I know you could take that title so many different ways. I just hope it got you to read this post (which you obviously are)!
I’m not talking about preteens as parents or about trying to score a date with the parents of the preteens in your ministry. If you are reading this for either of those reasons, you need more help than I am qualified to offer.
I want to talk with you about the dreaded calendar. I have searched the internet and my local churches for someone who is blowing this out of the water. I’ve not found anyone yet. However, when I took off my “pastor” hat and put on my “parent” hat, I came across a solution that has revolutionized this aspect of my ministry.
When I register my kids for school, I get a copy of the school year calendar. It has all the major dates for closings, early dismissals, and just regular school days from August through May. I’m really surprised I had not thought more about this handy resource. I didn’t connect the dots between this school-provided resource and my own ministry until I was reading Sustainable Youth Ministry on the Kindle app on my iPad.
In the book, Mark writes, “There’s no reason for a youth ministry not to have its major-events calendar mapped out at least a year in advance, except laziness. Every September, parents should be able to plan around events, including trips, for the upcoming summer (nine months away).”
Wow! So simple and so true! The school helps me do that as a parent. I should be helping parents of the preteens in my ministry do it as a pastor!!! Now, it’s October as I’m writing this and I’m still waiting on some of the groups we partner with for summer events to get their dates out. That will probably happen next month. But that’s no reason I can’t have a calendar out for the school year!
So that’s what we did. We published an academic year calendar. We mailed it in the summer to every family in our ministry. And when a student visits for the first time, his or her parents get a copy of the calendar in the mail with their follow-up letter. We also have digital copies available for download on our website. And…just to cover the changes…the backside of the calendar has a list of all the ways parents can stay connected with our ministry and with any calendar changes.
It’s not new with us. It’s just a simple tool the schools were basically using that we copied and modified to make our own. And, just recently, I was able to get some of the summer dates confirmed for next year. I simply sent out an email to all the families with preteens in our church database that was simply a “save the date” email for camp. Almost immediately I received emails from families thanking me for helping them with requesting off vacation and making family plans.
I hope you are able to make your ministry more family-friendly with a academic year calendar. It’s amazing what simple things we can put out there that truly help families, which in turn helps us. And maybe, just maybe, parents will be so thankful they’ll offer to babysit your kids so you and your spouse can have a date!
LOVE THIS IDEA!!! Thank you so much for sharing!