Tag Archives: planning calendar

Annual Planning Calendar Templates: Years A + B + C

Resources, Teacher Training

After phone calls, emails, text messages, and social media queries here are three Educational Planning Calendars for your formation needs following the three lectionary cycles: Years A, B, and C. I have formatted them in Word so you can download and adapt to your own circumstances, adding in the dates each year. I have removed dates, so when you download the document you can add them depending on the year you are constructing.

Since the church calendar is a “movable feast” each year as the date of Easter always changes, each “Proper” lectionary readings are listed during “Ordinary Time” (the Season of Epiphany and the Season after Pentecost). You will need to determine which Proper to begin with day of the season, such as 5 Pentecost / The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Note, Just because a Sunday may be 5 Pentecost, it does not mean that Proper 5 is used.

Continue reading Annual Planning Calendar Templates: Years A + B + C →

Planning Calendar for 2021-2022

Adult Formation, Children's Ministries, Curriculum, Resources, Seasonal Ideas, Youth Ministry,

I have always believed that the Season of Easter is a time to plan and look to the future in all manner of things. Depending on where you live in the northern hemisphere, it is a time to think about planting: mapping out your garden, starting seeds, or actually putting plants into the ground. For me it was also about evaluating the past academic year in secular education or the Church.

I’ve written and shared plenty of ideas on how to evaluate your programming and curriculum. I’ll soon be posting new curriculum charts for children, youth, and adult formation. And by popular demand, I offer the Christian Formation Planning Calendar for 2020-2021 (Pentecost 2020 thru August 2021) in two formats for you to adapt to your own context and needs.

2021-2022 Planning Calendar (docx)

2021-2022 Planning Calendar (pdf)

  • Column 1: Date / Season
    • Date
    • Sunday noted on the church calendar
    • Reading designation (proper)
  • Column 2: Sunday Readings appointed for the day (following the Episcopal version of the Revised Common Lectionary). This is not the same as the ’79 BCP lectionary or the standard RCL. Episcopalians like to tweak and amend! Track 1 and Track 2 are offered when applicable.
    • Old Testament / Hebrew Scripture reading
    • Psalm or Canticle
    • New Testament reading
    • Gospel
  • Column 3: Observances
    • These can be civic (governmental holidays) or religious (Christian mid-week observances)
    • Space to fill in your own local practice
  • Column 4: Church Events
    • For you to fill in with your church’s events or notes for the day
  • Column 5: Notes
    • Space for your notations

Don’t forget to plug-in your teacher trainings and workshops, conference opportunities, seasonal projects for Advent and Lent, pageant and play rehearsals, mission trips, VBS, recognitions and presentations, school vacations and holidays, and social activities. As requested, you can download a pdf version or a Word version.

Stay tuned in the coming days for the updated curriculum charts. A lot has changed in the past year with numerous new resources and a few that have been discontinued. Certainly our lens may have changed a bit in what we choose to use and adapt with new questions to ask: How can I use this resource if/when we cannot meet face-to-face and in person on Sunday (or any other time)? How is this resource adaptable for use at home and online?

Program Year Countdown Resources

Books Worth Reading, Curriculum, Resources, Teacher Training, , , , ,

I can always tell when mid-August hits. The peepers are loud outside my windows at night and in the morning my in-box is full of queries: How do I access my curriculum subscription? Do you have a teacher commissioning service? I can’t find your planning calendar. What do you recommend for first communion instruction (with the caveat – “I know, but the parents were raised Catholic.”). The same questions appear year after year and I’ve tried to curate many of those answers within this site.

So here are some links (or documents) in one place to help finalize all those last-minute details as you prepare (or have already begun) to start your Christian education program year. Continue reading Program Year Countdown Resources →