- prayer
- communication
- mutual learning
- fellowship
- teamwork
These are the pillars of the "house" of the program, based on a foundation of holistic mission, or the idea that the Gospel affects all areas of life. The pillars allow the participants to move towards cultural transformation, referring to changes in their private, institutional and national ways of doing things through encounters with the "other."
The evaluation from May to August was lead by Marissa Azmitia, a professional researcher and evaluator in Nicaragua. Assisting her were Adrianna and Raúl Herrera, facilitators of the Church Friendship program at the Nehemiah Center. The evaluation compared plans, reports, notes, and testimonies of the facilitators and participants over the years, and from that bibliographic information, Marissa developed surveys for the leadership and congregations of the participating churches, which were translated into English for the North American participants. 54 leaders and pastors and 172 church members responded to the surveys.
It was found that the program has answered crucial needs of pastors, their families, and church leaders in Nicaragua and North America. "Without a doubt, these are actions that please God and are consistent withe the call of the NC in Nicaragua," states the evaluation report. The program is relevant because it meets the needs of the participants and fosters relationships among churches. The congregations know about these relationships, with 67% of the Nicaraguans and 87% of the North Americans that know about the program and can name their friendship churches. The program has fostered horizontal, collaborative relationships among the pastors in Nicaragua and with their North American counterparts. It is believed that there is broad awareness of the program through announcements in churches, visits in churches from representatives of friendship churches or facilitators from the Nehemiah Center, and times of prayer for friendship churches.
The surveys sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the five program pillars and created an average response between 1 and 5 to understand the true median response of the participants. You can see those results for each pillar in the infographic below.
Although it is difficult to fully measure the impact or changes that the program caused because there weren't initial surveys or a baseline to measure the differences over time, the pastors and leaders described many changes in their lives, the church, and their relationships with other churches - even including unplanned results such as a pastor's son becoming an exchange student in the US where they had a friendship church, or the pastors expressing newfound friendships and trust with their fellow pastors.
Of course, there were recommendations for improvement for the Nehemiah Center in the future. The evaluation team recommends that the Nehemiah Center develop a communication strategy with the participating churches to increase the congregations' awareness of the program and the differences between these relationships and other church relationships within their denominations. They also recommend that the Nehemiah Center establish a dialogue and explain the transition stage to independence to the pastors and church leaders. Subsequent dialogues with the pastors showed that the Nehemiah Center needs to help facilitate the process of independence by providing the churches with a guide of increased responsibility and expectations. It is recommended that the Nehemiah Center improve the structure and writing of the program results and indicators to measure change instead of activities, and to establish a baseline for those results before beginning the reporting cycle.
Overall, we are pleased with the evaluation and all the things we learned in the process. We are thankful to God for his provision and guidance of the program despite its shortcomings on an institutional level. How great that this program has been relevant and effective for the pastors, leaders and church members, and that it has contributed to a greater understanding of the Body of Christ in all the world!
