Conducting Annual, Monthly, and Weekly Planning Meetings

Written by Christina Crawley

The Annual Planning Meeting

Annual planning is hard work. It takes time and energy. But the results will save time and bring more long-term positive results sooner.

Ten Best Practices To Make Your Sunday School Work – Resource Book

Steps to Planning

Make Spiritual Preparation. Annual planning can be an administrative chore or a spiritual experience in knowing and doing the will of God.
* Read the Bible and pray for God's direction.
* Review the Great Commission.
* Ask God for a vision for your church.
Evaluate Present Work. Evaluation answers the question "Where are we now?" The discovery of strengths and weaknesses will help to clarify the direction the church needs to take in the new year.
* Examine records for the past year.
* Evaluate the work of your church in light of the Great Commission and the purpose of the Sunday School.
* Evaluate the effectiveness of your Sunday School strategy in relationship to the functions of the church.
* Evaluate the effectiveness of your Sunday School strategy in light of the best practices for making Sunday School as strategy work.
Identify Needs on Which to Focus Next Year. -- Build on the spiritual preparation made in State 1 and the data gathered in Step 2.
Determine Priorities. A thorough evaluation ordinarily will reveal more needs than can be addressed during a year. For this reason, the next step is prayerfully and carefully to review the list of discovered needs to determine priorities. Identify the needs that are most important and determine what most be done first.
Set Goals That Will Fulfill the Priorities. Now that you have determined priorities to be addressed by your strategy for the coming year, you are ready to set goals. Goals should state the specific outcomes you want to accomplish by the end to the year (or during the year, if a goal should and can be accomplished sooner). This step answers the question "Where do we want to be when this next year is over?"
Plan Actions to Achieve Goal. The planning process is incomplete and will be ineffective unless it results in determining specific actions to be taken to achieve the goals.

The Monthly Planning Meeting

All the planning required for effective, ongoing Sunday School ministry and its implementation as foundational strategy cannot take place at an annual planning event. Plans change. New situations arise that need to be addressed.

To stay apprised of new situations and to manage implementation of the plan, a monthly Sunday School Planning Team meeting needs to be set in place. This team usually will be made up of the same people as the annual planning team.

By meeting regularly, the Sunday School Planning Team positions itself to be proactive - addressing matters related to implementing the annual plan toward fulfillment - rather than reactive - addressing issues in the midst of crisis.

Here are some guidelines:

Select an appropriate meeting time. A regular meeting following the last Sunday of the month is ideal because statistical data for the month usually is available.
Use an agenda. A valuable tool for an effective monthly planning meeting is a meeting agenda.
Plan the elements of the agenda. The plan sheet is build around these ingredients:
* Inspiration. Set the meeting within a spiritual context and relate the work to the commission of Christ and the mission of the church.
* Information. Provide pertinent information that can help leaders improve the effectiveness of Sunday School.
* Evaluation. Discuss the effectiveness of events that have been completed and consider ways they could have been improved.
* Communication. Report on current activities or on upcoming events.
* Preparation. Initiate efforts related to future or new projects.
Follow Up the Meeting. Send members a summary of the meeting. Absentees will know what occurred during the meeting, and those who attended will be reminded of assignments.

Weekly Leadership Meetings

The weekly leadership meeting is to help all Sunday School leaders to be more effective in all aspects of Sunday School ministry. Here is suggested content of the a weekly Sunday School leadership meeting:

General Period (15 min.). This period is a brief gathering of all Sunday School leaders led by the Sunday School director, pastor, or minister of education. Click here for general period suggestions.
Department/Class Leadership Meeting. This period is the primary focus of the weekly leadership meeting. Generally, the department directors or class teacher leads it. Each segment is to contribute to the achievement of the objectives in Sunday School.
Focus on the Mission (10 min.) This portion of the meeting is an opportunity to relate the work of the Sunday School departments and classes to the mission and the ministry of the church. Information is shared concerning the church's ministry. Leaders are made aware of churchwide emphases, needs, and concerns.
Focus on Relationships (25 min.). During this time, relationships with members and prospects are discussed, individual needs are assessed, and as appropriate, plans are made to involve members in responding to them. Churches using the FAITH Evangelism will use this time to review assignments, give reports, and make follow-up assignments. Occasionally during this time, a study and review of witnessing approaches can be conducted.
Focus on Bible Study (25 min.). Teaching for spiritual transformation is facilitated when leaders work together to plan the best way to bring members into a life-changing encounter with the Bible message. During this time, previous Bible study sessions may be evaluated and assignments made for subsequent studies, in particular plans deciding how the Bible content for subsequent Sundays will be taught.