Hi readers, I’m teaching an online Ministry Planning and Organization class for the Faith Formation Leadership Academy:
The Ministry Planning and Administration course is designed to equip ministry leaders with tools and best practices for organizing people, schedules, projects, budgets, communications, and content. Options for churches of varied budgets and sizes will be shared.
One of the things I will share in that course is a calendar to plan 12-18 months out. To download your 2024-2025 Faith Formation Planning Calendar with links to seasonal resources on my website and liturgical dates filled in, use these instructions:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not request access in Google Sheets. To create your own copy, go to “File/Make a Copy” or “File/Download as” to save as an Excel file.
Open the link which takes you to the view only document.
- Under the “file” tab, click “make a copy” to create your own editable google sheet. Or, “download as” if you want a different format.
- If you like it, please leave a comment and share with a friend. Thank you!
Calendaring should be done 12-18 months in advance…
If you know me, you know I frequently recommend the Sustainable Youth Ministry and Sustainable Children’s Ministry books to new and seasoned Christian educators. So, it will be no surprise that I plan our ministry calendar twelve to eighteen months in advance as they recommend in their books, on their blog, and on their podcast.
Calendar for success…
While Ministry Architects does a fantastic job explaining why you need to be thinking so far ahead, the best resource I have seen for how to do this is from Peer Ministry. Their book walks you through a layered calendaring approach that includes major holidays, church events, publicity and more. Using this method you will be sure that your events will be planned at the optimum time for success – avoid those prom weekend/confirmation Sunday conflicts! Purchase your how-to booklet here, gather your ministry leaders and colored pencils and get busy. Your September self will thank you!
Note: The post above includes affiliate links where I may receive a small payment if you purchase through the link. I use these funds to support the ongoing maintenance of this website and thank you for your support. Most of all, I use these tools and I think you will like them, too.
Christine V Hides 
Hello! Great resource – thanks for the share. I was just checking to see if you had the Episcopal Relief & Development Sunday observation on the 1st Sunday in Lent, Dec 18 2024, and it looks like the dates there might be a bit off – maybe? Here’s the link for more info if you’re interested in adding it. https://www.episcopalrelief.org/episcopal-relief-and-development-sunday/#:~:text=Congregations%20are%20invited%20to%20observe,Lent%20or%20another%20convenient%20Sunday.
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HI This calendar is for the 2024-2025 program year, so the dates are correct (but I did correct the year of Ash Wednesday – thanks for the catch!)
I don’t add denominational dates because it is meant for a broad mainline audience (I happen to be UMC serving a multi-denom church, and attending an Episcopalian seminary for my DMin). But, once you download in google you can customize it any way you want. Thanks for reading!
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