Your ministry director should send a written, narrative report each month. This should contain information about their medical activity, community health activity and spiritual activity. It should also contain prayer requests and praise.

1. Read the narrative report for information and as a way to get to know them better

2. Pray for your ministry director and their family and work

3. Respond to these reports — most directors use email and an email response is appropriate. We love to be included in on your response and so does your regional coordinator.

4. You will notice that Luke Society office staff members also respond to these reports and include you in on the response.

   *If you are not receiving these reports or there is an issue the staff has overlooked please let us know. We love to work together with you.

Your ministry director should send monthly financial reports. It is not an expectation that a PMT is an expert in reading financial reports, however the financials give a bigger picture as to what is happening within the ministry.

Don’t feel that you need to be an expert in finances to review these reports. They are a running balance which give a highlight of the ministries income and expenses for the month.

See the video which walks through how to read these financial reports. Click here for video on how to read financial reports.

When reading the financial report, here are some things to note:

1. The ministry director enters information on the “Entry Sheet” tab at the bottom.

2. Go to the “Financial” tab at the bottom which will be the easiest format to read.

3. Note the exchange rate from local currency to U.S. Dollars.

4. Note the beginning cash balance which should be the same as last month’s ending cash balance.

5. Note the incomes from various sources like clinic and pharmacy. Maybe you will see other agencies which donate to your ministry or see a transfer that has come in from the Luke Society.

6. Note the total income is listed in the far right column after the first section.

7. The next three sections are expenses. First is salaries and staff, then operating expenses and finally capital or building and equipment expenses.

8. Feel free to ask your ministry director questions about these line items. If you see any line item as unusually large or much different from previous months it is good to know if they are facing particular challenges or growing in same way.

9. Go to the “Ministry Statistics” tab at the bottom. This gives a numerical overview of the people the number of patients they are helping. You might find it interesting to note trends of growth or to note any decrease in patient volume. Again, feel free to ask your ministry director questions about these numbers and the trends you might be seeing.

During an in-person ministry visit business meeting, through Zoom or via email correspondence, your ministry director may ask your opinion. It is recommended that you do not to give advice right away. Instead, start with listening to the questions and vision directors have. Next ask questions. Many times directors will figure out an answer to a problem on their own through course of the conversation.

1. Topics that a PMT might be asked to give thoughts on include building projects, new equipment, staff changes, development of a board of directors, purchase of new equipment or advice on a particular issue.

2. PMT acts as a sounding board for these questions. They are not expected to know answers to all of these questions but are often quite knowledgeable from their own experiences. They may also relay the information to the office staff for further discussion.

3. Prayer concerns arise, in which the ministry director’s family and staff could benefit from prayer. Take time to pray for and with your ministry director.

It is important as you give advice to remember the primary emphasis of all Luke Society ministries is health and evangelism. Often these objectives must be accomplished through broader and more encompassing activities. For example, ministry directors might see a need for nutrition education or sanitary education among the people they serve. This might lead the ministry director to develop agricultural projects or to teach people how to wash hands or even make their own soap. These activities are, therefore, well within the bounds of our proven approach. However, care must be maintained to insure that these activities do not become the focus as opposed to serving as supporting activities.

When you go on a ministry site visit, be sure to ask a lot of questions. The following link includes a variety of potential site visit questions to help guide you discussions.