This is a special rebroadcast of our episode from July, 2018.

In last week’s episode, we explored the concept of operational development with Kathy Bartlett. In that conversation, we examined how we in pastoral ministry should apply a strategic, organizational lens to the way we view our work in order to be both efficient and effective. 

Today, we are continuing this thread of practical, strategic, and professional topics by discussing the concept of liturgical assessment. Now, before you hit the “skip” button or push “pause,” consider this question for a moment. How effective are your parish liturgies? If your response was negative, what high impact steps can your community take to address this ineffectiveness? If your response was positive, what objective evidence can you point to in order to back up your claim? 

Liturgical assessment is NOT about imposing or challenging musical or aesthetic taste, it is NOT about evaluating the personal worth of you or your volunteer ministers, and it certainly isn’t about the style wars. It is about giving good, accurate, real information about the experience of those who participate in your liturgies so that you know what your community does well and so that you know exactly what to do about those things your community doesn’t do so well. To help us understand the process, we’ll speak with assessment expert Mike Novak.