Yes, the Evangelistic Calendar creation is one of the most important activities we engage in all year.
What is an Evangelistic Calendar?
Everything we do is planned out carefully, weekend by weekend, to help us accomplish the mission. We do our best to plan “stuff” at times of the year that help us create momentum, taking advantage of and recognizing the reality that the year has a “natural flow.”
We do big events such as the Easter Eggstravaganza (an Easter egg hunt on steroids), Kids’ Camp, Stretch (our summer camp for middle school students). We also plan out quarterly small group pushes and volunteer recruitment and recognition efforts.
We plan “Kids Sing” Sundays strategically at times during the year when we really need people to show up for something. For example, we’ll almost always do a Kids Sing as part of our annual stewardship series. We plan Child Dedications on holiday weekends to boost attendance when it would otherwise be lower than normal.
Of course, we plan all of the sermon series for the year. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have everything about the series planned for more than 6 to 9 weeks, but we do have the “type” of series planned. For example, we know that on Kids’ Camp Sunday, we will kick off a new series, usually on parenting or some other topic that is most likely to meet the needs of the new parents in attendance. The service also includes a video of the camp their child experienced. And, of course, the kids get their free Kids’ Camp t-shirt.
We put everything in a simple Word document that is continuously revised and updated as the year progresses.
The idea is to plan and execute. At the beginning of the year, stand back and look at the big picture. What is the best plan for the year to create momentum and reach as many people as possible?