Ministry calendar—what’s the purpose? How do we use it to build momentum and visibility in our local schools and online.
Ministry calendars are the glue that holds us together. Calendars create unity and keep us organized and informed. Parents, leaders and students, we all use them. There are many calendar options—you can choose what works best for you. Here are a few options: Youthmin.org, Downloadyouthministry.com.
We do a new calendar three times a year.
September-December, January-April, May-August
There are eight essential items we hold dear for our calendar planning. All need to be planned, ordered, printed and ready by the last date of each proceeding calendar to keep the momentum moving into the next calendar.
1. PDF of each calendar … sized to put on website, parent and leaders emails, and Facebook page.
2. Create a theme with fun Jr. High graphics: witty and creative.
3. T-shirt design with same theme as calendar, which is possible with the help of reliable screen printing services. We give the shirts as gifts to leaders, make them available for students to buy, and give them away as prizes.
4. 300 Stickers—simple design to print on Avery Labels. The goal is to give students something to collect through the year, to stick on their school stuff, at home and where ever. If they stick them on things they are not supposed to and we get an angry email, we simply say they stole the stickers and keep the blame off us (lol … JK).
5. Facebook and 200×200 graphic for Instagram to match calendar theme.
6. Banner for weekend bulletins. We print weekend bulletins for Jr. High knowing that not all kids read them, but many do. The scripture we include is the ticket to get them into God’s word throughout the week. This is an important piece to our ministry.
7. Welcome banner for Jr. High room and lounge area. Stickers are also an option for the lounge area. Our goal is to create an area that the students are familiar with and that creates identity.
8. Print 600 calendars. We print big numbers so that families can pick several up to share with neighbors and friends. The calendar is a way to minister to and reach our community.
So, those are our eight steps to calendar planning. Leave a comment about how you launch your ministry calendar.
