It’s February, and we’ve all somewhat settled into 2025 and are ready to look ahead to what the year will bring. To help you prepare for your church’s steps of accessibility and inclusive events, we’ve created a Ministry Planning Calendar! In this episode, Sandra Peoples will walk you through ideas for planning ahead and praying for what God will do in 2025. Download your calendar here!
Listen Anywhere You Find Podcasts!
Download the Disability Ministry Planning Calendar 2025
Quick Links:
133: Night to Shine, What You Need to Know with Larah Roberts & Beth Golik
100: Ministry Visibility on Your Church Website with Sandra Peoples
066: 4 Steps for Success for Ministry Volunteers with Sandra Peoples
054: 14 Questions to Ask on a Student Intake Form (Plus One I Never Ask) with Beth Golik
053: Creating Individualized Spiritual Plans for Your Ministry Participants with Sandra Peoples
030: Practicing Hospitality to Outside Groups with Beth Golik
029: Including Special-Needs Families in Your Church's Christmas Activities with Sandra Peoples
011: How to Make your Event Planning Go from Stressful to Successful with Beth Golik
010 Special Needs Ministry Sunday: How & Why We Celebrate with Sandra Peoples
Sign up for Round Table and Idea Share virtual discussions
Night to Shine Prom events
99 Balloons (respite help)
Nathaniel’s Hope (respite help)
Children and Salvation: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Considerations
host a Day of Pampering for moms and female caregivers
update items in your buddy bags
Curriculum our church uses: Awe & Wonder, Lifeway’s Bible Studies for Life, Lifeway’s Access
Resources for salvation and baptism: Awe & Wonder and Ability Ministry
Hi friends! Happy first week of February. We made it to month number 2 of 2025. I hope you’ve gotten in a good rhythm at home and at church after the busy holiday season and after the cold weather days that affected so many of us, even here in Houston where we got more snow than we’ve had since the 60s! It always takes me a few weeks into a new year to decide on goals and pray over what priorities God has for me in the new year.
As I was planning and praying, I thought it would be fun to create a ministry planning calendar for all of us to use in 2025. I came up with ideas for each month broken into three categories: to do, to plan ahead for, and to pray over. Elaina and Larah designed it and made it pretty so we can print it out and use it. There are even blank lines so you can fill in your own to dos and prayer requests each month.
So in today’s episode, we’re going to talk through ideas for each month. And don’t miss this: The shownotes for this episode are packed with links that will help you take all of these steps. You’ll want to visit keyministry.org/podcast and click on Ep 135 to get to them all quickly. We have a section at the of the post entitled “Quick Links” that has the links mentioned in the episode. So if I talk about an event or idea and you’re like “I don’t know how to do that!” we have links to help! You don’t have to figure it out on your own!
Alright, are you ready? Let’s start with January even though it’s already February. If you haven’t done these things yet, now is a good time to put them on your to do list: if your children’s ministry and student ministry have the dates set for VBS and camp, share those dates with the families in your ministry who would be interested and start thinking about modifications that will be made for them. That may include adjusting the registration forms on your website, calling the camp to see how accessible it is, and figuring out your kid/student to adult ratio.
For February our prayer focus is for Night to Shine events around the world! Even if your church doesn’t host one or hosts a similar event at another time of year, let’s all lift up the churches who are hosting them and the families who will attend. Let’s pray they feel loved and celebrated! For your to do list: you can celebrate Valentine's Day with a respite event! When we are planning respite events for the year, we think about the times of year when parents would most want some time together. February is certainly one of those times! Another time to plan a respite event is in November or early December to give parents an opportunity to shop for Christmas gifts or wrap the ones they bought without anyone trying to sneak a look. If you’re interested in learning more about respite events, we recommend 99 Balloons and Nathaniel’s Hope. The links are in the shownotes! This month you’ll also want to think about how to make Easter events accessible and make plans with others on the church staff. To prepare for Easter, now is a great time to research and order accessible Bibles. The publishers of the ESV version and the CSB version have released dyslexia-friendly Bibles that are selling out fast! Order now so you’ll be ready for Easter. And finally for this month, if you haven’t yet, it’s the best time to register for Disability and the Church and make travel arrangements to the DC area. We’ve got all the info you need about the location, the schedule, and even hotels that are offering discounts for attendees. Make those plans now so you can get the best prices.
In March we’ll all be ready for spring break and warmer weather, right? It’s a great month to take steps for future events to be as accessible as possible. So this is the time to schedule a VBS volunteer training not only for your buddies but for all the teachers because we know kids with invisible disabilities will come (and we might not know ahead of time what their needs are). This is also the month to send out Easter invites with social stories about what may be different at your Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday services. Work with the staff at your church to get all the information you need. Here’s one more way to plan ahead: register as a host site for By the Brook in June. By the Brook is an event for moms and caregivers hosted by our friends at Rising Above. Your church can register as a host site for the virtual version of this event for those who can’t travel to Tennessee to be there in person. I’ve attended the virtual version before, and it is so well done. It will be a gift to the moms and other caregivers in your ministry.
Alright! Let’s talk about April. It’s such a busy month for churches. And such an important one! Families that are reluctant to come at other times of year will visit during Easter. God draws them to our churches, and we want to be prepared to make it a good experience for them. Here are a few things you can do ahead of time to make that happen: restock your lobby and classroom buddy bags (we have an Amazon list with ideas linked in the shownotes), update online forms so if a family is visiting and goes to your website first you’ll get the info you need (we have resources for that in the shownotes too!), and finally, deep clean your ball pit and other sensory room items. We want to get our spaces ready for kids to enjoy!
After Easter you’re going to be tired, but the good news is it will be time to attend Disability and the Church! I registered last week, and there are so many amazing speakers and topics this year. I’ll be co-leading a ministry intensive for those who are starting accessible ministries or wanting to take the next steps. Beth Golik from Key Ministry is the other leader, and we can’t wait to encourage those who will be attending. I’m also coleading a breakout with my friend Tiffany Crow on: Keeping Our Classrooms Safe: Deescalation Techniques for Inclusive Children's Ministries. I can’t wait until we’re all together in person!
May feels like another month that focuses on planning for the summer events. Your prayer focus this month can be for moms of kids with disabilities and mental health conditions as they celebrate Mother’s Day. If your church has a backdrop for Mother’s Day pics, consider inviting disability families to meet you there at a certain time on Saturday night so you can take pictures for them without a line or people watching them take family pics. This is also the month to lock in those VBS plans and lead your volunteer training if VBS is in June. As you look ahead, for the fall, you may want to explore different curriculum options. I’ll list the ones our church uses in the shownotes for you to check out.
June! School is out! VBS is happening or going to happen next month! Kids and teens are going to camp! There is so much happening! So let’s focus on doing it all with energy and excellence. Our families will be blessed by our efforts. It’s also the time to celebrate Father's Day and pray for dads. If your church is hosting By the Brook, that is happening this month. So I just have one to do for you this month, and it’s a personal one, but I really believe it will help you! It’s to preorder my book, Accessible Church: A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and Their Families. It releases on July 1st, so go ahead and preorder it this month so you don’t forget. It’s eight chapters long, and takes you through all the steps you would need to start and grow a ministry that includes all ages and ability levels. I’m so excited to get it in your hands this summer!
Ok, in July we’re going to maintain that summer energy, to the best of our ability. I know there’s no tired like VBS tired. But in this month I’d like to invite you to celebrate Disability Ministry Sunday on July 13th. Churches in Texas, Maryland, Delaware, and others across the country take time to recognize the gifts people with disabilities bring to our churches as we commemorate the Americans with Disabilities Act signed thirty years ago. July is also a month to start planning ahead for the fall. We like to review the ISPs our kids use and set new goals. I’ll put a link in the shownotes for that process. You’ll also want to brainstorm how to make Fall Festival sensory-friendly for everyone who attends. This year we may add a tent where kids can go if they feel overwhelmed. This month we’ll also update visual schedules in all preschool and kids rooms to get ready for promotion Sunday.
August is another big month in ministry! We didn’t put too many to dos on this month’s list because we know you’ll be busy with back to school events and promotion Sunday. It would be great to follow up with VBS families inviting them to upcoming outreach events and/or Fall Festival. You may want to host a book club for parents in the fall, and you can kick that off this month. For this prayer focus, we listed your 2026 calendar and budget. Churches run their fiscal years at different times, so this may work better in a different month for you, but it’s a good time to pray over it!
In September families are back in the school year rhythm and ready for new opportunities again. Hopefully part of your rhythm is to attend Key Ministry's virtual round table discussions and idea shares. You can register for those links on our event page that I’ll link to. If they happen at a time that isn’t good for you, you can check out videos of previous roundtables and idea shares on our YouTube page. I think September is a great month to host a Day of Pampering for moms and female caregivers or plan for other outreach events in the coming months. It’s also a great time to host a class on salvation and baptism. We have resources to help you do that in the shownotes, including a new book that will be released on Sept.1st entitled Children and Salvation: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Considerations. It includes a chapter from me on children with disabilities and salvation. Lots of parents have questions about what salvation would look like for their kids, and you can be prepared for those conversations and have material to help.
October is a great month to do one of my favorite outreach ideas: family photo sessions. It can be hard for our special needs families to get family pics taken. But you can recruit a patient photographer and give your families the opportunity to get their pics taken for Christmas cards or just to have. This month is also a great time to recruit buddies/helpers from student ministry for Sundays. At our church, teens age 14 and over can apply to be buddies. They are an important part of our ministry! As we start getting ready for the Christmas season, having more buddies trained and ready to serve will be helpful.
In November we can continue our focus on outreaches and events by celebrating Thanksgiving with a family banquet! As a special-needs parent myself, I can tell you that I always want more time with other families like mine. We have so much to talk about and learn from each other. A Thanksgiving banquet would be a fun opportunity to connect. If you want to get into your community, you could host a group home outreach. One of our sessions at DATC will be about partnerships with group homes, and I’m excited to learn more about that. This month you’ll also want to share an Advent guide with your families and update items in lobby buddy bags to get ready for Christmas services!
Alright, we’ve made it to December! Another big month for ministry leaders. This month you can create a social story for upcoming Christmas services and email it to your families. You can host a sensory-friendly Christmas service. We have other ideas in a previous episode I'll link to! You’ll also want to talk to the church staff about offering extended-age child care opportunities for women's events and extra services so more families can participate. And this is a good time to show your families some love with a gift. We like to give Christmas ornaments that we got on clearance the year before. One of my favorite sites for gifts for families, whether it is for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Christmas, is Dayspring.com. They always have cute gift ideas, and you get discounts if you order in bulk!
Alright, y’all! We made it through the whole year! I hope you’ll print out the planning calendar and use it in the months to come. Remember that we’ll be releasing episodes and posting even more episodes to help you every step of the way. If you don’t want to miss out on anything, make sure you’ve subscribed to the podcast. We are honored that you spend time with us each week when you listen, and we hope it’s an encouragement to you. Thanks for listening, and we’ll meet you back here next week!
