The end of the year is a time for endings and beginnings. A time to reflect and plan for the coming year. As you approach 2018, let’s look at seven things that you should be thinking about putting on your church calendar.
#1 – Major holidays. Start planning for 2018 by putting major holidays on your church calendar.
- Easter is April 1.
- Mother’s Day is May 13.
- Father’s Day is June 17.
- And Christmas Eve is on a Monday this year.
You also want to be sure time changes, school holidays and other holidays you celebrate are on your calendar. This will help you figuring out the rhythms of your church too!
#2 – Start planning for special events. One of the most powerful things you can put on your calendar is WHEN you’ll start planning for big events or special services. Most churches put the events down on their calendar, but taking a step back and deciding when to start planning will keep something from “sneaking up on you.”
#3 – Send quarterly update to givers. The IRS says you should send a statement to donors at the end of the year. But why not make it awesome, vision-filled and story-based and send something each quarter? It can be a video, a story, an email or something creative.
#4 – Staff Evaluation. It can be weird to talk about job performance, but go ahead and put a day on the calendar. When it’s planned in advance, people won’t think it was quickly scheduled to address a particular issue. We’ve got a great staff evaluation form in the members only resource library.
#5 – Series planning retreat. Spend a couple of days planning a year’s worth of sermon series and the Sunday morning teaching calendar. Go away for a night and involve new people. Here are some tips on planning a preaching calendar.
#6 – Office closed. Decide now when the church office is going to be closed. You might want to give everyone the Monday after Easter off or designate a few “fun” days. Some churches intentionally dial things down the last week of the year to give their people the time to rest that they need.
#7 – Leadership appreciation event. Pull all of your leaders and donors together for a fun, appreciation event. It could be a cookout, a bonfire, a comedy night or a banquet. Give out some awards and keep it fun. The summer is a great time for this.
Take a Next Step
Feel like your church should be growing, but it’s not?
Ultimately, church growth is up to God. Are we being good stewards of what He’s given us? Are we doing everything we can to ensure our church is healthy? How do we overcome the barriers we feel are in front of us?
We know you care deeply about leading a healthy growing church because it means leading more people to Jesus. So we created a free guide to breaking barriers that will bring clarity and help begin to alleviate your frustrations.
This article originally appeared here.
