Christmas is less than a week away and the mad dash to finish the Christmas season strong is happening right now! There will be many last minute preparations being made to make Christmas special for your Church and your family. While you work hard for Christmas, the week after can be a restful time. So, what can you be doing the week of and the week after Christmas? Here are some last minute Christmas week preparations and reminders for you and your ministry team.
The Week of Christmas.
- The end is in sight. You’ve been working hard all year and all month, you have just a few more days make it through and you get a little rest. You’ve got this!
- Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the reason for the season so if you spend all your time making it special for others and don’t have that daily time with Jesus, you are missing what God can do in you this season. Take time to be with Jesus each day this week. Here are 4 ways you can STILL make Christmas special for your family.
Enjoy time with your family. Christmas time is special, especially if you have young children. Part of the reason why I love Christmas so much is because the time my family invested in making memories as a child. They don’t have to be elaborate to be special. Don’t work so hard for your ministry that you miss wonderful memory makers for your family.- Feel free to say “no”. It is ok to say “no” to last minute changes and added work. Should you be flexible? Yes. Should you change major things in your ministry because another ministry is changing their offerings around? No. After all, when you say “yes” to something, you are also saying “no” to something else. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but the week leading up to Christmas is stressful enough, you do have the freedom to say “no”. Trust the plan God gave you and rely on it rather than make a lot of last minute changes that add work and stress to people at your Church.
- Enjoy Christmas. It’s Christmas, after all! There is so much joy that comes with the birth of Christ. While you may be stressed, make sure you take time to have fun for yourself. The more relaxed and fun you can be having, the more those around you (your fellow staffers, volunteers and those you are ministering to) will be having fun as well.
The week after Christmas:
- Make sure you follow up with new comers. You will have new people at your Church over Christmas. While it is important to take some time off between Christmas and New Years, it would be important for you to follow up with new people who filled out a connection card. It doesn’t have to be a lot but a simple email connecting them to a next step would be great. For other ideas, you can listen to a conversation I had with Jeanette Yates about effective, after Christmas, follow up.
- Rest. If you have a little kids that might be tough but hopefully you can find a few extra minutes in the morning or afternoon to shut those eyes of yours for some extra sleep.
- Make sure the next Sunday is ready. Most Churches close down the week after Christmas. So, you do not want to be working much after Christmas. But, you need to be ready for the next Sunday service. As best as you can, make sure you do as much work before then so you don’t have to work much after Christmas.
- Use your phone for personal use only. A lot of ministers are on call so they have to check email and have their phones around them at all time for work reasons. While it would be great if you could turn off your phone completely, the realist in me knows that is really hard. However, use your phone for personal use only. Download and even play a game if you want.
- Go do something you enjoy. Go bowling, watch a movie, go out to dinner…do something you enjoy and don’t feel guilty about it. Too often we sacrifice what we love and enjoy for “the mission”. Well now your mission is to enjoy you for a bit.
The Christmas season is a great season for families and the Church. These are a few last minute reminders for how you can enjoy and make Christmas special. These are also a few great reminders for how you can enjoy the week after Christmas. Trust and rely on God’s plan for your Church and see what he does.
What do you think? What are you doing this week and after that isn’t on this list? Share below or on social media.
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