The Holidays are over. Review now to plan for 2023.

Every time Christmas falls on a Sunday, we hear arguments about whether to have live services, do it only online, or give more attention to the Christmas Eve run and the days before.?I think we are focusing on the wrong questions.

The Christmas season has become the biggest outreach season for most significant churches, surpassing Easter.?Therefore, it is critical to review this past year’s actions and results and plan for next year.?Use this article to prompt your leadership team. And then how next year will look different. Christmas Eve falls on Sunday, which is ideal, but there are other opportunities.

Start with your After Action Review

Adapted from military contexts, the simplest form of an AAR are the questions:

• What was?supposed to happen?
• What was the?reality?
• What went?well?
• What?did not?go well?
• What?should be changed?for next time?
• And for churches, what should we try “NEW”?for next time?

A few observations on the above questions for churches. Churches that plan well write out expectations for the Christmas season as to what they are trying to accomplish.?Which days get focused? What is the outreach plan? How is each weekend different for the season? What other special outreach activities will we conduct?

Review the above questions and answer them honestly with a group of your stakeholders. Include staff and some regular participants, small group leaders, and others.

Consider Next Year in calendar plan

Next year US Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 25th, and the first Sunday of Advent is not until December 3, giving the season an “extra week” to give attention to particular activities. Not all my clients observe the advent weeks, but some leverage those weeks and themes to significant effect.

Some school districts have already set calendars for school releases and holidays for that season.

You may not have decided on your theme or message series yet, but you can start on these issues below.

Many of you have already penciled some dates in for internal planning, but I would start to orient staff around the dates you might set for the following:

• Christmas Eve (Sunday, December 24th, 2023)?and similar special services often starting Thursday (December 21). How many services and at what times?
• The?Christmas outreach service events.?What will they be next year, and which days will those happen? These have proven to be significant opportunities for serving families with special needs and ways to include community members in serving as an outreach.
• If you have an?exceptional music service, play, or ticketed production?event (or do that for Christmas Eve), what dates will those happen?
• If you do drive-through nativity, holiday village outdoor outreaches, crafts for kids workshops, or other creative outreach, when will those happen, and who will be the team leaders?
• (For some of those above where one might borrow, rent, or coordinate live animals, special musicians, or backdrops, you might consider making the reservation now. Famous last words: There will always be sheep to rent.)
• What about the?Post- Christmas to New Year week? Many churches used to have student conferences, overnight in-hour retreats for youth, or other similar outreach events to have a significant impact. I see fewer of those now, but they are due a return.
• What about?college and university students?home during that week? One pastor I knew always had an evening reserved in his home that regularly hosted 100 or more. He had some volunteer helpers who assisted, always a highlight for his family and the students. (P.S. This church had an exceptionally high retention rate of these students as they became parents ten years later. Many pointed to this time in their life when the pastor had met with them.]
• What about our?generosity plan for Christmas and end-of-the-year giving??What should be our plan? (I hope to have an article this season on that from Jim Sheppard.)
• The list could go on. I would love to hear your creative outreach suggestions for that season.

Do so if you haven’t placed some of these in your planning.?But also list out – What would our expectations be?

As you make this early list and put it in your official calendar plan, record the expectations for results. If there is enough interest, I may assemble a kit you can use with your team. I would need ten larger churches to do that. Let me know.

What about some special circumstances?

Most of you know that my consulting is in Senior Pastor Smart Succession. For those who will be in that process, either in the quiet or public phase, think about:

• The?emotions?of dealing with the last Advent/Christmas season.
• Which services you will lead vs. a potential successor.
• How to?include a potential successor?or named successor in the highlight events.
• Which special services or outreaches will the potential or named successor lead and give direction to?
• Some of that thinking may be public later with your team but consider it seriously as you consider the 2023 plan.

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Dave Travis?has advised large church pastors, boards, and staff for over 30 years.?Almost 25 years were with Leadership Network, where he led the large church area and then retired as CEO in 2018.?

Since then, he has worked with dozens of churches and their leaders, helping guide them to solve wicked, sticky challenges through his role as Director of Strategic Counsel to Pastors and Church Boards at Generis.?

He has created multiple processes in that role, including the Pastor Smart Succession Process, Storycrafting for Church Strategy, and Building Better Boards. His latest is the Pastor Legacy Life Plan, a coaching process to help mid-career pastors for their future legacy seasons.?

He has mangled the English language to embarrass his English teacher mother and assemble 11 books, booklets, and e-books. Dozens sold, half dozens read.