Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
2018 is upon us, and one of the greatest things you can do this year is to start a ministry journal. Ministry journals are different than personal journals. You can use them to record valuable information every time you minister. Whatever you want to remember, what you want to improve, how your students responded, etc., you will end up forgetting as soon as life takes over. With a ministry journal, you can look back and refresh those moments.
You can start a ministry journal online and use your phone or IPad immediately after service or you can carry a journal to church. Every time you minister, write in the journal within one hour of service. You don’t have to write a lot, but the information gleaned from these observations will become invaluable to you throughout the year.
Here are some ideas of things to write in your journal:
Successes: Write down any successes such as salvations, a record number of people, responses to the message, etc.
What Worked: If you used an object lesson or a song that really went over well, write it down along with why you think it worked.
Challenges: If anything went wrong or you saw something that needed improved, write it down.
Failures: If you believe you failed in some way, write it down. But don’t beat yourself up over it. Instead write down why it failed and go on.
General Impressions: Write down any general impressions you had about the service.
Review what you wrote later in the week. Don’t read your notes on Monday or you’ll become discouraged. But latter in the week, around Wednesday, read your notes about Sunday and see what you can glean from them.
Review your journal quarterly. Read about your successes and record salvations and testimonies to share with the church. Read the failures and challenges to see if you’ve made progress in those areas and what you need to do to improve.