On the Twelfth Year of Planning

Lessons from Advent and Christmas Planning

Updated May, 2025

Let’s be honest: those of us who plan and lead worship are often exhausted by January 1. Too often we pour our imagination, energy, and time into the worship services and programs of the season and then crash afterward. After a few decades of this cycle, a few lessons have emerged for me. Try them on for size, and just for fun use the lyrics at the end to sing them to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

1. Don’t try to do it alone.

This is a great idea for any time of worship planning, but especially for the many full services of Advent and Christmas. Invite others to plan and take leadership in these services. More hands make lighter work, and having a team of worship planners and leaders is a powerful statement of unity to your congregation.

This lesson comes with a great bonus: after a few years of mentoring other worship planners and leaders and sharing the responsibilities, you’ll have a strong team to carry the load with you. Maybe you won’t burn out this coming season!

2. Honor tradition.

Do you feel the pressure to come up with something innovative every year? Maybe you’re overestimating people’s wish for novelty. While there’s some value in not letting worship get stale, it’s also important to consider the value of repetition. Honoring some traditions of Advent and Christmas worship in your congregation offers a sense of stability and rootedness. Never repeat a tradition for its own sake, but for the ways in which it points to a faithful God.

3. Try something new.

This is, of course, the balance to the second lesson. Why add something new? Hopefully there are new worshipers in your congregation each year. Encourage them to bring their ideas and gifts into the family of God. New generations, new cultures, and new ethnicities help us renew the Advent season each year.

4. Pray without ceasing.

Perhaps you are more disciplined than I am. My temptation during the busy seasons of worship planning is to count the time I spend working on worship services as my devotions. How many other jobs allow us the luxury of having worship and work so tightly knit? But our worship planning shouldn’t substitute for daily conversations with our Lord.

5. Start in May.

The season of Advent seems to creep up and surprise us each year. We know it’s coming, but we figure we’ve got time. The truth is we don’t have twelve months between each Advent season. January through March doesn’t count because it’s too early, April through June focuses on Easter and the end of the church season. Then it’s summer, the advent start of a new season, Thanksgiving, and all of the sudden it’s Advent again.

So start in May—before the summer break. Pull out your idea files in May and invite key leaders to a brainstorming party in June or July to choose text, music, themes, and visuals. Pray and dream about the coming season. Good ideas—like fine wines—need time to age, so let the ideas from your brainstorming session percolate over the summer.

6. Be flexible.

Don’t write lesson 5 in stone, so that all creative decisions are made by August with no wiggle room left. Be ready to adjust your plans to the realities of your church’s congregational life.

7. Learn how to brainstorm.

Brainstorming is a powerful tool for worship planning, especially for segments of the church year such as Advent or Lent. Brainstorming requires a willingness to separate creative and critical modes and imagine endless possibilities without analyzing them for possible faults.

8. File good ideas.

Experience has taught me that if you don’t write down good ideas and put them somewhere you can retrieve them, you end up having to re-think and re-brainstorm the same topics every year. You don’t need to be in this line of work for a decade to know that good files are your best friend. It’s true that worship planners should be creative people, but we honor our creativity best when we match it with good administration.

9. Communicate completely.

The more we involve others in the planning and leading(see lesson 1) the more we need to communicate. Nothing destroys the camaraderie of a worship-leading community more than assumptions and misunderstandings based on poor communication. Put the details in writing and distribute schedules.

10. Spend time with children.

Christmas is about the Child, and somehow children seem to accept and celebrate the mystery of the incarnation without the skepticism common to adults. Enter the story with them. Then commit to working with kids in worship. Don’t just put them on display as performers in their own programs. Integrate them into worship and allow them to be a part of your church family.

11. Visit other churches.

Get away from the familiar sounds and smells and sights of your own church for a while. Worship or enjoy a musical program at another church. Revel in the reminder that you are part of the worldwide community of faith anticipating the arrival of Emmanuel—both the ceremonial remembrance of his first coming and the longing for his coming again. Worship without analyzing the music or liturgy and without taking notes to bring back to your worship committee. Take this time to listen to what God is saying to you during this busy season.

12. Accept an invitation.

The art of worship planning is similar to that of hospitality. A good host thinks of all the details that bring people together, creating an event that renews relationships. Doesn’t that sound like what we do in worship planning? The dangerous temptation is that we get good at controlling all the details but lose the skill of receiving the hospitality of others. Sit down at someone else’s table, and receive the gift of grace and hospitality from another so that you maybe more open to receiving the gift of Christ himself.

The Twelve Years of Planning
(to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

From the first year of planning the lesson that I learned
was don’t try to do it alone.

From the second year of planning the lesson that I learned
was honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the third year of planning the lesson that I learned
was try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the fourth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the fifth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the sixth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the seventh year of planning the lesson that I learned
was learn how to brainstorm,
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the eighth year of planning the lesson I learned was
file good ideas,
learn how to brainstorm,
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the ninth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was communicate completely,
file good ideas,
learn how to brainstorm,
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the tenth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was spend time with children,
communicate completely,
file good ideas,
learn how to brainstorm.
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the eleventh year of planning the lesson that I learned
was visit other churches,
spend time with children,
communicate completely,
file good ideas,
learn how to brainstorm,
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition,
and don’t try to do it alone.

From the twelfth year of planning the lesson that I learned
was accept an invitation,
visit other churches,
spend time with children,
communicate completely,
file good ideas,
learn how to brainstorm,
be flexible,
start in May,
pray without ceasing,
try something new,
honor tradition. . .
and don’t try to do it alone.

Rev. Joy Engelsman is a multivocational pastor in the Christian Reformed Church. She preaches frequently in Denver-area congregations, provides ministry coaching throughout North America, and serves as a missionary with Youth for Christ/Africa developing staff and leaders.

Reformed Worship 85 © September 2007, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Used by permission.