With a new year, comes a brand-new series on the Text-Driven Podcast and subsequent articles. In this series, we’re looking forward to getting extremely practical as we discuss how to plan and prepare for 2025. In our first episode of The Text-Driven Podcast (listen to Episode 188 here), we began by looking backward at 2024, in an evaluation state. Building from our most recent episode, this article will be a simple evaluation form that you can use to evaluate your year. The three sections included in this evaluation will be personal, preaching, and ministerial. While this will primarily be for those in ministry, alternate questions are provided for those not in vocational ministry.
Personal
Bible Reading
Did you read through the entire Bible in a year?
Did you stick to your Bible reading plan?
Can you identify growth from your Bible reading in 2024?
Were you consistent in your Bible reading in each quarter of the year? If not, which quarter was your strongest and which was your weakest?
Prayer
Did you pray over most of your meals?
Did you spend time in prayer daily?
Did your prayer list change throughout the year?
Can you identify growth from your prayer time in 2024?
Were you consistent in your prayer time in each quarter of the year? If not, which quarter was your strongest and which was your weakest?
Relationships
Did you live out Ephesians 5:22-33 and 1 Peter 3:1-7 toward your spouse in 2024?
Did you live out Ephesians 6:1-4 in your parent-child relationship?
Did you practice the “one-another’s” toward your family and friends?
Did you intentionally make and keep time to build your relationships?
Financial
Were you faithful with your finances in 2024?
Did you spend more than you had?
Did you faithfully tithe and give?
Did you think of others before yourself with your finances?
Did you treat your money as if it belonged to God?
Time
Did you use your wisely in 2024?
Were you purposeful with your time? Did you redeem the time (Eph. 5:16)?
Did you make time to rest?
How much time did you spend on social media? Did the time you spent doing that prevent you from accomplishing your goals and responsibilities?
How much time did you spend watching TV/sports or playing video games? Did the time you spent doing that prevent you from accomplishing your goals and responsibilities?
Evangelism
How many people did you evangelize to in 2024?
How many people did you invite to church?
How many people were you able to lead to Christ?
Preaching
For Preachers/Pastors
How many Sundays did you preach?
Did you preach what you intended to preach?
Did you protect your study time?
On average, how much time did you spend in study each week?
What did you preach? What passages/series did you feel were your strongest? What did you feel was your weakest?
On average, how long did you preach?
Can you identify if your church members grew from what was preached?
For Church Members
How many Sundays did you attend?
Did you have your Bible open and follow along each week?
What sermons/series did you feel convicted/strengthened you the most? What sermons/series did you feel convicted/strengthened you the least?
On average, were you able to pay attention to the entire sermon each week?
Can you identify growth from the preaching in 2024?
Ministerial
For Preachers/Pastors
How much time did you spend building relationships with church members?
How much time did you spend building relationships with staff members?
Did you stick to your ministerial calendar?
What do you feel was the highest point of 2024? What do you feel was the lowest point of 2024?
Did you accomplish your goals? Did the church accomplish its goals?
For Church Members
Did you spend time with your pastor?
Did you volunteer and serve faithfully at your church?
Did you build intentional relationships with other church members?
Did you build your life and schedules around your church?
Conclusion
Of course, these are only some of the questions you can ask when evaluating your last year, but they are a good place to start. Evaluation is the starting point for looking ahead at the year to come. In your evaluation, be honest and transparent. This will ensure progress and growth in 2025—in all areas of life and godliness.
Written by Klayton Carson
You can listen to the Text-Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at www.textdriven.org/podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday, just in time for your morning commute.
