By the international CS board, February 2006
Revised October 2006
FD/MM/FM

Dear Home shepherds,

We love you so much and have you in our prayers. As you read in "Getting Stronger! Part 5," the international CS board has prepared a worksheet that is designed to aid you in keeping records of your Homes activities as related to the CS board criteria. Our hope is that this worksheet will help you evaluate your monthly performance as a CS board criteria monitor and the performance of your Home shepherd body and Home overall. Also, these records will help you remember some of your Homes activities when its time to fill out the CS board questionnaire at Home review time.

Here are a few suggestions and explanations that will make this worksheet more effective.

—The information recorded should be brief, just phrases or one/two sentences.

—Try to fill in the worksheet regularly, as you have time, or as often as you feel is needed. By approaching it in this manner, it should be much easier to manage, as you would be investing a few minutes numerous times throughout the month. (The worksheet should, however, be fully updated at least monthly, unless there are points which don't apply, which can be left blank.)

—Some points are important to note weekly and those have been marked for easier reference, as you may not remember the information if its left until the end of the month.

—The points on the worksheet have been written so that the information recorded is as objective as possible; requesting actual facts, rather than the CS monitors subjective opinion.

—Each point is written so that you can gather practical information about a specific question on the questionnaire. (It is noted at the end of each worksheet point which question on the Home Review questionnaire that point refers to.)

—There are some questions in the questionnaire that are not represented in this worksheet. Please see the PS on page 3 which lists those particular questions.

—Its important for all Home members to realize that some of the most important principles in the CS criteria, such as "manifest unity, outgoing love, unselfish care and concern for others, and camaraderie as a Home" are really matters of the spirit. The questions in this worksheet, even though they do reflect the criteria to some extent, are not the all-in-all of the criteria. Some of the questions are asking whether you have any manifestations of the "negative" of the question—in other words, whether you have any problems along whatever lines it is—but that doesn't measure the positive aspect of the criteria, such as how warm or loving or outgoing or caring or concerned you are for each other.

This worksheet is meant to be an aid to record the practical application of some of the questions, but this doesn't cover every aspect of the criteria, and only you Home members can measure the spirit and your spiritual application of the criteria. So you can take what the CS board criteria monitor fills out on the worksheet into account during the Home reviews, but you Home members are still responsible to assess your Homes overall meeting of that criteria, and then pray and vote on each question. You cannot just let the information on the worksheet make the decisions, as the questions and information recorded have their limitations and often just help the CS monitor to record one aspect of the point being evaluated.

For example‚ one of the criteria points of the CS questionnaire is: Manifest unity, the joy of the Lord, outgoing love, unselfish care and concern for others, and camaraderie as a Home. Under that topic there is a question in this worksheet that reads: "Note briefly any significant disunity within the Home, and if it was shepherded and resolved." While this question helps you determine whether you have had problems with disunity, which is part of the assessment of this criteria, it is up to you Home members to assess whether and how consistently you are manifesting the positive aspects and the spirit of the criteria, which are unity, camaraderie, outgoing concern for others, etc. While some questions help you to record any negative incidents or actions, the absence of the negative doesn't mean you are fulfilling the criteria in full. Even if you didn't have any outstanding or ongoing negatives, you need to also ask yourselves what the positives were‚ your outgoing and positive living of the "golden rule," etc.

Even some of the points that try to "measure" the positive side of a criteria point are not complete. They provide some information, but they're not a complete picture. There are instances where the criteria is a broad spiritual principle or goal that is hard to put your finger on or judge with specific "facts." Coming back to the same criteria topic that was noted earlier‚ another question in that section reads: What projects, spiritual meetings/activities or other types of activities did your Home enjoy either as a Home, or host‚ or participate in with other Homes, that promoted a spirit of unity, warmth and camaraderie?

While that question might be one indication of your unity, joy of the Lord, outgoing love, unselfish care and concern for others, and camaraderie as a Home, its definitely not the all in all. Such a question in unlikely to be an indication of what the overall spirit of your Home is. And on the other side, if your Home doesn't have any activities or projects for a month or so‚ because you're busy with outreach projects or other initiatives, you could still be maintaining a spirit of love and concern for others. It's not that easy to put skin on some of the questions of the CS board criteria, as really it's the spirit of our everyday life and interactions with each other that we're trying to measure.

What this means is that though you will have the help of the worksheet information, you Home members still need to pray about the overall spirit and intent of some of the criteria, and take some time (after some discussion‚ if needed) to have a little prayer time and personally ask the Lord before voting, to determine if you feel in your own hearts that your Home truly does manifest those things.

—This worksheet is to be used as a record/reference during your Home review and should be information that the Home can refer to at that time, so its best not to note confidential information. (The CS criteria monitor can keep confidential information noted separately, if you Home shepherds feel the need.)

—Home members can inform you of information to include in the worksheet, if they wish‚ and you can create a means for them to do so either through open exchange, notes, emails, or however you feel led.

—Some of the information requested in this worksheet is practical, and such matters can be delegated to others to keep track of. It is the responsibility of the CS board criteria monitor, however, to make sure the information is recorded in the worksheet.

—If your coach and/or CS RBC ask to receive a copy of your worksheet, please do send it to them or make it available, as it will help them train you. You can also send this worksheet to your CS RBC with your Home review if you wish or if your RBC requests it.

—It is required that the CS board criteria monitor use this worksheet as a means to help your Home improve in the spiritual shepherding and CS board criteria.

We hope and pray you find this worksheet a useful tool, one that is a blessing to you. Please do not feel under pressure to answer every single question if you are unable to for whatever reasons. The worksheet is an aid to help you in keeping a record of your Homes activities so that you are better able to gauge your Homes progress throughout the months and at the time of the reviews. The worksheet will continue to be updated, if there are changes in the CS board questionnaire.

Thank you for your faithfulness with this worksheet. We will be claiming the keys of diligence and faith, and pray that this is a help to you. We love you dearly!

Much love in our Husband,
The international CS board

PS: For your information, the following questions from the Home review questionnaire are not represented in this worksheet:

• Does the overall spirit of your Home reflect that your Home members are doers of the Word‚ manifesting an obedient spirit overall when it comes to living the practical and spiritual counsel in the GNs, striving to be "maximizers" and not "minimizers"? (See ML #3468, GN 1054.) (4.a)
• Do you feel your Home operates in a "mom and pop" fashion where decisions are made by the de facto "heads" without the genuine input, open discussion, and majority consent of the Home's voting members. (This could be the case even if there are Home Council meetings, as such meetings can be letter of the law in compliance with the requirements, while there is still a lack of genuine open exchange.) (6.c)
• How would you describe the overall quality of your Home's united devotions? (6.m)
• Are Home members applying the counsel in "Get Up and Get Over It"‚ progressing in overcoming sensitivity, and learning to be open to receiving shepherding from the Home shepherds? (6.o)
• Do Home members generally act as their brothers' keeper by being honest with one another, being willing to receive shepherding from one another as well as shepherd each other as needed, not covering up for one another‚ but rather being willing to speak the truth in love? (6.x)
• Has your Home recommended anyone be moved to another category of membership that was more appropriate for their commitment level and/or lifestyle? (6.z)
• Do you feel your Steering Council actively solicits input and counsel from Home members when making decisions? (6.cc)

[Web note: Please download the PDF or RTF (zip file) for the actual worksheet.]