Building a Healthy Ministry Calendar
What you do matters. It brings your theology of youth ministry to life. We all want to build our ministries on a solid biblical and theological foundation, but how does that actually happen? And what do we do if we’re just not there?
Unfortunately, it’s really easy to build your ministry with a tendency to repeat what’s been done before or to meet students and parents’ expectations that your ministry is built around a different set of priorities than you intend.
Here are some reflections about what it means to build a healthy ministry calendar around your theology of youth ministry.
First Things First
What’s the most important thing your ministry does? This is the chief question you need to answer. If there’s one thing that is most clearly commanded in Scripture about biblically faithful ministry, then it should be the cornerstone of your calendar.
We can easily overlook the impact of simple and consistent ministry. It’s sexier and more impressive to have big events and fun retreats. Certainly, those have their place! But faithfully executing your ministry priorities week-in, week-out… that will produce more long-lasting fruit than you realize.
Don’t only consider the events you schedule, but apply this “first things first” consideration to your own weekly schedule. It’s easy to accidentally slip into an approach where secondary or even tertiary values begin to drive most of your time and energy. We can let ourselves get so focused on administration or graphics/video or planning fun events that we aren’t actually discipling students and we’re planning our messages last-minute. Do your best to keep first things first, personally and as a ministry.
Cultivate a Gospel-Culture
We focus a lot on events and programs, and not nearly enough on culture. But, as they say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Simply put, your ministry culture is identified by the way people treat one another by default. It’s the atmosphere of your group, unfolding naturally.
Your group culture can fall into a few basic categories.
Competition - everything is a competition to impress, and the winners get the loudest voice
Favoritism - everyone knows who the leaders’ favorites are, and they call the shots
Sarcasm - everything’s a joke, usually at someone else’s expense
Each of these cultures can take shape in a number of ways. For example, “competition” cultures can be competitive over sports, academics, or even over godliness. The type of culture you have is more about the attitude of your group than anything else. If we never honestly identify our ministry culture, then we cannot find ways to embrace who we are and submit that to Christ. Our culture is who we are. That’s probably not going to entirely change. And that’s ok. But we want to help our students practice gospel-living through applying the grace and mercy and love of the gospel to the way we treat one another, not just in our Bible teaching.
I cannot stress this enough. If you do not apply the gospel to your group’s culture, then you can preach it all you want in your messages - they probably won’t believe you. This isn’t liberalism and it’s not progressive. Students need a gospel that’s more than a good idea. They need to hear it proclaimed and see that it actually brings life and joy. Hearing the gospel from a group that cuts one another down and plays favorites will probably sound like good (fake) news. Cultivate a gospel ministry through your programming.
Addition is Easier Than Subtraction
It’s a lot easier to add things into your ministry than it is to stop something that people are accustomed to. Be careful and deliberate about approving events, retreats, etc. that you aren’t fully on-board with continuing. Approving all the requests and good ideas that come your way will quickly lead to burnout - for you, your team, and your budget. It’ll also lead to students feeling overwhelmed because they can’t possibly make everyone in their lives happy, and they’ll feel like they’re letting you down by not coming. Be very deliberate with your calendar.
It’s a really hard decision to stop a beloved program or to make a big change. It’s usually best to make small changes to prune the tree before you cut the whole thing down. That “tree” stood for a long time and cast a big shadow. But some trees are rotten and simply need to be cut down before they fall on your house and cause some damage. Remember, even after the tree is down there will be a stump and roots to deal with - some people (especially those who have older siblings who went through your program) will wish for the good ole days.
If you’re leading an established ministry, changing the calendar can be a difficult and controversial decision. If there’s a way to make incremental changes over one to three years, then that’s probably the wisest approach. After the first year of making changes, be open with parents about the changes you implemented in order to celebrate what you’re trying to accomplish and so they don’t feel manipulated or blind-sided down the road. And in general, remember addition is easier than subtraction.
Don’t Forget the Leaders
One of the lessons I continually need to remember is this: you cannot do ministry alone. I know this, intellectually. But there are occasions when I’ve planned great ministry events, and then checked with my leadership team to delegate responsibilities only to find out that some of them couldn’t be there. One year I was scrambling for leaders up to two weeks before a missions trip! Before you judge me for my oversight, talk to other veteran youth pastors to discover how many of us can tell similar stories.
This is more than a pragmatic issue about having enough chaperones to guard against any “funny business.” It’s a ministry issue - because youth leaders are not chaperones. They are ministry leaders. They are gospel-proclaimers and gospel-appliers. They are counselors and mentors. They are more than a warm body. Make sure youth leaders are available and committed to the youth calendar before you share it with students and parents.
Don’t Forget the Parents
Partnering with parents is an essential commitment of biblical youth ministry. This priority should also be reflected in our youth ministry programming.
The best piece of advice I have is this: plan one thing to do each year to give students and parents a great time together in church. Make it fun. Make it meaningful. Use your creativity to get the students and parents interacting in some way that tears down the walls that easily divide. Maybe it’s a Family Feud type of game, or a trivia contest about different decades. Whatever you choose, be intentional to use fun and games to promote unity, not
It can be surprisingly difficult to build a healthy ministry calendar that cultivates a gospel-culture from top to bottom. This question is one of the chief concerns of my book, Lead Them to Jesus: A Handbook for Youth Workers. Your programs matter because they bring your theology of youth ministry to life. Be careful to make sure what you say you believe and what you do align. Paying attention to your calendar will help.
