Your ministry needs a maintenance calendar just like your car does.  When you buy a new car, it comes with a reminder list with things like:

  • Oil change every 3,000 miles
  • Tune up at 60,000 and 120,000 miles
  • Change wiper blades every two years

A maintenance calendar is a great tool for you to have for your ministry. CYMT likes to call it a Preventative Maintenance Calendar, because just like doing the things for your car will help keep it from breaking down, doing these things for your ministry will keep it moving smoothly.
A Preventative Maintenance Calendar is a list of all the things that need to happen behind the scenes for everything to get done. Many of the tasks are informed by your ministry calendar, but instead of dates when something happens a Preventative Maintenance Calendar has task completion dates for each of your events and programs. If done well, a Preventative Maintenance Calendar should inform most of your planning and provide you a monthly guide for tasks you need to be working on.
Here is a sample Preventative Maintenance Calendar:
August

  • Orientation kick off packets complete
  • Youth directory complete
  • Youth calendar complete
  • Youth kick-off details complete

September

  • Ski trip info and dates set

October

  • Luminary sales promo
  • Ski trip promo

November

  • Luminary sales promo
  • Christmas caroling promo
  • Youth Council retreat reminders sent
  • Ski trip sign ups begin

December

  • Christmas party
  • Christmas caroling
  • Luminary sales
  • Salvation Army bell ringing
  • Ski trip money collected

January

  • Youth Council retreat
  • Calendar review and set for next year
  • Re-up goals and benchmarks
  • Last minute ski trip logistics
  • Souper Bowl of Caring promo
  • Senior Recognition Sunday major event coordinator (MEC) recruited
  • MEC list begun

February

  • Recruiting season opens. Make list of needs and who is coming back next year.
  • Senior Recognition Sunday MEC secured
  • MEC recruiting season begins

March

  • Recruiting season continues
  • Send out directory update cards
  • Car wash promo and ticket sales
  • MECs secured for next year

April

  • Youth Sunday prep
  • Senior Recognition Sunday promo and details
  • Senior Recognition Day details complete
  • Directory update cards mailed/emailed/handed out
  • Recruiting season continues

May

  • Set calendar for next year
  • MEC recruited for fall kick-off
  • Review curriculum needs for next year
  • Volunteer orientation/pep rally date set
  • Date set for kick-off
  • Summer mission trip details complete
  • Summer Wednesday service days and plans complete

June

  • Continue to collect directory update cards

July

  • Volunteer orientation/pep rally promo
  • Parent orientation invitation and materials prep
  • Kick-off invites and promo
  • Curriculum for year complete and ready for volunteer orientation

Create Your Own

To create your own Preventative Maintenance Calendar, start by placing annual organizational items into the appropriate months. When will you begin recruiting volunteers for the fall? When is your goal for having them all in place? When will you complete your calendar for the upcoming year? When will you create a curriculum plan and order it for the upcoming year? When are your parents meetings? Volunteer trainings?
Next, take your event calendar and plug in the organizational items related to each event. When do you need to have your Major Event Coordinator recruited? When do you need to have your t-shirts designed and ordered? When is the finance committee meeting so you can get permission for the fundraiser? When do you need to publicize the ski trip? When do you need to book the location for the lock-in?
Create a Preventative Maintenance Calendar and then use it to keep you on task and your ministry will run like a well-oiled machine!