by Ron Perry

What has the ability to bring relief to some and pressure to others, to confuse some but clarify things for others, to best model the mission statement of your church, and to communicate even when you are not talking? The church calendar. One of the most powerful tools of communication and organization within a church ministry is its calendar. Sadly, it is the item most often filled and managed without clear principles to guide it. Many leaders operate their church calendars with one of the following methods: the find-a-space-and-fill-it method, the if-you-schedule- it-they-will-come method, or the well-we-did-it-last-year-so-let’s- do-it-again method. Most pastors have tried these methods and have been quickly reminded of the need to have better principles governing their calendar management. The following principles can maximize the use of the church calendar and manage it well.

Giving people a telescopic view of events (a yearly calendar) helps them with the microscopic decisions during a week. A yearly calendar gives people the opportunity to see everything that is happening and to make day-to-day decisions with the future events in mind. For instance, a father may look at the needs of his family and wonder if it is best for his son or daughter to attend the upcoming youth activity. His knowledge of future events gives him the ability to discern wisely what is best for his family. He may choose not to attend this event, because he knows his teenager will be able to attend the next one. But if he doesn’t know what is happening next month, he may make a decision to send his teen to this particular event and add unneeded pressure to his family.

Plan and organize activities with family units in mind, not just the individual. For instance, when a church hosts a ladies-only activity, that activity affects every member of each lady’s family. Likewise, when the men go on a men’s retreat, other members of their families are affected. Wise calendar management includes this principle so that a church can protect family units from being over-taxed and overburdened.

Tradition is a form of communication. Think about it. The great challenge with calendar events is to get people to remember the events. They may have one on the calendar and have marked it with a highlighter; but if they don’t remember it, they won’t make it. Traditions help with memory problems, because people are already thinking about a particular event and are now looking at the calendar to find out the details. Don’t forsake tradition quickly. Traditional events require the least amount of communication.

Simple titles for events require less clarification in communication. Think about the titles of the events on your calendar. The event may simply be a fall fellowship but has a title like “Frolicking in the Fall Leaves on a Friday for Fellowship Instead of Football.” While the title is interesting, it produces more confusion than it does clarity.

Every activity must support the mission statement of the church. A prospective member should be able to look at a church’s yearly calendar and get a good idea of what the mission statement is just by looking at what is scheduled. Wise calendar management uses the church mission statement as the filter for what goes on the calendar.

Blank spaces on the church calendar don’t mean the congregation isn’t doing anything. We live in a busy society. People now have more things competing for their time than at any other time in history. Most people say no to a host of things in order to say yes to coming to a church activity. Wise calendar management will consider the fact that some families say no to family needs in order to say yes to church activities. Sometimes the best thing a church can have on its calendar are blank spaces.

Special activities have the potential to distract from the regular activities. One of the most regular activities and the most important activity of a church is the time that is set aside each Sunday for the preaching of God’s Word. But having a big event on Saturday night may seriously distract from the activities of Sunday morning. Significant thought needs to go into the choosing of activities that surround a Sunday. It is possible that the special activities can be a distraction to the most important activity.

The church calendar is a tool of communication. When you are figuring out how to produce this calendar, ask questions such as the following: How can we get this in everyone’s hands? How can we make it as clear as possible? Can we keep it updated? How can we quickly make adjustments to it? Can we get everyone using the same calendar? The church calendar is not simply a wall decoration or a refrigerator magnet; it is quite possibly the most important tool within a church’s communication toolbox.