) and Regional Leaders pray and fast for days or weeks at a time, asking, “God, what do you want to do in this people group this year? What do we believe you for?”
This is where our 3D-DMM Evaluation process comes into play.
After all, if we are praying for biblically healthy movements that don’t depend on us, we need to have a process that produces accurate numbers, good quality and on-going replication.
3D-DMM Evaluation
New Generations is committed to a 3-dimensional DMM evaluation process, one that ensures movements are:
Our Intent
That every DMM practitioner pauses regularly to evaluate deeply by listening to God, and gains insights that shape their strategy.
Our Goal
That every engagement becomes a biblically healthy 3D movement that continues to replicate without us.
Our Process
The Shepherding Support Team (SST) employs an extensive evaluation, measurement and improvement system that includes research, training, coaching, and tools.
QUARTERLY REVIEWING & REPORTING
After partners and church planters report what is happening with their engagements each quarter, our Global Team vets the information and produces visualizations.
PEER COACHING
An Internal Audit verifies historic results by considering attrition, amalgamation, and migration. Our quarterly report records new results, while periodic audits ensure accuracy by accounting for changes such as church closures, mergers, and displaced groups.
INTERNAL QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT
Peer Coaching offers one-to-one guidance, enabling leaders to refine strategies and improve outcomes. This collaborative process helps practitioners share insights, overcome challenges, and enhance disciple-making efforts, ensuring continual growth and quality improvements.
MONTHLY CASE STUDIES
Monthly Case Studies offer insights by analyzing real-world scenarios. They foster learning, allowing practitioners to reflect, adapt, and apply best practices, driving continuous growth and effectiveness in disciple-making efforts.
iGROW COACHING
iGrow Coaching helps leaders improve disciple-making efforts through a structured process that focuses on building rapport, setting goals, understanding realities, exploring outcomes, and committing to action. This empowers leaders to effectively course-correct and achieve sustainable movement growth.
QUARTERLY TRAINING
Quarterly Training sessions equip leaders with new skills and insights to ensure continuous improvement. These sessions focus on the latest best practices and strategies, enhancing the effectiveness of disciple-making efforts across all engagement levels.
QUALITY EVALUATION CONVERSATIONS
Quality Evaluation Conversations enable leaders to reflect on their progress, identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop actionable insights. This ongoing dialogue ensures continuous improvement and alignment with disciple-making goals.
GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES
New Generations is committed to collecting and implementing proven strategies and methodologies from around the world. These insights help leaders adopt effective disciple-making approaches to ensure consistent growth and impact across diverse contexts.
PRAYER
Prayer is a foundational practice that underpins all disciple-making efforts. This is why we encourage leaders and practitioners to set aside dedicated time for both individual and corporate prayer. This not only deepens their spiritual growth, it helps aligns their strategies with God’s will and empowers them to overcome the ongoing challenges they face.
UPGRADE TRAINING & COACHING
New Generations provides our practitioners with training and coaching to enhance their leadership and disciple-making efforts. This continuous learning process ensures leaders are well-equipped to drive impactful and sustainable growth to help fulfill the Great Commission.
UPGRADE “ENGAGEMENT TO MOVEMENT” STRATEGIES
These strategies focus on refining our approach to transitioning initial engagements to sustainable disciple-making movements. These strategies involve identifying where an engagement is currently located in their pursuit of movement, and setting clear goals for the next year which helps to strengthen continuous growth
UPGRADE PARTNERS, STRATEGIES & PRACTICES
This process involves refining where Partners are at in their growth to become effective disciple-makers and to identify clear outcomes.
UPGRADE GLOBAL DMM STRATEGY
New Generations is dedicated to refining and enhancing our global Disciple Making Movement approaches to ensure consistent, impactful growth and replication of best practices across diverse contexts.
SHEPHERDING SUPPORT TEAM (SST) VERIFICATION
