The evidence
Where these assessments
came from.
Two instruments, built with organisational psychologists and senior mentors. This page sets out who built them, how they were developed, what they measure – and how far the evidence reaches.
“Is this rigorous, or is it someone’s opinion?”
13
Mentoring competencies in Mentor Q
93
Behavioural expressions beneath them
360º
Self, supervisor, peers and mentees
Why build an instrument at all?
Don Easton came through severe burnout in 2014. Afterwards he conducted qualitative research to quantify ideal Christian leader health and to develop pathways to well-being.
His mentor and coach in mentoring since 2015, Dr Keith Farmer, had by then mentored an aggregate of about 200 Christian leaders across a wide range of Australian ministries. Keith holds that burnout is the single most powerful and most likely challenge to the well-being of Christian pastors today, and that mentoring is a major resource for keeping leaders healthy.
The wider research agrees that the problem is common. Around 33 per cent of pastors report high to severe levels of burnout.
Source: Flourishing in Ministry burnout report, workwellresearch.org
Who built them?
A qualitative research team of longtime friends of Verve Lead, with an organisational psychologist supervising the work.
Measurement and assessment
Dr Chuck Ridley
Leadership development
Dr Bob Logan
The mentoring method
Dr Keith Farmer
Who else was in the room
Marcy Bradford completed the qualitative research team alongside Chuck Ridley and Bob Logan. Dr Chris Adams advises Verve Lead. He is Executive Director of the Center for Vocational Ministry at Azusa Pacific University, and consults to denominations and seminaries on clergy candidate assessment, clergy health and pastoral leadership formation. He has worked as a consultant, researcher and writer with the Duke Clergy Health Initiative, the Profiles in Ministry Project for the Association of Theological Schools, and as Senior Research Associate on the Flourishing in Ministry project at the University of Notre Dame.
How were they developed?
The order matters, so here it is in the order it happened.
What does the leader assessment measure?
A holistic health snapshot: who you really are, and what you might overlook or misunderstand about yourself.
The Health of a Christian Leader Assessment reports across 3 areas of health. You come away with a more accurate and realistic picture of your strengths, and of the areas where you would like to grow.
It is designed to be read with someone. Unpacked with a mentor, it strengthens self-awareness, self-reflection and self-regulation, and the mentor adds further discernment and constructive feedback.
[STRUCTURE TO CONFIRM WITH DON]
The platform reports across the 3 areas named here. Verve Lead’s earlier material describes the same assessment as five core competencies – Vital Spirituality, Thriving Relationships, Emotional Intelligence, Sustainable Life and Reduced Risk – with 25 accompanying behavioural expressions, drawn from Keith Farmer’s mentoring method.
Both framings are recorded here rather than resolved. Don to confirm which one this page should carry, and how the two relate.
What does Mentor Q measure?
Mentor Q was developed to define what makes a mentor truly competent, and how a mentor’s competency can be accurately measured.
Who else fills it in?
A profile you complete alone shows how you see yourself. Adding the people around you shows how your mentoring actually lands. Mentor Q comes in three forms.
How far does the evidence go?
Both instruments come out of qualitative research: expert interviews, a job factor analysis, and years of mentoring practice reviewed by an organisational psychologist. That is the method we can evidence, and we would rather describe it plainly than dress it up.
Mentor Q is multi-rater by design, which is the strongest claim either instrument makes. The 360º form gathers your supervisor, your peers and the people you mentor, so the picture rests on more than self-report.
These are well-being assessments used inside a mentoring relationship. They do not diagnose, and they sit alongside medical and psychological care rather than replacing it. Verve Lead’s own guidance on the well-being gauges says the same thing: if you are regularly experiencing insomnia, palpitations or fatigue, get medical advice, because there may be other reasons.
[VALIDATION DATA TO CONFIRM]
Published reliability and validity statistics for either instrument – sample sizes, internal consistency and any norming work – are not set out in the material this page was written from. If your board or ethics committee needs them, ask us and we will send what exists.
The people who read it with you
An instrument is only as good as the practitioner holding it. Verve Lead provides professional supervisors who:
It would serve as a great resource for whole denominations and networks to use on an ongoing basis as a means to track and improve the holistic health of their pastors, planters, and other ministry leaders.
What else would you like to see?
The clearest way to judge an assessment is to take it. Or ask us for the detail your board needs, and we will send it.