The following content was prepared for a recent PYNSW Children’s Ministry Connect session. Join us at the next one! 

Thoughtful planning is one of the most valuable gifts you can give your kids and youth ministry. It not only sets the direction for the year, it strengthens your team, clarifies your purpose, and helps you serve young people with greater care and confidence.

This guide offers a clear structure for planning your ministry year, whether you’re gathering your whole leadership team for a full-day, a short meeting, or working largely with yourself. 

1. Preparing for your planning gathering

Before you meet, consider who you need in the room and where you’ll gather.

• Will this be an overnight retreat for deeper connection?
• A half-day workshop at church?
• A meeting in someone’s home or a neutral “third place” where you can think, work, and share a meal? You might be able to think better in an unfamiliar space, perhaps another church would lend you their space for this purpose?

Wherever you meet, aim for an environment that fosters trust, creativity, and unity.

What to provide beforehand

Send materials to your leaders at least a week before your gathering so they can reflect prayerfully and arrive prepared.

• Church calendar (this year and next) – Helps you plan around major church events, busy seasons, and natural ministry rhythms.
• Upcoming changes – Building works, room relocations, staff transitions, or timetable shifts.
• Teaching program overview – What has church covered? What has your ministry covered? What gaps or overlaps exist?
• Feedback – Encouragements from parents, kids, youth, and other leaders along with any constructive criticism received, framed as opportunities for growth.
• Examples from other ministries – Case studies or stories to spark creativity, whether similar ministries or wildly different ones.
• An outline of the meeting – So everyone knows how to prepare mentally, spiritually, and practically.

Encourage everyone to spend time in personal prayer beforehand.

2. Building a gospel-shaped foundation

Begin your gathering with Scripture and prayer, grounding your plans in God’s purposes, not your own strength.

• Thankfulness – Celebrate what God has done through your leaders, your young people, and your church.
• Dependence – Ask God for wisdom and clarity for the year ahead.
• Perspective – Remind one another that God will accomplish his purposes with or without us, and yet he graciously uses us.
• Joy – Reflect on where you’ve seen God at work, where kids have grown, and where experiments have succeeded (or failed but taught you something!).

A gospel-shaped posture sets the tone for everything that follows.

3. Reflecting on the year that’s been

A healthy ministry reflects honestly through celebrating growth, recognising challenges, and learning intentionally.

You may want to use tools like:

• Highlights, Lowlights, New Ideas: A simple and effective way to start conversation and build shared ownership. 
• SWOT Analysis
  • Strengths (internal positives)
  • Weaknesses (internal challenges)
  • Opportunities (external possibilities)
  • Threats (external pressures)

• Six Thinking Hats: A structured way to get your team thinking beyond their habitual modes, helpful for surfacing ideas you’d never get from open discussion alone.
• Now / Where / How
  • Now: Where your ministry currently is. Your reality, strengths, and challenges.
  • Where: Where, under God, you would like to be in the next 12 months.
  • How: The concrete steps that will get you from here to there.

This stage helps your team develop gratitude, clarity, and shared understanding.

4. Revisit your vision

Every healthy ministry plans with a big vision in mind.

The PYNSW vision may be helpful here:

To see Presbyterian Churches in NSW filled with children and youth who know, follow, love and share Jesus, actively participating in the life of the church.

Use this vision, or your own, as a filter for your planning:

• Filled – Do you have enough leaders to handle growth without burning people out? 
• Know Jesus – Are we clearly teaching the gospel of God’s plan, humanity’s need, and Christ’s saving work?
• Follow Jesus – Are we discipling young people toward obedient, whole-of-life faith?
• Love Jesus – Are we shaping affections and developing habits that nurture a genuine love for Christ and others?
• Share Jesus – Are we helping kids and youth confidently articulate and live out the gospel in their world?
• Actively participating – What steps to participate could you offer to the young people, so they feel an increasing ownership of the group they’re a part of? This will help them feel more confident to invite people along. 

This ensures your plans are not just busy, but purposeful.

5. Looking forward: Planning the year

Once foundations are set, look ahead to the year to come.

Teaching and discipleship

• What will we teach term by term?
• Are we aligning with church preaching? This can help families to be looking at the same part of the Bible, making it easier to back up what is happening at church in conversations at home.
• How are we building biblical literacy and deepening discipleship?

Programs and events

• Camps
• Term rhythms
• Guest talks
• Service opportunities
• Social events
• Intergenerational moments

People

• Who is growing in leadership potential?
• Who needs extra support?
• Do any young people have pastoral/special needs requiring thoughtful planning?

Leadership development

• What training will your leaders need this year?
• If your ministry grew by 10, 20, or 50 young people, would your team be ready?
• What external courses or PY events could you make use of?

6. Turning plans into action

To finish your planning gathering well, agree on:

What you want completed by the end of the meeting

• Term-by-term teaching themes
• A week-by-week program plan
• A yearly events calendar (so families can save the dates)
• Notes or drafts of encouraging emails to parents
• A list of roles and responsibilities

What needs to go to church leadership

• Budget requests
• Use-of-space needs
• Permission to introduce or adjust programs
• Session approval for structural changes

Leave with clarity. Who is doing what, and by when?

A final word on planning

Planning your ministry year is more than scheduling events. It’s a spiritual, relational, and strategic act of stewardship.

When leaders gather with prayerful hearts, clear expectations, honest reflection, and a shared vision centred on Jesus, the fruit is far greater than a polished calendar.

You build a team marked by unity. You create a ministry shaped by purpose. And most importantly, you help kids and youth to know, follow, love, and share Jesus.