







































Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 61 

 

Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-

Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 

 
Kristen Check, Rodney Green, Subodh Kumar 

 

 
This paper challenges Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) or Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and 

Learning (MEAL)
1

 practitioners in Christ-centered organizations (CCOs) to critically reflect on their 

organizational framework for M&E/MEAL. Throughout this paper, the authors encourage M&E 

practitioners in CCOs to consider and reflect upon six proposed foundational layers the authors 

identify in an effort to make the case for a new kind of “Christ-centered M&E” in CCOs: 1) the M&E 

profession, 2) the kingdom of God, 3), the Christ-centered organization; 4) M&E within CCOs; 5) 

Christ-centered M&E and the wider M&E profession; and 6) a proposed framework for Christ-

centered M&E. A M&E/MEAL approach helps organizations improve operational decision-making 

and allows adjustments, course-corrections, and the ability to refine program implementation. A 

Christ-Centered M&E/MEAL approach includes the opportunity to listen to what God is doing to 

build his kingdom in the communities where CCOs work. When the M&E/MEAL team in a CCO 

seizes this opportunity to “listen,” they can come to better love God, self, neighbor, and creation in 

deeper and more meaningful ways. Through deepening this relationship, they can bring stakeholders 

along this journey with them, ultimately furthering the kingdom of God here on earth through Christ-

centered M&E/MEAL.  

 

 
Introduction  

We argue that a Christ-centered M&E/MEAL 

approach helps improve operational decision-making 

and allows adjustments, course-corrections, and the 

ability to refine program implementation for Christ-

centered organizations (CCO). It also means Christian 

M&E practitioners, through the collection, analysis, and 

use of data, can listen to what God is doing to build his 

kingdom. When the M&E/MEAL team in a CCO seize 

this opportunity to “listen,” they can come to better love 

God, self, neighbor, and creation in deep and 

meaningful ways. Through deepening this commitment 

to Christ-centered M&E/MEAL, they can bring 

stakeholders along on this journey, and ultimately 

further the kingdom of God here on earth.  

To make a case for a working framework for 

Christ-centered M&E, we argue the Christ-centered 

M&E practitioner must consider and understand six 

foundational layers:      

 

Layer 1: The M&E Profession  

Layer 2: The Kingdom of God  

Layer 3: The Christ-centered organization 

 
1

 M&E and MEAL will be used throughout the paper to represent the range of approaches and considerations for 

inclusion of monitoring, evaluation, learning, research, and accountability to stakeholders etc. that organizations use to 

measure their programs and respond accordingly. 

Layer 4:  M&E in Christ-centered organizations  

Layer 5: Christ-centered M&E within the wider 

M&E landscape  

Layer 6: A Framework for Christ-centered M&E  

 

Layer 1: The M&E Profession   
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E), or Monitoring 

Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL), is a 

process that helps improve performance and achieve 

results. Monitoring is the collection and analysis of data 

to learn whether an organization is doing what it says it 

is doing and doing it efficiently. Monitoring data helps 

to identify faults in program implementation, when X 

activity did not produce an intended output. Evaluation 

is the validation of an organization’s “theory of change” 

and asks the question of whether the program brought 

about the change it intended. It is ultimately an 

assessment of whether the intervention is based on 

good ideas and actually works. Monitoring and 

evaluation form the basis for modifying programs and 

assessing the quality of activities being conducted. It is 

an essential process in helping managers, planners, 

implementers, policy makers, and donors acquire the 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 62 

information and understanding they need to make 

informed decisions about program operations. 

Monitoring and evaluation help to reinforce the 

mission and vision of the organization and provide the 

necessary data to guide strategic planning, to design and 

implement programs and projects, and to allocate and 

reallocate resources in better, more effective, ways. 

 

Layer 2: The Kingdom of God  
It is important to recognize that the M&E 

profession assumes that organization, whether from 

public, private, or civil society sectors, are embedded in 

wider environments, and can influence or even cause 

change in individuals and communities through their 

programs and/or interventions. For followers of Christ, 

however, there is a different foundational 

understanding of what truly causes such changes. For 

Christians, it is Christ who brings about good and lasting 

fruit in the world, for, apart from him, the house is built 

in vain (John 15:5, Psalm 127:1). While followers of 

Christ can utilize the best professional methods to 

identify causation in programs, the foundation still 

arises from faith and from abiding in Christ, who is 

actively at work in the world. This faith includes a 

recognition that there is a Trinitarian center to the 

universe, an unshakable reality and Person that is both 

the beginning and end of all things (Revelation 22:13). 

Jesus used the language of accessing and living in “the 

kingdom of God” as a way to describe what it means to 

build on this true foundation. Kenneth Bailey (2008) 

defines the kingdom of God as “the rule of God in the 

lives of individuals and societies.” What does the rule 

of God look like?  Jesus modeled it to look like 

sacrificial love, forgiveness, and liberation for all things 

to be as they were meant to be – full of abundant life. 

As Christian development theorists Bryant Myers, 

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert argue, the kingdom of 

God is about the restoration of the four key 

relationships: the self with God, the self with others, the 

self with the self, and the self with creation (Myers 1999, 

2011; Corbett and Fikkert 2009).
2

 As quoted by Bryant 

Myers, E. Stanley Jones, a theologian and missionary in 

India, writes that “The kingdom is the Father’s, Jesus is 

the embodiment of God’s kingdom, and the Holy Spirit 

is the first fruit of God’s kingdom on earth…the one 

who helps us discover the truth and fullness of the 

kingdom”. Bryant Myers continues, “When it is at its 

best, the church is the sign, a witness, to the kingdom of 

God breaking into the world. God brings the kingdom; 

it is neither our task nor that of our [programs]” (Myers 

1999, 48).   

 
2

 Myers (1999) argues that creation is also a relationship fundamental to human flourishing in the transformational 

paradigm.  
3

 78% of organizations that identified as Christian who participated in the “Christian ideas on development” survey in 

2017 indicated that they believed faith integration with activities was very important (Offutt and Reynolds 2019, 5) 

Therefore, Christ-centered M&E is built upon a 

different foundation, one that recognizes that it is God 

who brings his kingdom with positive and lasting change 

in broken lives and communities. That said, it is 

important to recognize that Christ-centered M&E 

cannot operate divorced from Christ-centered action, 

which flows from a Christ-centered organization as it 

seeks collectively to follow and abide in Christ. This is 

the topic of the next layer. 

 

Layer 3: The Christ-Centered Organization  
According to the United Nations Population Fund, 

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are “religious, faith-

based, and/or faith-inspired groups, which operate as 

registered or unregistered non-profit institutions” 

(UNFPA 2009, 12). Christ-centered organizations fit 

within this broader definition but are distinct in a variety 

of ways. To differentiate CCOs, we propose the 

following operational definition: 

 

Christ-centered organizations prioritize the 

integration of Christian faith into an integral 

mission or transformational paradigm that seeks 

to partner with God as he establishes his 

kingdom on earth, where relationships with 

God, self, others, and creation are restored to 

flourishing at individual, familial, and systemic 

ecosystem levels. 

 

A 2017 survey of Christian NGOs that were, for 

the most part, members of the Accord Network, a 

convening body of Christian non-profits working in 

disaster relief and international development, revealed 

that “the transformational paradigm is the unrivaled 

framing of Christian development for NGO leaders 

participating in the survey.”
3

 While missions 

movements from the past typically emphasized a 

dualistic understanding between evangelism and social 

programs, recent decades have seen the development 

of a more holistic understanding of the gospel, in which 

sharing the good news of God’s love is encouraged in 

both word and deed (Myers 2011, Stearns 2009). This 

holistic understanding is predominant among Accord 

Network organizations, so the definition for Christ-

centered organizations offered here should resonate 

with most Accord members. A shared understanding of 

what sets Christ-centered organizations apart from 

other faith-based organizations is important for 

underlining the need for M&E within CCOs, and the 

unique contributions it can make to the M&E field at 

large. 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 63 

 

Layer 4: M&E in Christ-Centered 

Organizations  
Across the development community, the drive for 

better M&E is expanding, as exemplified by the 2019 

Nobel Prize in economics being awarded to three 

scientists who apply rigorous methods to the study of 

impacts of poverty reduction programs - evidence that 

good, high quality research is being used to fight 

poverty far and wide (Ziady 2019). The same trend is 

happening in the Christian community seeking to hold 

CCOs more accountable for their development work. 

Donors, for example, are increasingly interested in 

program effectiveness (Goldseker and Moody 2017). 

According to some estimates, FBOs (which includes 

CCOs) utilize over $8.5 billion annually of privately 

contributed funds (UNHCR 2016) on a global level. 

As Eve Smith points out, new generations of donors 

(Gen Xers and Millennials) demand more control of 

their charity than the boomer generation (Smith 

2018). 

Despite CCOs being increasingly held to account 

to demonstrate their effectiveness, a gap remains for 

many. In 2001, the first director of the White House 

Initiative for Faith-based and Community Initiatives,  

John Dilulio, identified a knowledge gap that many 

next-generation donors probably still struggle with 

today: He noted that the lack of impact evidence from 

CCOs makes it difficult to draw comparisons with their 

secular counterparts. Dilulio said “We do not really 

know whether these faith-based programs, or others 

like them, outperform their secular counterparts, how 

they compare to one another or whether, in any case, it 

is the ‘faith’ in faith-based, that mainly determines any 

observed difference” (Dilulio 2002)” Indeed, CCOs 

still struggle to provide the proper evidence that their 

programs do indeed work. In 2002, the Institute for 

Studies of Religion at Baylor University conducted a 

systematic review of nearly 800 studies that 

documented the effectiveness of FBOs (Johnson et al. 

2008). The study concluded that research on 

effectiveness of faith-based organizations has been 

largely neglected. 

For CCOs to meet the challenges of measuring 

impact and closing the evidence gap around faith-based 

impact, systematic and effective methods of monitoring 

and evaluation are needed. These will also allow for 

learning and continuous improvement in the 

organization. The good news is that in recent years 

rigorous research within CCOs is increasing. One 

example is the research Bruce Wydick, an 

econometrician at University of San Francisco, 

conducted on Compassion International, a Christ-

 
4

 See more information on the Accord Research Alliance. https://www.accordnetwork.org/member-alliances. 

centered holistic child development and sponsorship 

organization (Wydick 2013). Wydick found that 

Compassion’s programs had large and statistically 

significant impacts on educational, employment, and 

leadership outcomes of children later in life. 

Another recent example is the 2018 study carried 

out by International Care Ministries (ICM), a CCO in 

the Philippines that partners with Innovations for 

Poverty Action (IPA), a research and policy non-profit 

organization. The study sought to test the causal 

impacts of religiosity via a randomized evaluation of 

ICM’s Christian values and theology education 

program. The study found significant increases in 

religiosity and income due to the program intervention 

(Gharad 2018). In other words, the study not only 

isolated the impact of faith, but also both faith and the 

program together.  

In addition to partnerships with large research 

consortiums or academic institutions, CCOs are 

carrying out investigations of their own on the 

effectiveness of their programs and approaches, and 

they are increasingly making their findings more 

available to the broader public. This is evidenced in the 

content shared at the recent meetings of the Accord 

Research Alliance, which for more than a decade has 

cultivated a learning community around best practices 

in Christ-centered monitoring, evaluation, and 

research.
4

 

The growing demand for documenting 

effectiveness, learning, and impact is a challenge for all 

relief and development organizations, but CCOs are 

faced with an additional challenge. In addition to 

meeting the standards of scientific rigor, CCOs seek to 

capture the essence of the transformative/integral 

mission paradigm, or evidence of the kingdom of God. 

Facing and overcoming this larger challenge and 

achieving these goals calls for a radical shift in the 

CCO’s approach towards M&E. Before developing a 

Christ-centered framework for M&E on their own, 

CCOs should start by first recognizing that M&E is a 

professional field from which they have much to learn 

from and invest in it accordingly. Understanding how 

the values embedded in the wider sector of M&E 

compare with principles for Christ-centered relief and 

development is a first step to developing a Christ-

centered framework for M&E.  
 

Layer 5: Christ-Centered M&E within the 

Wider M&E Landscape  
The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is 

one of the leading institutions guiding practitioners in 

the field of monitoring and evaluation. In 2018 the 

AEA issued updated Guiding Principles in an effort to 

https://www.compassion.com/
https://www.accordnetwork.org/member-alliances
https://www.caremin.com/
https://www.poverty-action.org/
https://www.poverty-action.org/


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 64 

provide standards for the conduct of professional 

evaluators. These principles and standards are intended 

to provide common ground for sound practices in 

evaluation and are regarded as foundational for how 

professional evaluators should go about their work 

(American Evaluation Association 2018).
5

 

A drive to develop standards of excellence also 

exists among networks of Christ-centered organizations. 

The Accord Network is a convening body of Christian 

non-profits working in disaster relief and international 

development for the purpose of learning, collaborating, 

and building Christ-centered unity around the shared 

vision of poverty elimination. To guide member 

organizations, the network has created eight “Principles 

of Excellence in Integral Mission,” with which member 

organizations agree and uphold. Principle 7 elevates the 

importance of M&E by stating: “we support local 

communities and churches in measuring all that 

matters.” While other principles do not directly relate 

to M&E as a system of thought or practice, they 

nevertheless apply to M&E as an integral part of any 

community engagement. Christian M&E professionals 

who seek to ascribe to sector-wide best practices (e.g. 

AEA), can also apply the principles that guide Christ-

centered organizations that seek to alleviate poverty in 

Jesus’ name.  

Table 1 below notes areas of overlap and joint 

application between AEA and the Accord Principles. 

Internal boxes describe how the principles of 

excellence in integral mission are applied to the AEA 

principles. Empty boxes indicate areas of no obvious 

overlap. 

 

 

The integration of the principles of excellence in 

integral mission with the principles of excellence in the 

M&E profession provides a starting point for what it 

 
5 See https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=51 for updated 2018 Guiding Principles. 

means to do Christ-centered M&E. The next step is to 

explain what a Christ-centered approach to M&E 

entails. 

Table 1: Areas of overlap and joint applications between American Evaluation Association Guiding Principles for 

Evaluators and Accord Network Principles of Excellence in Integral Mission. 

https://www.accordnetwork.org/
https://www.accordnetwork.org/integral
https://www.accordnetwork.org/integral
https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=51


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 65 

Layer 6: Towards a Framework for Christ-

Centered M&E   
There are many passages from the Bible that can 

inform thinking about monitoring and evaluation from 

a Christ-centered perspective. Two such passages come 

from the books of Romans and Colossians. 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but 

be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what 

God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

(Rom 12:2) 

…so that they may have the full riches of 

complete understanding, in order that they may 

know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in 

whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom 

and knowledge… (Col. 2: 2-8) 

 

In an effort to apply these principles in Scripture and 

building upon the previous foundational layers, we 

propose the following framework for Christ-centered 

monitoring and evaluation: 

 

A Proposed Framework for Christ-Centered 

Monitoring and Evaluation 

 

Christ-centered monitoring and evaluation 

upholds principles and methods which: 

 

1. Are standard practice from within the M&E 

profession and align with the kingdom of God; 

2. Transcend and transform standard M&E 

principles and practices in the light of the 

kingdom of God; and  

3. Promote documentation of evidence of the 

manifestation of the kingdom of God… 

i. with the purpose of seeking the 

transformation of all stakeholders  

ii. in a way that leads to knowing and loving 

God, self, neighbor, and creation (Luke 

10:27 and Myers 2011). 

 

The question to ponder is not only what 

development gains or outcomes the CCO has achieved 

in the local community, but also what God is already 

doing in that community. Christ-centered M&E is a 

process of knowing and discerning God personally and 

through program data, with the purpose of following his 

love and leadership and, in the process, glorifying him. 

To try and discern what God is doing through program 

data involves a holistic range of inter-connected 

approaches and measures, including spiritual and/or 

religious measures (Joint Learning Initiative n.d.). A 

Christ-centered M&E framework should be guided by 

the “why”, “what”, and “how” of measurement in order 

to chart an evolutionary analytical process that 

progressively delivers more evidence on the 

organization’s contribution to the growth of the 

kingdom.  

In his famous book, Celebration of Discipline, 

Richard Foster, a Christian theologian and founder of 

Renovare advises that this kind of evolutionary 

analytical process should have an experimental 

component for continual learning: 

 

Let me suggest that we take an experiential 

attitude toward spiritual realities. Like any other 

scientific endeavor, we form a hypothesis and 

experiment with it to see if it is true or not. If our 

first experiment fails, we do not despair or label 

the whole business fraudulent. We re-examine 

our procedure, perhaps adjust our hypothesis, 

and try again. We should at least have the 

honesty to persevere in this work to the same 

degree we would in any field of science. The fact 

that so many are unwilling to do so betrays not 

their intelligence but their prejudice (Foster 

1998, 23) 

 

An experimental attitude elevates the importance 

of a posture of learning for CCOs. Collectively 

following Christ as he meets both physical and spiritual 

needs in the world requires a listening-oriented and 

humble attitude. In a culture that overvalues “knowing” 

or “telling” others what to do, the challenge is to listen 

in order to ask the right questions and learn the way to 

better alternatives for flourishing (Schein 2013). In 

addition, listening and learning leads to mutual  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

transformation according to development practitioners 

and thinkers Quarles van Ufford and Giri (2003), who 

argue that “international development is an opportunity 

for learning, self-development and self-transformation, 

for the subject and object of development.” 

Returning to Scripture, consider how the 

interaction between Jesus and John the Baptizer 

highlights how data collection and analysis can play a 

role in experiencing the signs of God’s kingdom. 

Matthew 11:2-5 
John the Baptizer hears about the works of Jesus and 
sends two of his disciples to ask him this question: “‘are 
you the One who was to come, or should we look for 
someone else?’”  
 
Jesus replies, “Go back and report to John what you hear 
and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the 
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 
and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is 
the one who does not fall away on account of Me.” 
 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 66 

When Matthew tells this story, John is imprisoned 

by the regional kingdom of Herod, but he believes in 

the arrival of a new kind of king bringing a new kind of 

kingdom; a new kind of king who leads through love 

and service - not military power; a new kind of kingdom 

with forgiveness instead of violence as its driving force. 

John wants to know if Jesus is the “One who was to 

come,” or in other words, the new king. Rather than 

answering John’s question directly, Jesus mentions only 

the signs or indicators of what happens in a kingdom 

under His reign. These indicators revolve around the 

liberation of people and bringing new life, and point to 

the One ushering in this new reality in the midst of this 

world. The data and results tracked across the 

indicators, and the indicators themselves, tell us 

something about who God is, what he is like, what he is 

doing, how we can join him.  

For Jesus, his qualitative testimony around these 

indicators is sufficient data to be collected by John’s 

disciples (or data collectors in our M&E framework) 

and shared with their stakeholder John the Baptizer. 

He says to John that he should be able to discern the 

presence of the new and true king by recognizing the 

data across the indicators of his kingdom unfolding in 

the midst of this world.  

If Jesus were to say this in the language of the 

modern-day international development organization, it 

might have sounded something like this: “Please collect 

activity monitoring and outcome data on the following 

indicators (% of increased mobility for people with 

disabilities, etc.), then condense your findings in a 

report to share with your stakeholders and CEO.”   

Jesus ends the exchange with a provocative 

statement that the manifestation of his kingdom will 

disrupt and threaten the status quo, especially of the 

regional and global kingdoms that put people like John 

in prison. The person who is not offended at this is truly 

blessed to witness and participate in the unfolding of 

God’s kingdom.  

This exchange between Jesus and John has much 

to teach us about how Christ-centered relief and 

development organizations are different from secular 

international development organizations. What 

differentiates CCOs is that they seek to join the king as 

he advances his kingdom, rather than trying by human 

efforts alone to serve and empower others. Therefore, 

it is essential that Christ-centered organizations be able 

to discern the presence and leadership of the king and 

to abide in him. One way to discern the presence and 

leadership of the king is through data, like Jesus shared 

with the disciples of John. Jesus appears to be 

communicating that data across life-affirming and 

liberating indicators can help the church and Christ-

centered organizations discern the manifestation of the 

kingdom.  

At the same time, we must acknowledge that it is 

difficult to discern the kingdom of God or the presence 

of the king. It is difficult to accurately collect or analyze 

the data, fruits, or results around life-affirming and 

liberating indicators even with the best methods, 

instruments, and spiritual discernment. There is a 

strong possibility of getting it wrong. To complicate 

matters further, a lack of evidence or results does not 

necessarily mean that God’s kingdom is not advancing. 

As Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Scientist for the 

World Bank asked at the 2019 Accord Research 

Alliance (ARA) intensive workshop: “Are we in the 

sunflower seed business or the oak tree business?  After 

six months it would appear the sunflower is more 

successful according to the metric of height. However, 

return thirty years later and the evaluation would look 

very different” (Woolcock 2019). While it is important 

to seek to discern evidence of the kingdom of God in 

the journey to follow Christ to serve those who are 

vulnerable, there may be times when it is important to 

simply be faithful to kingdom values and practices in 

the midst of a lack of evidence of fruit at the present. In 

his same talk at the ARA 2019 intensive, Woolcock 

referenced the journey of Nelson Mandela: “If you 

evaluated the fruit of Nelson Mandela’s work and life 

in his twentieth year in prison, with apartheid alive and 

well, what would you have found?  If you evaluated the 

fruit of his work and life ten years after that, when he 

was the president of a democratic South Africa, what 

would you have found?”  

These stories encourage Christ-centered M&E 

practitioners to recognize that God doesn’t move within 

the typical project life cycle timeframe. To abide in 

Christ (John 15:5), to wait patiently, to pray, to engage 

Scripture, to learn continuously, and to seek 

faithfulness are necessary parts of the journey. In 

addition, it is important to remember God’s eternal 

perspective and that our attempts to understand and 

discern his movement and his reign are to be held with 

humility, to remember that we are not in the sunflower 

business.     

It is in this posture of humility that the Bible should 

be engaged as part of Christ-centered M&E, because 

the Bible is the “only true and unbiased source of 

guidance to the goals and means of human 

transformation” (Myers 1999). As Myers points out, 

“the Bible speaks of human life in the context of cosmic 

history from creation to consummation.”  In the Bible 

we find a storyteller, a father, who tells a story that 

encompasses our stories. It is a story of goodness, 

brokenness, and redemption, often existing 

simultaneously, with a cosmic arc towards 

reconciliation and justice; a story that witnesses to Jesus’ 

embodiment of the kingdom of God, through word, 

deed and sign; a story that witnesses the Holy Spirit 

always present to illuminate Scripture and to spark 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 67 

transforming work of forgiveness and love in our lives; 

a story that reminds us of the importance of prayer, 

contemplation, and action in joining what God is 

doingin everyday life. Christ-centered M&E can play a 

role in telling that story for organizations and 

communities. “The biblical frame provides a coherent 

and consistent framework for creating meaning in and 

providing explanation about the world in which we live” 

in a way that “celebrates life and resists anti-life” (Myers 

1999).  

Even so, engagement with Scripture must not be 

done in isolation. It must be engaged as a Christ-

centered organization with mutual ownership with 

individuals and communities being served. Scripture 

must be allowed to speak truth and grace to all—bringing 

opportunities for mutual transformation.  

From Catholic Social Teaching (CST) comes a 

helpful guide on how to engage with Scripture together 

as organizations and communities within the realm of 

M&E. CST’s “Pastoral Circle” has four elements: 

insertion, social analysis, theological reflection, and 

action.  

 

Insertion:  Becoming part of the community and 

building relationships  

Social analysis:  Work the community does in 

analyzing and making sense out of its own 

reality  

Theological reflection:    The community is 

encouraged to think theologically about 

what it has learned about its situation and 

its social, political, and economic context.  

Action:  The community acts on its theology
6

 

 

As M&E is a discipline of reflection, with the right 

foundation and perspective on the kingdom of God, 

with prayer and the Bible as companions for the 

journey, Christ-centered M&E can be a process of 

transformation for all stakeholders involved. 

 

Example: Applying Christ-Centered M&E to 

Indicator Selection 

Food for the Hungry (FH) is an Accord Network 

member organization and Christ-centered organization 

(CCO) working in 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and 

Latin America and the Caribbean since 1971 and 

responding to human suffering through a Christian 

approach to relief and development. For nearly five 

decades, FH has embraced several schools of thought 

that have shaped its theology and vocation to serve the 

most vulnerable people in the world (Food for the 

Hungry 2017, 4). In 2011, FH launched “Child 

Focused Community Transformation” (CFCT) as its 

 
6

 The Pastoral Circle is explained by Myers (2011). 

primary programmatic model. The goal of the CFCT 

model is to enable the world’s most vulnerable children 

and communities to thrive through a transformational 

process intended to end all forms of human poverty 

(Food for the Hungry 2017, 9). As part of the CFCT 

rollout process in 2013, FH’s Monitoring and 

Evaluation (M&E) team helped define transformation 

and clarified goals, articulated desired results, and 

developed frameworks for monitoring progress. To 

accomplish this, the team needed to identify a holistic 

set of indicators. To prioritize indicators effectively, 

the team first investigated indicators that were widely 

used in the international development and M&E 

professional community. One indicator considered to 

monitor program implementation was intimate partner 

violence.  

The FH M&E team understood that indicators like 

these have been developed by large multilateral 

agencies or survey firms and had been scientifically 

proven to be effective in collecting, analyzing, and using 

information cross-culturally. The indicator in question 

seeks to capture the attitudes of both men and women 

around what circumstances justify beating a woman. FH 

acknowledged that information provided by this 

indicator could help inform norm-shifting behavior 

change interventions to ensure that women are 

protected from domestic violence, a change they were 

interested in measuring.  

The FH M&E team sought to discern whether 

intimate partner violence was a quality measure and 

whether it aligned with the kingdom of God. Since it 

takes significant time and resources to develop these 

indicators and measures, FH agreed it would be good 

stewardship in this case to not develop its own indicator 

lest it be in danger of “re-inventing the wheel.”  The 

team reflected on their beliefs that women being beaten 

within families violates the Biblical truth of image 

bearing and Jesus’ teachings to love one’s neighbor as 

oneself, and thus concluded that the measure is in 

alignment with the kingdom of God and aligned with 

their theological view of community transformation 

(demonstrating the principles of Christian faith and 

systematic inquiry). 

In addition, they further articulated to stakeholders 

their rationale for utilizing this measure and why this 

was so important in relationship with God’s kingdom 

(demonstrating the principles of integrity and 

transparency). They explained that the measure 

captures beliefs and attitudes about when violence 

against women is acceptable and will help FH confront 

those beliefs with alternative, kingdom-honoring beliefs 

(demonstrating the principles of Christian faith and 

respect for all people). For a CCO like FH, intimate 

partner violence has proven to be an indicator that 

https://www.fh.org/


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 68 

narrates the organization’s involvement in God’s story 

of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. 

 

Conclusion 
The calling of Christ-centered M&E/MEAL is to 

collect, analyze, and use data to help stakeholders 

discern and document evidence of the expression of the 

kingdom and the presence of the king to the glory of 

God (not the CCO). Christ-centered M&E involves 

digging into data in relation to God’s word to discover 

what he has revealed about himself. When the M&E 

team in a CCO is equipped to do this, they can come 

to know and love God, self, neighbor, and creation in 

even deeper ways, and bring stakeholders along with 

them on this journey to realizing God’s kingdom here 

on earth.  

Editor’s Post-Script  

This article only scratches the surface of what can 

become a mutually enriching conversation on how our 

Christian faith comes to bear on the vital practices of 

M&E. The authors of this article and the editors of 

CRDA invite other M&E practitioners and theorists to 

share their experiences and reflections in these pages. 

Such topics as theological paradigms, objectives, 

indicators, methods, strategies, case studies, and more, 

are all on the table. Such contributions may generally 

agree with the framework presented here, but that is not 

necessary. The overall goal is for us to learn from each 

other in a process that helps us be faithful to God in our 

efforts to serve our vulnerable neighbors and ultimately 

to honor, love, and serve him.  

 

References 
 

American Evaluation Association. 2018. “Guiding 

Principles.” Updated August 2018. 

https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=51 

Bailey, Kenneth. 2008. Jesus Through Middle Eastern 

Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. Downers 

Grove: Intervarsity Press.  

Corbett, Steve and Brian Fikkert. 2009. When 

Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without 

Hurting the Poor… and Yourself. Chicago: 

Moody Publishers. 

Dilulio, John. 2002. “The Three Faith Actors.”  

Brookings. 

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-three-faith-

factors/  

Food for the Hungry. 2017. God's Story: The 

Foundation for FH's Work in Relief and 

Development. Phoenix, AZ. 

Food for the Hungry. 2017. FH CFCT Toolkit #7A: 

CFCT Monitoring and Evaluation Manual, A 

Toolkit for Implementing FH’s Child-Focused 

Community Transformation (CFCT) Model. 

Washington, D.C. 

Foster, Richard J. 1998. Celebration of Discipline: 

The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: 

Harper. 

Gharad, Bryan T., James J. Choi, and Dean Karlan. 

Randomizing Religion: The Impact of Protestant 

Evangelism on Economic Outcomes. NBER 

Working Paper no. 24278, February 2018. 

Goldseker, Sharna and Michael Moody. “Show Me 

the Impact.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. 

November 13, 2017. 

https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_th

e_impact.  

Greer, Peter et al. 2014. Mission Drift, The Unspoken 

Crisis Facing the Leaders, Charities and the 

Churches, Minneapolis: Bethany House 

Publishers.  

Gugerty, Mary Kay and Dean Karlan. 2018. The 

Golidlocks Challenge: Right-Fit Evidence for the 

Social Sector. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Johnson, Byron R, et. al. 2008. Objective hope: 

Assessing the Effectiveness of Faith-Based 

Organizations: A Review of the Literature (ISR 

Report). Center for Research on Religion and 

Urban Civil Society. 

Joint Learning Initiative for Faith and Local 

Communities. “Faith-Based Measurement and 

Metrics.” https://jliflc.com/faith-based-

measurement-metrics/. 

Myers, Bryant L. 1999. Walking with the Poor, 

Principles and Practices of Transformational 

Development. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. 

______________. 2011. Walking with the Poor, 

Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Orbis 

Books.  

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 

Refugees, 2016. The State of the World’s 

Refugees, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 

Offutt, Stephen, and Amy Reynolds. 2019. “Christian 

Ideas of Development.” Christian Relief, 

Development, and Advocacy: The Journal of the 

Accord Network 1(1): 1-14. 

Payne, Jennifer. 2005. Looking at Evaluation of Your 

Faith-Based Intervention/ Program: What's the 

Big Deal? Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Quarles Van Ufford, Philip and A.K. Giri. 2003. A 

Moral Critique of Development: In Search of 

Global Responsibilities. London: Routledge. 

Schein, E. 2013. Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of 

Asking Instead of Telling. Berrett-Koehler 

Publishers.  

Smith, Eve. 2018. “Are You Ready for the Next-

Generation Donors?” NonProfitPRO 

https://www.nonprofitpro.com/post/are-you-ready-

for-the-next-generation-donors/.  

https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=51
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-three-faith-factors/
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-three-faith-factors/
https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_the_impact
https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_the_impact
https://jliflc.com/faith-based-measurement-metrics/
https://jliflc.com/faith-based-measurement-metrics/
https://www.nonprofitpro.com/post/are-you-ready-for-the-next-generation-donors/
https://www.nonprofitpro.com/post/are-you-ready-for-the-next-generation-donors/


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(2), Winter 2020  

 
   

Check, Green, and Kumar, Towards Laying a Foundation for Christ-Centered Monitoring & Evaluation 69 

Stanford Social Innovation Review. 2017. “Show Me 

the Impact”. 

https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_th

e_impact  

Stearns, Richard. 2009. The Hole in Our Gospel. 

Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 

Woolcock, Michael. 2019. keynote address at the 

Accord Research Alliance Intensive on October 1. 

World Health Organization. 2019. “Understanding 

and addressing violence against women: Intimate 

partner violence.” 

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/7743

2/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=6F677

AEDCA43E997ACF4BB29A6AF030E?sequenc

e=1 

Wydick, Bruce et al. 2013. “Does International Child 

Sponsorship Work? A Six-Country Study of 

Impacts on Adult Life Outcomes.” Journal of 

Political Economy 121(2): 393-436.  

UNFPA. 2009. Global Forum of Faith-Based 

Organizations for Population and Development. 

https://www.faithtoactionetwork.org/resources/pdf

/Global%20Forum%20of%20Faith-

Based%20Organizations%20on%20Population%2

0and%20Development.pdf.      

Ziady, H. 2019. “Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded 

to Trio for Work on Poverty. One is the 

Youngest Winner Ever.” CNN. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/business/nobel-

prize-economics. 
 

 

Kristen Check is a Senior Program Effectiveness 

Research Specialist with Compassion International 

and owner of Edessa Research, LLC. She holds an 

MA in Anthropology and is the co-chair of the Accord 

Research Alliance steering committee with over 10 

years of experience in International Development. 

 

Author email: Kcheck@us.ci.org  

 

Rodney Green is a Monitoring, Evaluation and 

Listening Specialist with Compassion International, 

and holds a MSc in Development Management. He is 

the co-chair of the Accord Research Alliance steering 

committee with 10 years of experience in International 

Development. 

 

Author email: RGreen@us.ci.org  

 

Subodh Kumar is a Global Director of M&E with 

Food for the Hungry with 25 years of experience in 

International Development and holds doctorates in 

Statistics and Missiology. He has conducted over 100 

evaluations and authored several papers on M&E, and 

is a steering committee member for the Accord 

Research Alliance.  

 

Author email: Skumar@fh.org  
 

 

https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_the_impact
https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/show_me_the_impact
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=6F677AEDCA43E997ACF4BB29A6AF030E?sequence=
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=6F677AEDCA43E997ACF4BB29A6AF030E?sequence=
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=6F677AEDCA43E997ACF4BB29A6AF030E?sequence=
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf;jsessionid=6F677AEDCA43E997ACF4BB29A6AF030E?sequence=
https://www.faithtoactionetwork.org/resources/pdf/Global%20Forum%20of%20Faith-Based%20Organizations%20on%20Population%20and%20Development.pdf
https://www.faithtoactionetwork.org/resources/pdf/Global%20Forum%20of%20Faith-Based%20Organizations%20on%20Population%20and%20Development.pdf
https://www.faithtoactionetwork.org/resources/pdf/Global%20Forum%20of%20Faith-Based%20Organizations%20on%20Population%20and%20Development.pdf
https://www.faithtoactionetwork.org/resources/pdf/Global%20Forum%20of%20Faith-Based%20Organizations%20on%20Population%20and%20Development.pdf
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/business/nobel-prize-economics
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/business/nobel-prize-economics
mailto:Kcheck@us.ci.org
mailto:RGreen@us.ci.org
mailto:Skumar@fh.org

