Church events can cultivate deeper relationships within a congregation and attract more members of a community to the church. Hosting events can also put a tremendous strain on church staff and volunteers. Here’s how to get started with church event planning to increase event success and reduce stress for your team. Think of all the church events each year: Now, think back to the week before these events. What does that week look and feel like? Sound familiar? I’ve been there and have worked with churches facing the same challenges. However, I’ve also learned how to avoid those scenarios and have successful (not stressful) events. With a bit of proactive thinking, a standard process, and some disciplined effort, you can eliminate the last-minute chaos and experience events that exceed your expectations. Here’s how to get started: Step #1: Create an Annual Church Event Calendar Events can be incredible ministry tools. Unfortunately, they can also drain your budget and burn out your staff and volunteers. It is possible, however, to get all the benefits of hosting events without all the trouble. How do you do it? Plan in advance. In fact, I recommend a year out. You don’t have to create a detailed to-do list a year ahead, but you should at least decide which events your church will host for the year. By doing this early, your team will have time to get all their ideas on the table, discuss what events are best at each time of year, and determine whether or not you need to space the events out. Here’s how to get started planning church events a year ahead: 1) Put All Potential Events on the Calendar This is the fun part: Get a huge wall calendar (erasable is best) and write out every event you intend to host in the upcoming year. Have each ministry department leader put their events on the calendar and make sure you include all church-wide events. If possible, include information about each sermon series as well. 2) Conduct a Calendar Review Meeting Once you’ve written them all down in one calendar, organize an event review meeting. It’s important to have all ministry department leaders, the Executive Pastor, Senior Pastor, and ministry support department leaders (Finance, Communications, Facilities, etc.) participate in this calendar review. 3) Discuss the Calendar At the calendar review meeting, address the details of each event you’re intending to host. Here are some questions to help you move along the discussion: 4) Evaluate the Workload Dive even deeper into your review discussion by evaluating the possible workload issues that could arise with too many events. Ask yourselves these questions: Step #2: Establish a Budget for Each Event Next, you’ll need to create a budget for each individual event. Here’s a list of items you should account for when creating a detailed budget: Marketing — To promote your church event, you’ll need marketing communication. This includes things like website design, logos, advertisements, flyers, and email newsletters. Guest Speakers — If you plan on bringing outside guest speakers to your event, you’ll need to account for honorariums as well as their travel and lodging expenses. Catering — Meals or snacks at events can sometimes take a huge portion of the budget. Consider asking for donations from local restaurants or having several church members make the food as a part of their volunteer service. Equipment and Decor Rentals — This may include renting tables, chairs, three-way radios for communication, tents, sound and lighting equipment, etc. Signage — Most likely, you will need signs around the church campus to help event participants locate key areas. Merchandise — If you plan to sell books, DVDs, or other items at the event, you’ll need to figure in your initial purchasing costs for these items. Security — For larger gatherings, you may want to hire off-duty law enforcement officers or other security personnel to ensure a safe event space. Print Materials — Some extra print materials may include name tags, staff lanyards, workbooks, handouts, etc. Once you’ve created a proposed budget for each event, you’ll need to put it through your church’s review process. Depending on how your church handles the annual budgeting process, budgets for events may roll up into each department’s budget for the year. Regardless of how this is handled, you should review each event budget before approving the event to take place. If an event is too costly, it can often be scaled back instead of cut altogether. That’s why reviewing is such an important step to the budgeting process. Step #3: Assign an Event Planner to Each Event To effectively coordinate all the tasks related to making an event happen, you need a single person who’s responsible for keeping track of those tasks and each team member’s progress. Otherwise, you’re hoping everyone is getting their work done on time instead of actually knowing that they are doing so. At this point, designate one person as the main event planner. By having an experienced event planner in charge, you’re able to avoid the headaches that can sometimes arise with events. For example, do any of these sound familiar? But what exactly does an event planner do? Here’s a list of the main tasks an event planner will handle to make your event a roaring success. Identify the “why” behind an event Before getting to the details, a church event planner first wants to know the reason for having an event. This involves working with church leadership to determine the overall vision and scope of the effort. Here are a few questions the event planner will ask: The answers to these questions will drive all decisions about the event, so this is a vital step to complete. Lead the planning team An event planner may be in charge, but they aren’t the only person doing work. It’s their job to create and collaborate with a planning team (staff and/or volunteers) to identify the tasks required to make an event a success. Once
